This may be of interest
only to the piano teacher, but I have the feeling it may be of use to
parents who are wondering why their kids are having a bad time with piano
lessons.
First of all, if
your child does not enjoy piano lessons, something is very wrong. Having
taught an almost encyclopedic roster of kids, I can tell you that a
creative piano teacher can teach ANY child, if the teacher is prepared to
be patient enough.
There
may be many reasons why a child is uncomfortable with piano lessons.
The
primary reason is usually the teacher. Almost all piano teachers of young
children are too strict and not creative enough to interest the child in
the piano. It’s as simple as that. There are a lot of bad piano teachers
out there, and a lot of impatient kids.
The age of the child may
demand a different approach than the teacher is prepared to give, or is
capable of giving. The reason for this is that there are a wide variety of
personalities in children and gifts in terms of piano, but only one
accepted methodology of introducing children to the piano.
You’re headed for
Carnegie hall, and if you don’t make the grade, you’re a failure:
that’s the mindset of the conventional piano teacher. Do you want to
expose your child to this competitive teaching racket, or do you wisely
simply want them to enjoy music and play it as well as they can?
Each
child is an individual and needs to be treated as such. But the piano
teaching business has in essence not changed since Carl Czerny in the
early 1800’s: you put this finger here, you play it now. For all their
colored pages and big notes, modern piano methods are not unlike the early
ones. The problems of teaching children the piano have not changed at all
since the great J.S. Bach taught his kids in 1700: you have five fingers,
so we’ll use them as a group. Easy to say, but not so easy for a 5 or 6
year old to do.
Consider the manner of
the piano teacher. Are they patient, warm and humorous? Or are they gruff,
demanding and stingy on praise? It’s one thing to be demanding of a
child that has shown promise and WANTS to be driven harder. It’s quite
another to apply that expectation and standard to a child of lesser but
still respectable gifts. The truth is that every child deserves to learn
and be taught the piano within their limits, at their pace, and in such a
way that increases their self esteem no matter how small their honest
efforts might be.
In
fact, let us draw up a hypothetical BILL OF RIGHTS for a child’s piano
lesson.
-
A
child has a right to an interesting, entertaining experience at the
piano. A child is not there to meet the piano teacher’s expectation,
but rather to fulfill their own talents in the best way they can.
It’s the teacher’s job to be creative enough to allow ANY child to
achieve that.
-
A
child has the right to play music that interests them. A teacher has
to be creative enough to find out how to teach a child the musical
principles based on what the CHILD can understand. There are many ways
to skin a cat: you can just as easily use music the child knows and
enjoys (Star Wars, for example) rather than the dry-as-dust exercise
pieces with which even the best piano methods are loaded. They’re
not all bad, but kids are turned off by endless repetition of
“pretend music.” Let them play what they want. It will make
repetition easier and more rewarding. It is the teacher’s job to
forge that material into a musical education, and if you’re a
halfway decent musician, you’ll be able to do it with style!
-
A
child has the right to a bad day. We all do. I’ve seen
over-pressured kids just wilt at the thought of even a modest
additional amount of work. Let’s
face it, piano lessons are an elective. Be creative enough to know how
to disguise repetition as a game, and the wisdom to know when to back
off and simply play piano games.
-
A
child has a right to a lesson that is not entirely concerned with
reading music and fingering. Those two areas are all that most
teachers do during a lesson. But what about listening, ear training,
history, composition, finger games, counting games, and a thousand
other playful ruses that can be used to interest a child in the piano?
What about playing by ear, playing by chords, improvising, memorizing
and a thousand other creative methods that might unlock the child’s
enthusiasm? There is not just one right way to teach all children, but
there is one right way to teach an individual child. A teacher who
uses the same approach for all students is a poor and lazy teacher.
-
A
child has a right to a pace of work that does not exhaust them. Many
teachers forget how deeply fatiguing reading music is for small
children. It requires such abstract thought that most kids can bear it
for a few minutes, but get very uncomfortable after that short period.
Be creative enough to know when to move to something else, or you risk
exhausting the child and their enthusiasm.
Never forget it is their
piano lesson, not yours. It’s not a platform to expound your knowledge
and authority, and expose their ignorance. It’s your opportunity to
interest them in a fun activity that has great intellectual benefits for
them.
By John
Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press All Rights Reserved
See
also PIANO LESSONS: A
CHILD'S POINT OF VIEW
See
also WHEN IS LEARNING
FINGERING NECESSARY?
See also WHY
DELAY READING MUSIC
See also AN
EFFECTIVE STRATEGY FOR KIDS LEARNING TO READ MUSIC
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