I know nothing about music so I asked a friend. Below is her reply,
Barb
In terms of getting a book for your husband, perhaps: The Mozart Effect for Children by Don Campbell. That's got some ideas in.
I wonder if it's too early to start teaching the piano formally with a tutoring book. Not sure - other people may have more helpful comments on this.
Many people use the John Thomson books "Teaching Little Fingers to play". I've also been doing some of the James Bastien books with my seven year old. "Bastien Piano Basics." But the recommended starting age for the Bastien books is age 5.
Sharing a love music can definitely be a bonding thing for parents and children. Playing music around them, singing them songs, doing silly dances, I'm sure that all helps foster an understanding of tonality, rhythm and makes the idea of music fun. Teaching an instrument and getting the child to practice is NOT necessarily good for bonding!! Can be very frustrating and source of potential conflict... but your daughter is still small and sweet.....
In terms of getting children going with the piano I think the Yamaha music course is very good. It trains the ear and introduces the keyboard. (The Junior music course begins at age 4 and before that I think there's a music wonderland course.) I'm not sure that children under the age of 4 or 5 can really hope to read music, in notation form, perhaps that would be too much of a developmental leap for the brain. But by training the ear first the child is definitely developing a musical sense which lays a good foundation for any other music training that comes later. The Yamaha music courses are run at Tom Lee centres. Like I say, I think the course is good, the principle of what they teach is excellent. And I saw with my son that having done that course for a year, he found picking up the violin relatively easy. On the other hand, the reality of attending the courses is a bit grim. Ten or so children packed into a smallish room and each child let loose with its own electric piano - argh, way too noisy. And very tiring at the end of the day. It is possible to send your child along with a domestic helper, but I think in order for the course to be effective it's better if the parent goes, so the practice can be reinforced at home.
The one course I would recommend over all the others for this age of child is Music Together by Andrea Nye. She does courses at locations around HK. If you google her I'm sure it will come up. The session length is just right (45mins), the songs are lovely and very catchy, you get a CD to play at home, and she's great with the little ones. I tried Kindermusik, but Music Together worked much better and my little girl still enjoys those songs.
Hope this helps - Maggie