This article discusses the first year of the Project for Introductory Piano Education (the PIPO project) at The Hague, a training programme for young pianists starting at age 5–6. The programme combines general music activities, aiming at the development of general musical skills, with piano lessons in small groups. Rather than working from notation, the project takes an auditory approach to piano playing. After having described the principal characteristics of the PIPO project, the article reports on the musical progress of the children, and concludes by discussing some major educational issues that emerged during the first year.