The Piano Teacher

Penelope is a bright-eyed, curly-headed girl of almost 8. She often skips into her lesson, singing me the song she composed that week. But one week, in the middle of playing through "Beautiful Dreamer," she fought back tears as she half-whispered, "No one wants to listen to my songs." I put down my notebook and pencil and moved to the bench to sit beside her. "My friends just want to play with me. They don't want to hear me play the piano." We talked about people and how everyone is different. We all like different things and are good at different things. Some people like to be with other people and others would rather be by themselves. "I like to be by myself," she said quietly. "Me, too," I said with a smile. She brushed away a tear from the corner of her eye and we went back to our lesson. Sometimes, it's more important to sit and talk for a minute than hearing every piece on the assignment sheet. Sometimes, lessons are more about building relationships and trust than playing and making music. As musicians, we know how much our emotions impact what we do. Creating music is a vulnerable act, a bearing of our very souls to those listening. Many times I've felt insecure about this and insecure about my abilities when they are not affirmed by others. Maybe you've been there, too. I want to be a teacher that acknowledges these struggles with openness and honesty. Someone who offer that affirmation and encouragement or at least lend a listening ear and say "I understand. I know what you're feeling." I believe this is part of what we are called to do as teachers. We listen when they're going through a hard time, encourage their pursuit of musical excellence, and celebrate their achievements.

We also laugh at their jokes and smile when they're being silly. Like when Graham, a sandy-haired, blue-eyed 1st grader asked to read me a comic he memorized from the New Yorker. At the end of his lesson, he sat on the bench and "performed" the comic for me with a different voice for each character. His mom said the first thing he told her when he got home was that he "made me laugh" with his story.

We are musicians and supporters, encouragers and facilitators, but we're also listeners and mentors, friends and confidants. We are piano teachers.

Piano Assignment Sheets

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*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

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I started using weekly assignment sheets in my studio last year.

I know from experience that written assignment sheets do not work for every student, but for most of my current students, they make a big difference in organizing home practice and keeping open communication with parents.

Keeping a written record of projects, goals, and repertoire keeps all of us on the same page, even though we're only together for 30 minutes a week.

I thought it might be helpful to those of you considering using assignment sheets in your studio to have a roundup of some of the templates out there. For me, some of the key features of a weekly assignment sheet are:

• name and date (a way to personalize them for each student)

• blocks for warm-ups or technic, a few repertoire pieces, and musicianship activities

• a way to track practice time during the week

PianoPedagogy.org has a great post on using assignment sheets with several templates. In addition, Faber & Faber and Alfred have assignment books (I'm sure others do, as well). Some of these models include staff lines (for composition starters or warm-ups), the circle of fifths, keyboard legends (great for marking hand positions), and space to write messages to parents (and for parents to write messages to you!).

I used many of these models as inspiration for creating my own Studio Assignment Sheet last year. This is what I use with my students on a weekly basis.

Enjoy!

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Practice, practice, practice.

Free Resource

A printable assignment sheet for beginning and elementary-age students. Includes: practice log, technic, new and review pieces, musicianship (rhythmic review, aural skills, theory, sight reading, etc.), and creativity (e.g. make a piece that is ___ measures long and uses ___)

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Clavier Companion Feature

I am honored to be among the 2013 Clavier Companion Writing Contest winners and to have my writing featured on the Clavier Companion website.  You can read my article, "Exploring Ideas for Effective Teaching" here.  Thanks so much to everyone at Clavier Companion for this opportunity!

NCKP 2013: Part III

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.  In this series, I’ll share my notes and a few favorite quotes from the sessions I attended.  You can read more about NCKP here.

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

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The Art of Group Piano Teaching presented by Christopher Fisher

"Students become responsible for their own and each other's learning."

Positive Benefits

• limitless performance opportunities build confidence and poise

• group teaching fosters critical listening and problem-solving skills

• students can take on specific roles for listening and providing feedback ("players" and "checkers" who check feet, posture, wrist, thumb, knuckles, etc.)

• discovery-based learning environment with teacher as facilitator

• ensemble playing develops a strong rhythmic foundation

Suggestions

• start small; begin with one age group or level of advancement

• try partner/dyad lessons: 15-minute private lesson + 30-minute overlapped group lesson

• try summer camps; one idea is to have each student bring in their favorite pop music/lead sheet and have a few other students join them to form a rhythm section

Materials

• most materials for group teaching can be tailored from any standard method (see Piano Safari)

8 Group Piano Games

1.  "Pass the Rhythm"

• based on the children's game, "Telephone"

• students form a line: the person at the back of the line reads or creates a rhythm and taps this pattern on the back of the person standing in front of them

• once the pattern has made its way all the way down the line, the person at the other end claps and counts the rhythm out loud

• variation: "Play What I Play"

2.  "Rhythm Bee"

• based on the spelling bee

• students form a line: students take turns drawing a rhythm card and clapping and counting the rhythm out loud

• if the rhythm is incorrect, the student is out

3.  "Musical Chairs"

• one student improvises, based on a given set of basic parameters; other students walk around a circle or row of chairs until the music stops

• the person left standing is the next improviser

4.  "Musical Editing"

• students are given copies of a score

• the teacher performs from the score, adding expressive markings that are not marked

• the students "edit" the scores, based on the performance

5.  "Technique Tournament"

• group students into teams of mixed abilities at the end of the term

• each player draws a key signature from a cup at the piano and performs the technique exercise for the round

• example: Round 1: all major scales/arpeggios, Round 2: all harmonic minor scales/arpeggios, Round 3: Hanon Exercises Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, Round 4: Technical Skills, Book 4 (Magrath)

6.  "Style Improvisations"

• teacher gives students a basic introduction to two musical styles (i.e. blues and country)

• students self-form into two groups, research their style, and present an overview lecture

• the experience culminates in an ensemble performance by each group (ex. one plays the harmonic progression, one improvises a melody, one performs a rhythmic cell; then, students rotate)

• this prepares students for solo improvisation

7.  "Performance Today"

• assign students a composer and composition to research (you can even include age-appropriate biographies for them to read)

• students should do their best to become that composer

• in the final class, students are interviewed as their composer by other students in the class

• the class ends with the students performing their assigned compositions

8.  "Sight Reading Composition Exchange"

• students compose a brief sight-reading example, based on given parameters

• students exchange their compositions with a friend or draw one from a hat

• each student previews and prepares their assigned example and gives the world-premiere in class

For more ideas, see Teaching Piano in Groups

Teaching Demonstration by Amy Glennon

Preparatory/reinforcement activities for learning landmarks

• have students remove non-landmark notes (magnets) from the grand staff

• sing "this is the sound of Treble G" on Treble G

• have students move note heads to landmark lines on a whiteboard or smartboard

• call out landmarks and have students play the notes on the piano

Preparatory activities for spot-placing

• play the "landmark or not" game with a wooden floor puzzle

• "Is this a landmark?"

• ask students to put an x on the closest landmark to the given note (no interval ID or note-naming just yet)

Preparatory activities for eighth notes

• preparation for reading eighth notes should begin at least 4 weeks before the new piece is introduced

• speak the words to "Peas Porridge Hot" and put the rhythm in your feet

• next, clap the rhythm without speaking the words - ask one student to improvise on the rhythm while the rest of the group speaks the words and taps the steady beat

• speak or sing the words to "Yankee Doodle," marching to the steady beat, then putting the rhythm in your feet

• ask a small group of students to play the steady beat with rhythm sticks, ask another group to improvise on the rhythm, and ask the others to chant the text

Preparatory activities for dotted quarters

• have students move with the piano accompaniment: quarter notes + eighth notes

• have students move with the piano accompaniment: dotted quarters + eighth notes

• ask students to point and sing, showing the words only (add extra spaces to illustrate the dotted rhythm)

• have students move + sing with the piano accompaniment

• introduce the notation (using straight eighths and quarter notes); transform to the dotted rhythm using ties

• demonstrate how to count the rhythm

• divide students into two groups and perform both rhythms at the same time (reading) with rhythm sticks

Preparatory activities for crossing 2nd finger over thumb

• teach this away from the piano (try playing in the air)

• teach a warm-up pattern (by rote) that concentrates on this, singing the finger numbers

• introduce a piece like "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho"

Preparatory activities for marking the score

• ask students to point to intervals of a 2nd and "circle the 3rd"

• ask students to "put a rectangle around the repeated note in the first line"

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Previously:
NCKP 2013: Part I
NCKP 2013: Part II