Welcome to my Q&A for piano pedagogy. I hope you'll find an answer here - - perhaps even the answer to a question you didn't know you had!

Read through list of questions before you e-mail me with a question, please. I receive a lot of the same things over and over, and because of my RSI I really want to save keystrokes and avoid answering the same questions again and again! Therefore, please read first to see if there's an answer to your question. E-mail me if you have a question I have not answered, or if you need clarification. This way I can answer more questions before my hands refuse to type!

As these questions are answered in order of receipt, there may be other answers that are germane to your question. Please check list of previous and following questions, as most of the time I have not cross-referenced one answer to another. For example, there are numerous questions/answers about method series; please read all of them before e-mailing me. (Use the "Find" feature in your browser, usually found under "Edit," to search on keywords in this QA file.)

Please also consult my pedagogy home page, as the answer might already be on my site. Thanks for your understanding about my RSI!

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I enrolled a student who had only an electronic keyboard on which to practice, with the proviso that the parents would buy a piano within the next several months. It's been a year, and still the child has no piano. What should I do? I hate to drop the girl; she's very good.

First of all, why has there been no forward progress on the piano? Do the parents not want to spend the money? Have they forgotten the bargain they made? Do they not know where to look to buy one? Do you think they might not want to spend the required money -at this time-? Maybe they're waiting (still) to see if the child "takes to piano" before moving on this? Maybe the student can shed some light on the situation. ("Has your mom or dad said anything about when they will get you a real piano?")

Eventually you must approach the parents. Don't be angry or accusative when you do this, of course. Go in with the attitude of "what can I do to help the student get what she needs?"

"Mrs. Jones, when I began teaching Margaret in (fill in month), we agreed that I would take her if you would have a real piano in the home by (fill in). It's now (fill in), and I wanted to ask you where you are in the process of getting a piano. Margaret says she's still practicing on the electronic keyboard."

Then be quiet and let her speak. Don't suggest possible excuses or prod her for potential answers.

She might say, "It's so expensive! We just can't afford to buy something right now."

Then you say, "I think we can solve that problem, but most important things first. Margaret is progressing very quickly. I'm so pleased with what's she's accomplished; and you are doing a wonderful job at home with her." Mrs. Jones beams. "She's now at the point, however," you continue, "where now she needs a real piano so she can begin to learn about piano touch. She can't do that on an electronic keyboard. She needs a real piano." [Assure the mom but say nothing specific yet; compliment her on the job she's doing; compliment the child; say why a real piano is needed now.]

"Now, as to solving the problem, it's very true that buying a piano for Margaret - - a good piano - - will require a sizable outlay of funds, so I suggest that you rent an instrument for her and then watch the newspaper for a good used instrument to buy. Since it may take a while to find just the right one, renting in the meantime gives Margaret what she needs, doesn't require a big expenditure, and allows you time to find the right piano."

You might also mention that "my piano tech" often has instruments he is restoring and then will sell. You offer to contact Ms. __ or give Mrs. Jones the contact info. In any event, you call your tech and explain what to expect when Mrs. Jones' calls.

In advance, you have located several music stores that rent instruments and have some ideas of prices. You also have called your favorite piano techs and asked them if they've seen anything recently that's a good buy under $X (make a guess as to what the family might pay, such as $3000).

I encourage you to tell Mrs. Jones -not- to "rent to buy" but just plain rent. (Rent-to-buy deals often are set up so the rental fee applies -only- to the piano that is rented and currently in the home, not anything in the store; in this way, the salesperson "chooses" the piano for the family!)

Anyhow, you say, "I know Ms. Smith at Smith's Pianos and have sent many students to her. Why don't you call her and ask what she has now in the way of rental pianos? You should be able to get something for about $30 a month. Now, it won't be a beautiful piece of furniture because it's a rental instrument, but it -will- be a real piano. Margaret needs a real piano right now, but you can take your time in locating an appropriate instrument - - probably a good used one - - later. In fact, I talked to Mr. Roberts at Roberts Piano Service. I've sent students to him, too, and if you call him and tell him what you want and about how much you want to spend, he'll keep his eye out for one and call you when he finds something he thinks might be what you're seeking."

Try to get a time commitment out of Mrs. Jones as to when she'll call about the rental if she doesn't say something like, "I'll call today." I'd say further procrastination (another six months, say) means that they don't intend to fulfill their part of the bargain any time in the near future. Re-evaluate whether you want to keep Margaret on these terms.

It may be just me, but I don't like the pieces in the beginners books (by Alfred, etc.) that use left-hand triads for accompaniment. I feel the effect is too "thick". I prefer either one or two notes, with a simple right-hand melody line. Or, in some cases, one note in the left hand, with two in the right. How do you feel about this?

As you will read in many of the answers that follow, I generally do not like "method book" songs because, simply put, they are not good music. They are contrived to drive home some pedagogical point. Particularly in books II and above, the amount of work required to get a decent performance comes nowhere near being matched by the musical value of the piece.

I don't use method books. (I have the same complaint about a lot of intermediate books out there by many of today's composers. The work required doesn't have a concomitant musical payoff. But that's another story!)

As to triads' being too thick, yes, I agree with you. It's also a case of three-against-one, as far as being able to hear the melody.

Another BIG drawback to triads-only accompaniments is that the student never learns to read two-voice music, which is a huge stumbling block when it comes to playing Bach or other contrapuntal composers (or composers who have contrapuntal sections in their works - - that's just about everyone!). I prefer to start with the more difficult approach - - that is, 2-voice music - - and add triad-accompaniment pieces later. It's much easier to do this than to go the reverse direction; my experience with transfer students has borne this out.

And now you are wondering what I -do- use for my beginners. I use my own arrangements of folk songs from around the world, American patriotic songs, and music of the masters. I use medieval and Renaissance European music, too; this stuff has lots of rhythmic shifts, changes in meters, and other good things that shouldn't wait until the intermediate stage to play. It's just as easy to teach Point A and Point B using a melody of Mozart's than some pedagogue's, and the student is the richer for it.

This all came about (many years ago - - ahem) when one of my beginners announced that she wanted to play "Für Elise." After initially dismissing the idea (the child had been studying piano about 3 months!), I thought about it and decided, Why not? So I arranged the first section for her with the melody divided between the hands (starting on one-line E in the RH and using six-four as the time signature). No accompaniment, just melody.

This was an instant hit with her and with the other students to whom I offered it. (The parents commented that they heard "Für Elise" for 20 minutes or more daily. Wasn't there another section? So, I wrote that out, and at least we had an ABA form.)

This reception got me thinking that maybe this was the way to go. The more I used these materials, the more convinced I was, and I embarked on a journey (I'm still on it!) to find good literature with the span of x notes. I have since developed a filing cabinet full of it. And it's all in quarter-notes as the smallest note-value, since I believe that eighth-notes should be withheld until the child can read 3 octaves and is in at least 4th grade. Some particulars: the first "real song" my beginners play is the theme from the second movement of Chopin's piano sonata ("Funeral March"); it uses only 3 pitches (small a through one-line c [Middle C]). After the Chopin, we continue through Bach(s), Mozart(s), Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Kabalevsky, Debussy, Ravel, Henry VIII, Byrd, Bull, Offenbach, Carr, Saint-Saëns, Clementi, Grieg, Türk, Dvorák, Pachelbel, Rameau, Machaut, Josquin des Prez, etc. You can do develop your own teaching materials, too, and I highly recommend it. Your students will benefit from it, but it's a heck of a lot of fun to search and a great way to stretch your own abilities as a teacher.

See also question 15 and question 115 for information on how evaluate available method series, with an eye to making your own (or at least extending and repairing the one you are currently using).

My students are doing fine so far, except for one girl, in grade one, who is not progressing as quickly as her best friend, who started at the same time as she did. They have been practicing together often, and have tried 'duets' - - playing the same piece together, one high and one low. They encourage each other greatly. Should I accelerate the slower one's lessons to help her catch up, while I slow down the other? I don't feel this is quite fair, but I believe that if I can't get them at the same level, the first one, although she would probably do well at piano, may drop out because she is discouraged. What do you think of this situation?

For your situation, I suggest finding duets that are of different levels. If you can't find them, you'll have to write them yourself. Folk songs and holiday pieces are great fodder for this. For example, take Student B and give her the melody up an octave; take the more accomplished student (A) and write her a new accompaniment down an octave. I do this all the time. I make frequent use of 8va and 8vb (also 15ma and 22da), introducing these concepts early (Halloween is an especially good time to do this - - plenty of spooks in the upper registers and clomping goblins in the lower ones). Make sure student B doesn't always get the melody; give it to student A half the time. That way both students learn to bring out the melody when they have it and subjugate the accompaniment when they have that. This should keep everyone happy.

Save a photocopy of your creations because this problem will turn up again (ex: siblings, one of whom started after the other; or a child and parent who play).

You -can- do this. It's easier than you think. And even if your efforts at first wouldn't rate a publisher's glance, your students won't mind a bit and will be thrilled with pieces that you created just for them. Write "For Amy and Karen" on the duet for them. Maybe they'd like to title it themselves? If they are hesitant, encourage them. Maybe offer a topic (not a specific title). "How about something about animals?"

A student whom I began teaching last year had had lessons from another teacher in town, but he moved away and I was the only available teacher, so I agreed to teach her. I soon found that although she had appeared to be playing at a Grade 2 (Royal Conservatory) and had learned several songs by rote, she could not even point out where on the page she was at a given time! As a very inexperienced teacher who is still learning, I began to give her songs from a simplified classics book and exercises from a Dozen a Day book. Since then I have realized that perhaps I should have started at the very beginning for her, as she still is not fluent in note-reading.

This is a big problem in the States, too, I assure you! I think the root of it is that teachers feel obligated to produce "results" for parents (though sometimes for colleagues) or for a competition: that is, the child can play a recognizable tune. Thus, the teachers (and/or parents) push the child beyond comfortable limits; the child must compensate by learning the song any way she can - - many by "ear" and others by "hand position" ("this song is in G hand position and I start with finger three;" rather than "this song starts on B") and others by how their hands look at the keyboard. None of these is even a half-way good substitute for note-reading. I am a real bear about this; there is no substitute for note-reading. Period.

Ok, now what to do. Usually a student who has used these make-shift techniques knows it and knows she's doing it rather than reading. In my experience, these folks are exceedingly relieved when I say, "Hmmm. It seems that you aren't reading as fluently as the level of your pieces suggests you should." Student: "You're right. I don't read very well." Me: "What do you say we embark on a specialized program of reading for a couple of weeks until your reading is better? Then we'll go back to pieces." Student (obviously relieved that finally help is at hand): "Ok!" Then I go back to the pieces in my files that I have arranged and make a guess as to the real reading level that student has. I bring several pieces to the piano and say, "I'm just guessing. Maybe these will be too hard and maybe too easy, so you let me know." This sets the tone so the student knows she is supposed to give me honest input and that we will work together to solve her problem. Eventually we find the right level.

Maybe we even have to go back to square one. That's ok because the student has bought into the program and knows she can't read worth beans. "Ok, so we start over. That way we both know you haven't missed anything along the way. And these first songs will be really easy for you. Is this ok with you?" Note that the student is a partner in the endeavor; I am a facilitator, not "Moses on the Mount." (This is just my teaching approach; yours may be different, and that's ok, too!)

I would suggest, therefore, that you find out at what level the student truly reads and back up a tad before that and work from there. It would be good to preface this with a little heart-to-heart talk with the student (and maybe the parent - - at the same time or later, in the way of a conference). Make sure you indicate -quite clearly- that the fault is -not- the student's (but don't cast stones at the previous teacher, either! Don't even mention the previous teacher; the parent can draw his own conclusions.).

After the student is once again reading fairly well, don't abandon this element of the assignment. Give the child a sight-reading assignment to do daily to make sure she continues to progress well.

As an aside, you might also think about putting Dozen a Day on the shelf for a while, too. Those have quite an advanced note-reading range (rhythmic range, too), and you might do better with something more like John Schaum's Finger Power (Primer level only; the other levels have a large note-reading range that don't square with the technique being presented in them).

Also consider exercises you dream up yourself specifically for her needs. An adult student of mine was having difficulty with legato parallel thirds, so I wrote a bunch of devilish combinations for his pleasure; they're now called "Pete's Perils" and other students have them on their assignments! No matter what you devise for one student, you are sure to use it for one or twenty more students, so consider such time -well- spent! And keep a copy for yourself!

More at question 50 and question 51.

I have taught piano for about 1 1/2 years to 6 beginners, but now I am floundering. I am an elementary school teacher on leave while I raise my kids. I had about 9 years of lessons, accompanied choirs and church services on piano and organ, and now play a Korg x-3 for worship services, but I have very little theory knowledge and even less idea how to teach beyond beginners. I want to be able to give my students a better basis than I got as a student. Do you have any suggestions for me? I thought about taking lessons myself from a certified teacher or taking a college class.

It is my opinion that beginners deserve the best teacher they can get because not only is the teacher giving them the technical foundation (how to hold their hands, how to read notes, count, and maintain a steady pulse) but ALSO is setting their life-long attitudes about music, music study, and also certain practice aids (such as a metronome, counting out loud, reading ahead, etc.). Since you acknowledge that your skills are lacking at this time, I suggest that you teach early intermediate level students until you are ready to teach beginners and other levels. Early intermediates already can read (at least we hope they can!), have the basic ideas of different tempi and dynamic levels, know some practice techniques, and so on. You already have a "shared vocabulary" and there's no need to invent the dictionary with these students, whereas this is a major part of teaching beginners.

Also, I'd advise you to call the local president of the music teachers' group. Look in the phone book; ask at print music stores and piano dealers. Someone will be able to direct you to this person eventually. Join this group - - maybe as a student member if a degree is required for full membership - - and go to meetings all the time. Learn. Talk with colleagues.

Read the music (piano) journals. This will help a lot, too.

I'm very impressed that you recognize the shortcomings of your preparation and want to improve yourself. Good luck! You can do it!

See also Question 122.

I am teaching a student whose mother is very critical. The mother publicly puts down her daughter's playing and effort. She tells her daughter that her playing is pitiful. It is all done in a "joking" manner, but I believe that it really damages my efforts to promote motivation in the student. The student doesn't seem to mind (I'm sure that she is used to it), but I believe that the student needs a positive environment if she is going to learn. I have told the mother that I believe her daughter needs lots of encouragement and affirmation even for the small accomplishments she makes. That didn't seem to change anything. I am leery to flat out tell the mother that her critical manner is damaging her daughter's progress. Do you have any suggestions?

I have been tackling the subject of practice habits lately, and I'm never quite sure just how to handle a child, at a lesson, where it's obvious he or she hasn't touched the piano in 5 or 6 days. Do you lecture or what? Sometimes I'm wary that a home problem may be involved, and I hesitate to come down too hard.

If the problem is not antipathy toward piano playing, I then try to find out if the problem is that practicing is "getting in the way" of fun things. This is the case 97% of the time! I reiterate what I said at the interview, which is that for the child, schoolwork is the most important thing. I expect her to complete her schoolwork first thing when she comes home. Then she must play piano (I try not to say "practice"). THEN she may watch TV, talk on the phone, go out and play, etc. At the interview we've already discussed that some days when homework is so heavy or there's a dentist's appointment after school or some other reason she can't control that means a lot of time spent at the books. By the time piano is done, it's time for supper and bed with no play time. I remind the student of this conversation. Generally, the student will remember this conversation. I then ask whether she's been following this time management plan. If not, I ask if she can do better next week or if there are questions. How can she do better? Are there some things that give her problems every day? How can we work together to solve this problem?

Sometimes I have to use the "Those to whom much is given, much is expected" idea. True, this is a dose of guilt. Really bright kids often have terribly overloaded schedules; they can handle it if they're careful about time management, but most of the time, time management skills are new to them, and they're not very good at them. I go over the schoolwork-first-then-piano philosophy. In nearly all cases (98% and upward), it's a time-management problem: the child doesn't want to get on with bingo but takes a detour by way of the telephone. But who has not done this? And who among us adults doesn't wish she could do that just about all the time?

To answer your question directly, I'd let it slide the first time. It may have been a bad week; we all have them. If it happens the next week or one shortly after the first one, don't let it slide. Address it immediately, even if the parent is in the room. If the student knows you expect her best, she'll try to give it to you because you'll call her on it if she gives less than this. If she thinks she can hoodwink you, she'll try this when it suits her purposes. If the pattern is random but happens with fair regularity, I would also address the problem as soon as you decide it -is- a problem.

The parent is paying good money and making the effort to get the child to lessons. You are giving a spot in your schedule to the child; when your time's gone, there isn't any more. The child must learn to honor commitments made. I'd say that for everyone's good you should address the problem as soon as you see it.

I am teaching a 49-year-old beginner who had four teachers before me. Her progress seems very slow. What am I doing wrong? How can I help her learn faster? Her note-reading is note-by-note instead of patterns, too.

My advice is not to push. Be sure she has a solid foundation in note reading and counting (you might even want to use unit counting instead of meter counting). Rhythm may be this student's major difficulty, especially as she had four other teachers prior to you; the woman has now been required to use four (now five!) different approaches to counting.

That she reads note-by-note suggests she cannot read well. No one really can teach a student to read by taking in whole patterns (Gestalt reading) because each student comes to this skill using her own logic and perception and in her own good time. As this student is not a sophisticated musician, don't worry that thus far she still reads note-by-note.

Put your student on a concentrated regimen of sight-reading, paring back other elements of her assignment to focus her attention on it. Accompany this with rhythmic drills using quarter notes and rests: first divided between the hands, then with two hands playing different parts, and finally as duets of different material with you. Make the early drills extremely easy; remember you are teaching notation recognition (types of notes, rests) as well as rhythmic consistency. Progress slowly, with frequent repetition, before adding new material so you can identify the exact point where her understanding or facility breaks down. These drills will help her hold her own rhythmically and develop confidence in her ability.

After a month of two, start simple duets using no note values smaller than quarter notes. Only when she is completely comfortable with quarter-notes should you introduce eighths. This may take a year or more, so be patient. For eighth-notes, use the same three-part strategy of sight-reading, rhythm drills, and duets. Also give her pieces to prepare on her own that are two levels below her current ability; as she improves, raise this to only one level below.

Adults who seem to have no innate sense of rhythm do catch on eventually. I have taught adult students who took years and years to develop a firm rhythmic sense, despite great facility at note-reading. Do not communicate to her any of the frustration or impatience you feel about her progress. If she senses that you are dissatisfied or frustrated with her, she may substitute a faulty personal system for true note- and rhythm-reading. You don't want that! (That's probably what she's been doing!)

Each student is different, and this student is learning at a speed that feels comfortable to her. Her slow progress does not mean that either of you has failed. If she is happy with her progress and practicing daily the minimum amount you require, you must accept her rate of progress.

I want to earn a master's degree in pedagogy. I have already taught while a bachelor's candidate and find I like it very much! Unfortunately, there are no pedagogy studies at a graduate level in Canada. Can you tell me which schools in the US are good? I hope I can afford to study there! I would like to think that I would become more in demand once I return to Canada with my Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy (and Performance).

Is it possible for a group learning situation to be as effective as a one-on-one environment? Would some students be hindered? Others bored?

More below.

Do you feel it is helpful or harmful for a child to study for upwards of one year with the idea that their pieces are "in C position" or "in G position" without any other type of playing?

Children - - adults too, of course - - should read notes! It doesn't matter if that note is played with the RH, LH, or the nose. That dot on the staff is location-specific to a place on the keyboard.

This is why I do not like "multi-key" beginner approaches: the student is busy thinking, "This song is in G position and I start on my third finger" rather than, "That's a B." And how is he going to find the starting note if that song is in F position? Either the teacher must tell him or he must wait for a heavenly vision! (More on multi-key problems in other entries here.)

What is the best way to introduce minor keys to beginning students? When? Is it necessary to go into depth in theory explanations? How much explanation is valuable?

As a matter of course, do you have your students study triads? By this, I mean play them. (I like hand-over-hand ones and work through all 48, starting with the majors and minors by key signature - - that is, no sharps or flats, one sharp, one flat, two sharps, two flats, etc; the augmented and diminished I assign chromatically. My students also "build" all the triads.) If your students do study triads, then they can see for themselves that major triads have 4 half-steps between root and third (always speak of it as "4 half-steps -away-") while minors have 3 half-steps. This makes the minor triads sound different. Can they hear the difference? (I have a file on ear training for beginners which also may be helpful.)

If you want to go farther, and at some point you'll need to, discuss how scales are built. Major and minor scales have a different arrangement of whole- and half-steps. I like to have my students derive scales. This way they see -why- certain keys have "the black notes" they do. You can tie this in with study of relative major and minor.

See my discussion of this question 190. About the 2nd year - - or after students have mastered enough triads so they can identify them in the music--most beginner pieces are in the simple keys - - start to ask them to identify the key of the piece. Not by looking at the key signature but by -analyzing the final chord-, which is always more reliable. Then point out the key signature. They will find some songs in minor keys, so then you ask them to find the raised leading tone and point that out. You reiterate why that's there, etc. (That is, the raised leading tone preserves the half-step relationship between the 7th degree of the scale and the upcoming tonic which is found in major keys; the reason the half-step relationship is important is because the 7th degree sounds unstable; it "wants" to resolve upward to the tonic; a full step, which is in the pure/natural minor scale, is static and "feels no urgency" to resolve).

When you come to a new song, one of the first things to do - - before a note is played - - is to ask the student to determine the key. And then always ask, "Why?", regardless of whether the answer is correct or not. The student should be able to tell you how he arrived at the conclusion. In this way, he cements the reasoning in his memory and can apply it whenever he likes. If he memorizes some "trick" and forgets the trick, he is skunked. Of course, he might say, "I just guessed," which means you need to re-do the explanation in an entirely different fashion until the student understands.

I recently got an adult student, and I don't have a lot of experience with adult students. My student can read treble clef only. What do I do for the first lesson? What kind of material do I use? Do method books for adults work? Which series do you suggest?

As to materials, I think you'll have to write stuff out for him. I know of no book that is designed for this. (This would be a good niche in the market for -you- to fill!) You might be able to glean LH materials from a variety of method books, though. As this would be a huge expense for the student, especially if the rest of the materials were unsuitable, so I suggest lending him your books. (Photocopying just the songs you want him to play is illegal, of course.)

Start writing songs in 5-finger position-and in only one position. I recommend C for LH (C for RH, too). You'd be surprised at how many songs are in the 5-finger position: Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, Bluebird Waltz, first theme from Dvorák's "Largo" (New World Symphony), Lightly Row, Dreidle, As I Was Out Walking the Streets of Laredo, When the Saints Go Marching In, etc. Also look at the duets by Diabelli from Op. 149; the primo parts are all 5-finger position pieces; transpose to C where needed; convert rhythm so smallest note value is the quarter-note. Some other tunes fall in the 5-finger range but don't use all the notes (such as Hot Cross Buns, part of Frère Jacques, theme from Chopin's Funeral March, etc.).

As to method books, the reason I began arranging my own materials eons ago is that I do not care for method books. There have been many new ones published, but I still find the tunes to be musical deserts because they are written solely for a pedagogical purpose; and I feel that method books introduce eighth-notes far too early. I therefore can't recommend any method books to you. How about talking to your local music store and to members of your local teachers' group about what they use? Sorry I'm no help here!

Another thing I do to reinforce bass clef reading is with the technique book by Aloys Schmitt (Preparatory Exercises for Piano, Op. 16). Right out of the box, I ask my students to read the LH part only; and I -paint out- the right-hand part so they cannot inadvertently fall back on old habits. So my folks read bass clef only through exercise #33. I tell them that "reading bass clef for these 3 pages" means they will never have trouble reading bass clef again. And it's true!

How do you set a metronome to correspond to time signature?

I have two questions. (1) I am a college student who taught beginning piano students as a high school student. I would like to continue teaching because I found it so enjoyable and fulfilling. Several of my students went on to other teachers when I left for college, and I have received very favorable comments on my instruction of these students from their new teachers. I was accepted into the piano performance and pedagogy program at my university but was unable to continue becuse of severe tendonitis. I wondered if it would be acceptable for me to teach piano to beginning students? I am not currently working toward a music degree because of my RSI. I know I am not as qualified as some, but I have a strong foundation in theory, sight-reading and sight-singing, and other important areas. (2) Is there a particular series of books (perhaps you have written a series?) that you recommend for using for beginning students. I have used various books, the Alfred series, Finger Power (Schaum), Clementi, etc., but I haven't found a series or combination I really like.

Have you read the other pedagogy files on my web page? If not, please do and then examine which of what I said coincides with what your theory of teaching is and what you think is important for students to learn. That will give you at least a jumping-off place for designing your own teaching materials.

See also question 2 and question 115 for information on content of "my series."

Also look at all the method series and write down what you like and don't like about each. This will further refine your ideas. Then see if there is a series that is a close approximation to what you'd like. (For example, I didn't like the poor quality music and the fact that eighth-notes were introduced -way- too early! So, my first three "books" are all quarter-note-based.)

Also, what series did you use before? Did it suit you at all? What would you have changed about it? Is there enough good material in there to justify having the student purchase the book? (Remember, you cannot photocopy!)

Sometimes a book will have a bunch of useful things in it. Feel free to skip over the useless aspects. Also feel free to use an opaqueing fluid. I use it in abundance to paint out editorial markings I know are wrong (or feel so), excess fingering, etc., etc. Remember, you know your students best, not some editor.

Probably you will end up selecting the method series that does the least damage, in your estimation, and supplementing it with materials you have arranged

I am a senior in college and have been teaching about 1 1/2 years, through the pedagogy program at my college. This week is my last lesson with students I have taught for the past year and a half. It's so hard to see them go and not know if they will be able to continue. I will be doing an internship next semester, during which I will have the opportunity to teach lessons, as well. I am unsure if I should or not, because I would only have the students for about 5 months. What do you think?

I have been playing the piano for over 13 years now, and I'd like to try my hand at teaching in the near future. I have no idea where to start teaching a student who has never touched a piano before. How does one begin to teach a young child the piano? Where do I start?

Second, sit down and decide what you want to impart to your students. Physical skills? Attitudes? (Go to the pedagogy section of my home page for some files on these topics.)

Also, why are you teaching? Money? Stop-gap job until "something real" comes along or until you "go to ___"? (Try the business section of my home page for files on these and other business topics for beginning teachers.)

What ages do you have in mind to teach? Young beginners have special needs. Older beginners, who have been in school already, are not quite as vulnerable. You also might be interested in my file Pedagogical Guidelines Based on Age and Achievement Level. I also recommend some reading in child psychology and learning theory (how people learn; different kinds of learning processes different people use; how you must adjust your teaching to the student's method of learning. I have found the Myers-Briggs Temperament Inventory (usually called "the Myers-Briggs") to be of tremendous help. There's file on learning and teaching styles which includes a link to a boiled-down version of this test available free and on-line.

And you'll need a method book or some other beginner materials. Many teachers use Alfred; please hold off on the eighth-notes. Just skip over those songs entirely or convert the eighth-note pairs to a quarter-note. (Play that part of the melody both ways; it will be pretty easy to tell which note to make into the quarter and which to discard.)

I also advise you to stay away from pre-notation or one of the really unusual and non-mainstream notational systems (such as Lo-No-Play).

It is my opinion that beginners need the -best- teacher they can find, so since you are untried and untrained to teach, I would recommend that you seek intermediate students instead of beginners. These people would have at least some of the skills down (counting, note-reading, etc.), and it will be easier for you both since you'll have something there to build on.

You do not state your age or whether you've had any college training in another area. I would suggest that you contact the local teachers' group and join. Try to find a mentor teacher. Ask if you can observe some lessons before you try to do it by yourself. If there are appropriate courses at the local junior college or university, enroll in those. And of course, keep up your own private study with an excellent teacher; the more you know about the instrument and its literature, the better teacher you will be.

I recently got an adult student, and I don't have a lot of experience with adults. My student played saxophone and clarinet in high school, but he can read only treble clef. What do I do for the first lesson? What kind of material do I use? Will method books for adults work? What are the good series that you will suggest for me to use?

You'll have to write stuff out for him. I know of no book that is designed for this; good niche in the market for you to fill! Start with stuff in 5-finger position--only one position. I recommend F for LH (and C for RH). This will help him see the connection between the staves, as (after you start the treble clef review), Middle C will be the common note.

There are lots of songs in a five-finger pattern: "Mary Had a Little Lamb," Jingle Bells," "Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow," "When the Saints Go Marching In," "Ode to Joy," "Lazy Mary," "Go, Tell Aunt Rhody," etc. (If you pursue this, I encourage you to use quarter notes as the smallest note value! You will discover that what "normally" fills one measure (when using eighths) must be spread over two measures. No problem! This is beginner stuff! You are not exactly replicating the original; you are making a beginner arrangement.)

I cannot recommend any adult method books. I don't use them. I don't like the pacing or the material chosen. A lot of teachers use Alfred, however. Sorry I'm not a lot of help with this!

Incidentally, all those songs in the five-finger pattern are great to use to introduce transposition!

What is the best way to introduce minor keys to beginning students? When do you think it should be done? Is it necessary to go into depth in theory explanations? How much explanation is valuable?

If you mean figuring out the key signature and noting the raised leading tone [LT], then you'd have to talk about relative majors and minors. I'd start out by talking about triads. As a matter of course, do you have your students study triads? By this, I mean play them. (I use hand-over-hand triads to start.) If so, then they can see for themselves that major triads have four half-steps between the root and third while minors have three half-steps. This makes the triads sound different. Can they hear the difference? (It's never too early to start ear-training.)

If you want to go farther, and at some point you'll need to, discuss how scales are built. Major and minor scales have a different arrangement of whole and half steps. I like to have my students derive scales for themselves at the lesson. This way they see -why- certain keys have the accidentals they do. You can tie this in with relative major and minor, too.

About the 2nd year - - or after they have mastered enough triads so they can identify them in the music - - start to ask them to identify the key of the piece. Most beginner pieces are in the simple keys. This should not be done by looking at the key signature (and, heavens!, not by any of those count back one flat systems!), but by analyzing the final chord, which is always more reliable. Then point out the key signature. They will find some songs in minor keys, so then you ask them to find the raised LT and point that out. You reiterate why that's there, noting the high incidence of that accidental, etc.

(Note: About 5% of pieces do change keys. A good example is Bach's Prelude in C Minor/G Major, BWV 999.)

Big leaps, usually in the left hand, are so hard to play. Any suggestions on how to teach them?

There are four approaches to piano methods generally recognized: 1 - Middle C (such as J. Thompson, Schaum, M. Aaron), 2 - Multiple Key (such as Robert Pace, Bastien), 3 - Intervalic (such as Music Tree or Music Discoveries), and 4 - Modified or Eclectic (combining features the first three; such as Keys for the Kingdom or Faber and Faber). What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach? What differences do you think I'd see in a student after two or three years of study in the various methods?

I'm flattered that you think so highly of me that you want me to do your research project for you! (1) I point you to my voluminous comments elsewhere in this file, plus germane materials that you can access through my pedagogy front door. (2) I will say some things you may quote in your paper, provided you give me proper attribution.

My preference is for the Middle C approach because I think it promotes good body balance (centering) on the bench and good reading - - true reading. In my opinion, the multiple key approach is the weakest, as students to do not learn to read but devise "alternatives methods" for each song since they are not in any one "position" long enough to read well in it. Every student who has ever come to me in a multi-key method series cannot read. Every single one of them. Anecdotal, to be sure, but damning, in my opinion, just the same. Intervalic seems "strange" to students. Steps and skips can be seen readily, but soon the student parts ways with this concept. "A fourth? Huh? A skip + a step? Really? Gosh, that's hard to see, isn't it?" Assuming an eclectic method chose the best from each of the other three, then this would be superior.

I have very little positive to say about method books except that they give the inexperienced teacher some guidance as to what might be presented and in what order. A college-educated teacher should have her/his own ideas about what needs to be presented and what printed matter will do the job. A method, by definition, is based on the norm. And what student fits "the norm?"

Now you know a little of what I think. What do you think? By doing your own work, you will learn what is important to you. I highly recommend it!

I have come up with some problems in interpreting Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum. Would you please give me your opinion?

If you are looking for etudes, I like Czerny's Op. 821, which is a collection of 8-measure-long etudes. I like them because they are short!!! Students can finish them in a week or two. For lower level students, Czerny has other books. (I do not use the "velocity" books, however. Students play them too fast, and technique goes downhill insted of getting better!)

I have recently written a small collection of harpsichord pieces, my first for that instrument. (1) Is it true that there is little the performer can do to alternate between fortes and pianos, other than to add a rank of strings or eliminate one (or use a damping function)? (2) My inclination is to include performance indications in terms of fortes and pianos, along with crescendos and diminuendos, if for no other reason than to indicate the character intended for the music. Would this be of any use at all to the performer, or would it simply be seen as a visual encumbrance to score?

(1) Yes, more or less, true. The harpsichord is a plucked instrument, not a percussion one. No matter how "loud" or "soft" you try to play, the sound is not affected. It has been said the harpsichord is an "instrument of artifice." To play forte, you would arpeggiate chords, add ornaments, double roots and fifths, in addition to adding another rank of strings. Another possibility is offered by only a double-manual harpsichord: couple one manual to the other.

To play piano on a harpsichord, thin the texture, keep the voices close to each other and avoid doubling, and of course, remove any extra ranks or coupled manuals.

There is no generalized damping function such as the damper pedal on a piano. When you lift your finger from the key, the jack falls and the damper makes contact with the string. If there is any sound remaining from the pluck, the damper stops it.

The jack is the vertical piece of plastic (although it could be wood) that is sent upwards to pluck the string when the key is depressed. Attached to the jack is a piece of felt. This is the damper.

A further note on harpsichord mechanics: The part which does the plucking is called the plectrum. You will see that the plectrum is "hinged" in the jack. When the key is depressed and the string plucked, the plectrum is also above the string. Therefore the key must return to its original position in order to pluck again. If the plectrum does not fall below the string (the "hinge" allows this to happen), the string will not sound again if the key is depressed. This "problem" was "solved" by the piano's action.

There are other tone colors on most harpsichords, such as a buff stop, lute stop, etc. For example, a buff stop is a "rank" of bits of leather that can be moved to rest against a rank of strings. This changes the tone color of the strings when plucked.

(2) Not only are such markings a visual encumbrance, but a gross error. Omit these markings entirely! They will give the player no information at all! In fact, if you put these in your score, you lose credibility immediately! A harpsichordist would question whether you knew very much about the instrument for which you had written.

Based on your query, I question this, too.

And now something you will doubtless find insulting. -Do- you know the harpsichord? It sounds very much as though you do not.

It sounds to me as though you chose the harpsichord for the wrong reason. Perhaps it had the tessitura or color you needed for your ideas. Perhaps you selected it for its "novelty" value.

It sounds, however, as though you have just plugged in your ideas, rather like an orchestration homework assignment. You have written a suite for harpsichord and do not know the basics of how it makes music?!!

My -exceedingly strong- recommendation is to spend some time with a harpsichord. Only by being familiar with it can you write effectively for it. Writing effectively for this instrument is not like taking an orchestration course, where basically all you have to do is check that the notes you want to assign lie within the instrument's range/capability and then rely on whim/artistry as to which instrument is assigned the melody and which the accompaniment notes.

(Orchestrators: I know I have grossly over-simplied how orchestration is done. Please forgive me!)

The character of the music must be implicit in the notes, counterpoint, voicing, etc. when writing for the harpsichord. This makes is quite a bit more demanding than writing for piano!

Contact your local university and ask for practice time; or perhaps someone in your community can point you toward a private citizen with an instrument in the home (try the local orchestra conductor, choral conductor, and music directors of churches with good music programs; the local organ and piano instructors are another source). A church might have an instrument. You'd better start looking in the want-ads and check with builders for an instrument to buy because you're sure to fall in love with it!

For now, rename this composition as a suite for piano. You can write a real suite for harpsichord when you understand how the instrument works and "plays."

Do you devise detailed lesson plans every week for every student? Do you think this is very essential? And what do you feel about keeping track of practice times? I feel this is a waste of time, but some teachers I have met insist on it? What do you think?

As to practice minutes, no. Never. There is a file somewhere on my site that deals with this. Look on the pedagogy front door.

If what other teachers do seems stupid or busy work to you, don't do it! You don't owe anyone any explanation of what you do or how. How you run your business is up to you.

I have a 7-year-old student who is a bright girl, but she is having difficulty learning to read notes on the staff and knowing which keys they represent on the keyboard. What can I do to help her? I have been teaching for almost a year, and she has been with me the whole time. Her method book does quite a bit of pre-staff notation, in which she was allowed to choose any octave, and now she doesn't seem to understand that Middle C represents only one key on the keyboard.

(1) If I'm writing music, how I can copyright it by myself? (2) If I want to have it copyrighted by a professional, how do I go about doing that? (3) Is there a difference between the two besides the price? (4) How much would it cost to get a song copyrighted?

(1) Your song is copyrighted -as soon as- you set it down on paper. All you have to do to invoke copyright protection is put your song in some kind of concrete format.

(2) I think you're confused with registering a copyright. You don't need anyone else to do it for you. There's no mystery: you fill out the form and send the money. You don't need an "interpreter." Refer to that section on my music copyright page for information about where to get the form.

(3) These questions are addressed in the link above.

(4) Zero. Copyright is automatic as soon as you write the song down. It's free. Registration costs a small fee ($20-$25 these days, I think - - I haven't checked recently).

I recently began teaching piano out of my home and hope to make this my career. I studied privately for 12 years but did not major in music in college. (I have a BA and an MA in the sciences.) I fear that I'm not very qualified to teach. I currently have 7 students, all beginners. I want to be able to give my students the best foundation I possibly can. What can I do to better myself and give myself more confidence as a teacher short of going back to college for a BA in music? I have tendinitis and fear I will not be able to do a BA in piano, physically. Is there anything I can do sort of in lieu of a degree?

Yes, there are things you can do, but eventually, I think you will want some college-level music study. Perhaps you would like to switch to harpsichord or organ? Meanwhile, take all precautions to guard against flare-ups of RSI.

Here are some suggestions in improve your teaching skills:

Join your local music teachers' group. Here you will find experienced and collegial friends. You'll recognize almost immediately those whose advice you will trust. Ask them about specific pedagogical questions you have. If you don't know where the group is, ask at any retail music store or instrument dealer.

Go to the group's meetings and listen to the speakers. If you can, go to conventions and listen and participate.

Listen to a lot of music - - not just piano music - - listen to vocal, orchestral, woodwind quintets, string quartets, etc.

If you are not currently singing in a group, find a civic chorus or church choir and join it. You'll become familiar with the masterworks of the vocal repertoire and also learn a lot about phrasing, feminine endings, and general musicianship. (If the best choir in town is not your church denomination, I'd suggest backing your ears and joining anyway.) There also may be a civic chorus at your local college or junior college. The more you know, the better a teacher you'll be.

Look into classes at your local college or junior college and see what's there for you. I'd advise classes in applied piano (hope your tendinitis is better!), music history, theory, form and analysis, and music literature (not just piano lit). When there's time, take a pedagogy class. My opinion is that pedagogy can be covered fairly quickly - - that is, learning the basics - - of course, it takes a lifetime to get that learning polished and in place in your studio - - but more "core material" will serve you better than "how-to" material. For example, you benefit more from a class in music history than one in the history of education.

Think back on all the teachers you've ever had and make two lists: what they did effectively (and apply whatever is applicable to your own students/classes) and wretchedly (and avoid that!).

How much does a university job pay? What are the hours? How should I dress? Do I need a doctorate?

The particulars of dress, hours, pay will be available from the college/university in question. I'd say, though, don't expect to get rich! You need a doctorate these days to be competitive.

I am looking for creative ways to teach children.

Here, you must be inventive. You know your students better than anyone else. And you know the content of your curriculum. You really can't rely on someone to have something that's prepackaged and that also "works" in your studio. You have to do it on your own. Actually, all that prepackaged stuff is what the writers worked up for their own studios; it is therefore very slanted. And we would be suspect if it weren't - - have these writers never taught kids before? (I suspect some of them actually have not - - or haven't in the last 30 years!! - - and are making it up out of whole cloth!)

Think like a kid. What did you like when you were a kid? What did you not like?

Think about your past teachers. What things did your piano teacher do that you liked or really liked? What did you really not like? What did classroom teachers do that you liked/didn't like?

Some ideas:

Kids like games: cards, board games, movement games, etc. They like silliness (funny names, nonsensical ideas). They like personalization ("Eric is a Star"). They like spontaneity (you write a song, and they give the title). They like to have some input into what they are doing. They like to be creative (encourage them to write a song on paper and play it for you; ignore all the notation errors and praise the effort, making sure an opus number and date is attached to each; when they are a few months into study, they will look at their pieces and see that they can't "read" them because the notation is incorrect - - then they'll ask for help). They like to see concrete evidence of progress (use short songs, technical exercises). They like immediate gratification (stickers, funny awards you draw such as "Good Sight-Reading Award" or "Terrific Playing Even with a Band-Aid Award"). They want a safe place to explore, a place they know they will not be ridiculed.

They don't particularly care for flash card drill (in my experience). They don't like regimentation (practice minutes charts). They don't care for the "Moses from the mountain" approach.

I've been toying around with the idea of teaching music from my home, but I've no idea how to get started. Do I need some sort of degree? How good should I really be before I can teach?

First, you need to ask yourself why you're doing this (or thinking about it); this topic discussed about halfway down in this file. This is not a job that anyone can do, like flipping burgers. If you are unprepared to teach piano, get some training.

Most parents seek a teacher with a degree, anyway. If you have no degree, you will attract parents who seek a teacher based on price. These are not the kind of students a professional teacher would want. What are you going to charge? There are several files in the business section of my home page that I think you should read.

But yes, you should have a degree to be believable. Naturally, the more data in your database (brain and fingers) the more you can offer to students.

Second, do you have any training or experience in teaching? Just because a person can -do- something does not mean that person can -teach- someone else how to do it.

Third, do you have a degree in anything?

As to how good do you have to be to teach piano: how incompetent would you allow yourself to be without embarrassment or moral discomfort?

I've discussed teacher preparation in many of the above responses. More information there.

How do you teach sensitivity to key speed as it relates to legato, staccato, portato, and finger pedaling?

I know you are not terribly impressed with method books, but if you could choose a method for a 14 year old with some piano experience, what would you recommend?

I would go straight to literature and avoid the methods, but since you're making me be very specific, look at Dénes Agay's The Joy of First Year Piano (Yorktown).

I just completed a course in piano pedagogy. It covered actual pedagogy only lightly and then went to music history of piano composers. I am finishing a music education AA in voice. I am also working on Early Childhood Education credits, and I'm trying to decide where I fit in the field of education today. I am not an accomplished piano player, as my first courses were in college. I received an A grade in a Piano 1 class last year but haven't kept up daily practice. I am interested in teaching young children at the beginner level. How can I prepare for this?

As I understand the job market today, there's not a lot of demand for young children (therefore, beginner) music specialists, per se. If you do other things and -also- are a music specialist, the music specialty is a plus. In today's job market the music with young kids shouldn't be the main job skill you are selling. Mainly because there's not much of a specific market, not because it isn't a worthy field.

As far as piano-for-young-children, to be completely honest, it appears to me that you have insufficient preparation, the most minimal of skills, and not much interest at this point in time. Teaching beginners is not a toss-off.

Beginners deserve the very best teachers, although it is commonly thought that someone with a few skills will be able to deal with them adequately.

As to insufficient interest, you say you have not kept up with your playing/practicing. If you don't find it interesting enough to make time for it in your own schedule, I think it will be difficult for you to convince young children that playing is important! Because you haven't made the effort to continue learning and began piano only in college, your technical skills at the instrument no doubt are very, very minimal. You cannot teach something that you can hardly do yourself! I wouldn't hold myself to be a golf teacher just because I knew which putter to use at the tee!

If you want to teach piano to young children, I think you need to read adjust your focus and really bone up on piano. Forget the young children for the moment. Instead, take a straight degree in piano. Piano performance, not piano pedagogy. Or, take ed courses as your elective courses in your music degree.

Here is a secret about university departments of education: their main goals are to justify their existence within the university structure, to fight for their share of university funds, and for the profs to protect their specialty turfs and their jobs. Ed departments will never acknowledge this, however, but it is 100% true. How many truly wonderful teachers are there of subject x who have a degree in education rather than a degree in subject x? Ask teachers you think are splendid what their degrees are (music or any other discipline)!

In my opinion, what teachers of subject x need, as far as education courses go, can be contained in a couple of courses: child psychology, learning theory (how people learn). The rest is learning stuff so you can speak educationese with the best of them! There is -no- need to spend a semester on the history of education, for example. (Unless your field is to be the history of education.) The history of education can be done up in a week's worth of lectures, if it takes that long! In my opinion, it can be summed up as: basics/try-something-else/back-to-basics. Horace Mann is in there, somewhere...)

What you need to teach music of any kind to any age student is a degree is music, not a degree in education. Specialize in music first; then apply it to young children. Don't start the other way 'round by picking through musical knowledge for what might apply to wee ones!

I have a 10-year-old transfer student who's been playing for four years, but mostly "pop" type pieces, full of arpeggios and fluff. The old teacher played them for her and wrote in the letter names above each note. She couldn't point to the place in the music where she was when I stopped her to ask. The parents thought their daughter was a very accomplished pianist, when in reality, the child can't read a note! I do have the mother's support now since she sits in on every lesson and has realized that her daughter literally cannot find Middle C. My question: I'm afraid the child will be bored with easy songs and quit altogether. I had her doing 5-finger songs for a while. I now have her working on a more challenging piece, but she still can't play it after two weeks of only being assigned 10 measures. Help!

I am glad to hear you have the parents' support. This tells the child that learning to play piano this way is important and that they have put their imprimatur on your teaching as valid, so the child can feel safe using your methods.

One more party you must bring to do the negotiating table! Do you have the -child's- support? Does she know that she can't read? If she doesn't, she may not understand what you are doing and why; and be rebelling at the "baby songs" and therefore is not giving them attention and effort. She probably is playing her "old songs" at home (at least some of them and sometimes) because those give her gratification. We all like to play "old songs" for the very same reason!

Have you had a chat with her about the reality of what she can do? If you can get her to buy into going back to square one and a half, it will be much better for you (and, of course, for her). The secret: show her how she's going to benefit from doing this.

Start by pointing out what she would be able to do with her present skills if she adds note-reading to the pot. Example, she'll be able to take a piece of sheet music she's never seen and learn it pretty quickly and then add all the frills and flourishes she already knows how to do. The piece will sound fabulous and with very little effort!

It will never work to say she "must do it this way now." You have to sell it as a *benefit* to her. It's like any other sales situation! Read my file on marketing and pay particular attention beginning at the section about what people buy and why.

Treat her like a grown-up. Be frank with her: "Look, I know this is not a lot of fun right now, but I promise you, promise you that if you can hang in there with me for just a little while you will see -such- a big difference and you'll be able to play even more songs and learn them even faster!" Get her to buy in by being honest.

Be alert that other problems may be the root. Does the child need glasses? Perhaps there is dyslexia. There could be other kinds of things making her resistant to learning to read, if, in fact it is a conscious decision "not to learn to read." She might be covering up some "defect" (for which she is certainly not responsible!) by being intractable so you won't find out and eventually will quit and leave her alone with her deep, dark secret.

On the other hand, maybe she's not being intractable. She genuinely might not understand. It's your job, therefore, to find out how much she understands and the best way to deliver the goods on the knowledge she still needs.

I am hoping that you are teaching her by intervals. By this method, I don't mean in the Alfred series' fashion. Kids can't absorb all those intervals.

Use only step and skip (2nd and 3rd, respectively) at this point. Later you can talk about empty triads (5ths) and octaves. Even mature readers don't think, "This is a fourth" and "Here is a sixth." They see distances and sort of "eyeball it." Gestalt reading, I call it. When -you- sight-read through something, what do you do? You use Gestalt, too. It's something that really can't be taught specifically. It comes with experience, and each performer comes to it in her own time and in her own way.

Since she's 10, and particularly as she's a young 10, she'll still enjoy games. Devise some note-reading games for the family to play at home. Play the game once or twice at the lesson, when it is new. This is for reinforcement and also for her to see her parents are supporting you and your techniques. Card games and board games are popular with my students, and I assume these might work with you student, too. (More info on games elsewhere in this file. Also look on my pedagogy homepage in files about teaching young children.)

Change what you do at lessons so you really focus on reading.

Here's an example. At the next one, work with her on one or two new measures only so she learns them well at the lesson. This will (1) show her how to learn new music "the new way;" and (2) give you insight into how she likes to learn and perhaps what she is doing at home by her comments on "what I used to do" or "what my old teacher used to do."

I suspect you'll have to spoon feed her a couple of measures a week for one to two weeks. Then do two measures as usual at the third lesson, but -also- talk about the next two measures. Don't learn them together. Instead, talk about how these measures are the same as and different from the ones she already knows. Engage her in an analysis and encourage her to tell you. Be sure to wait long enough for her to think and answer; don't just jump in and prompt her (we teachers tend to do that too often!). If she looks at you kind of befuddled, you say, "I'm not in a hurry. Take your time and tell me what you see in that next measure that is like what you already know."

Also talk about -how- she's going to read those next measures. Actually, you are "learning" them at this lesson. She just isn't playing them! You'd say, "Here you are on this note [you point to the last note of the previously-learned measure]. How far away is this next note [in the new measure]?" Talk about the music hands apart. If there are any kind of patterns, such as a triad divided between the hands, note that. Pay particular attention to any patterns which she already has mastered, such as a chromatic scale.

As you conclude the lesson, tell her how pleased you are with her effort and progress today. And that, "There is nothing there you can't do in this extra material." And "If you feel you are ready near the end of the week, why don't you take a stab at one or both of those new measures and see what happens? If you have a problem, we'll sort it out next time. I'm very confident that you can do this because I've seen you learn _ measures here today. I'm so proud of you!"

My guess is she also may be very afraid to learn by "this new method." She needs to see she can have success at this method, as well as the one used by her old teacher (faulty as it was!).

Also change the focus of the home assignment. Eliminate the technique and other kinds of things you normally assign. For a while, assign only the one piece. For variety, you might ask her to play "a review song" every day and perhaps "choose an old song and memorize it" so it's ready for the next lesson. Also consider asking her to "make up a song;" at the next lesson, you write it down together. This is an excellent exercise in note-reading by itself! "Does the next note move up or down?" and "When does the left hand change?" Playing by ear is another way to flesh out a weekly assignment that has only one song on it so it seems like a full assignment. I would advise *against* filling out the assignment with extra theory workbook stuff; in fact, nix the theory workbook altogether until the reading problem is solved. (I'm not a big fan of theory workbooks - - busywork.)

Another activity might be improvisation on the black notes. Try thundering chords and octaves, Alberti bass patterns, a RH melody that crosses over the LH accompaniment, a "music box" idea in the high treble, melodic sequences, and so on.

Also see Question 4 and Question 8. There probably will be similar questions later on in this file, as I often receive related questions.

My students short-change half-notes in their music all the time! What can I do to help them?

It's a real challenge to get beginners to give two counts to half-notes, I agree. Rather than "nag" at them, I suggest you make a joke about it the short-changed note. Here are some of the ideas I've used (and used and used and used...! This is such a common problem!)

• Write 1 2 in the music. I use a blue pencil (a blue one is always a "counting reminder" in my studio), and I write the counting in, in large numbers, between the treble and bass staves. This way the numbers are not confused with finger numbers or other notations in plain graphite pencil.
• Have the student write in 1 2 every place there is a half-note in the music. I suggest a colored pencil, as above.
• Draw eyeballs just before the note that is habitually short-changed. Let the student do these - - in color - - and add eyelashes or glasses or whatever will snag their attention. If the problem is of three or more weeks' duration, I draw [poorly] a skull and crossbones
• Count in French or German or Japanese or whatever the language of the student's ethnic heritage is or the language the student is studying in school or already speaks.
• Tap with a pencil (or use the metronome) to call the student's attention to the on-going beat. This is especially good while calling out, in a loud voice, "Uno! Dos!" or whatever each time there's a half-note. For adults, you don't need to be a linguist. Just tap; sometimes you'll need to count "1 2" aloud.
• Say,"Gotcha!" when the student doesn't give a half-note a full two counts. This also works with adults. Sometimes with kids I'll say, "I win!" They know I'm just teasing, of course.
• Ask the parent who is sitting in on the lesson to "please stop by the grocery store on the way home and get a big bag of half-notes." Otherwise, make a "mock shopping list" on a fresh page of the assignment book, and list the 100-pound bag of half-notes.
• Draw a picture of a big bottle filled with half-notes. The prescription says, "Take 5 [whatever number necessary] each time you play (name of song)."
• Tease the student about "working too hard. It's much easier to play a longer note than what you're doing right now!" Similar to the above.
• Remind the student that the long note is "a vacation" - - a payoff and a rest - - because the composer wanted a contrast to all those fast notes. "This is your vacation! Take advantage of it!" This strategy also works for adults.
• For adults, remind them with, "Don't rush." Usually kids don't have such an immediate awareness of the beat, so they don't have anything to compare the rushing speed with.
• Have the student play a "two-count song" every week. Call it "Pouncing Tiger" or "Chomping Alligator" or something else silly. Tell her you want her to play a very easy song (maybe say it is "a baby song" to reassure her that it's an easy song). Choose one with half-notes in it; at least two. Start with one that has a melody only; don't do songs where one hand has moving notes and the other has the half-note. Explain that on the two-count notes, you are going to "be ready to pounce" if she does not hold them for the full two counts. Hold your hands close above hers. "Are you ready?" When she lets up a two-count note, grab her hand (gently!) and say something like "Gotcha!" or "Chomp!" and laugh. "Let's do it again. Can I get you a second time?" You're likely to win again. Then, in a conspiratorial tone, you reveal "the secret" to winning: she has to play slowly enough that she can keep track of where the two-count notes are. (Don't call them half-notes; emphasize the number of counts.) Then let her "be the teacher" and pounce on your hands. Thereafter, you annouce that each week she's going to have a ___ Game Song. Let her pick it. She should choose the easiest song she has with half-notes; go back to her early books to insure success. ("I want us to use a baby book so we know the songs are rally easy.") Let her make some notation on it ("tiger song" or "chomp song") so she'll know not to choose that one again.
• The ultimate discouragement for my students: I threaten to sing! Perhaps you sing as poorly as I do and this would be an adequate deterrent??!

Don't give up! A few months of concentrated effort will pay off, and then you'll need only occasional reminders.

Do you have any suggestions about how we piano teachers can plan discussions with parents? Should they be patterned after the parent-teacher conferences done in the schools? Should I take lesson time for this?

Yes, your idea about patterning these discussions after a school conference is one idea and a good one! If you have children, think back on what you have liked and disliked about your children's various teachers and the way they handled parent/teacher conferences.

Another idea is to plan what to say according to what you'd put in transfer papers for this student: (1) where is the student now in the areas you deem important (ex: notereading, counting, steadiness of rhythm, keyboard techniques such as arpeggios and scales, etc.); (2) what literature is the student now studying? what is the purpose of giving him these particular pieces? what will be coming next and why? show parent the present pieces and the pieces the child was playing x months ago (maybe "6 months", since you've not had "conferences" before); (3) mention any problems you see or foresee; (4) ask how things are going at home; thank the parent for his/her support; where warranted, add a compliment, particularly on something specific; (5) ask how -you- can help the parent do the job at home (more structure? clearer assignment pad notations? more songs? fewer? start some pop pieces now? explain concept xyz to the student [again]?)

I see nothing wrong in taking half a lesson (or 10 minutes) to use for this purpose. Make yourself some kind of "report card" that you can fill in the details for each student. Mostly this is for you as a memory-jogger, though of course the parent will probably want to take it home, so make it tidy.

As to how to institute these conferences if you've never done them before, contact each parent in advance - - say 2 weeks - - and say you are going to hold parent conferences for __ (fill in the amount of time) during lessons the week of ___. Ask that any parent who would like a conference longer than 10 minutes to let you know right away. This way the parent decides how much of the lesson (for which he is paying, by the way) will be used in this fashion. Don't ask "if it's ok that we use some lesson time for this." Make a statement that this is what you will do. This is your business, and you are in charge.

At the conference ask each parent whether they would like another conference in X months (12? 6? when school lets out in June?) or whether they would prefer to forego future conferences. Try to avoid a "parent requests" kind of set up because then you have to drop what's going on presently in the studio to prepare for only one conference because Mrs. Blushbucket decides she wants one. It's better to have set times for these.

This is not to say that parents shouldn't talk to you at any time. I believe they should have free access to you for their questions and concerns. I'm saying that this formal conference should only be offered at specific times in the year so you use your time most efficiently.

For the past 6 months, I have had a bright, agreeable, practising student who comes from a wonderful home; she is being home-schooled. Despite all this going for her, she doesn't seem to "get" anything I'm teaching her. She'll do some step and skip identification exercises and get most correct and then will suddenly skip over one or two or suddenly do an assignment backwards (example: 8 tasks where she is to "skip up;" she'll do 5 correctly and then do 3 as "skip down"). It took her three weeks to memorize four measures! We've talked at length - - almost every lesson - - about which direction the note moves, but each week, it's, "I don't know what you mean." If I ask her to play the notes and say the note names, she says, "I don't know what you mean." This is -not- a stupid child. She has a good vocabulary for her age (8) and can hold wonderful conversations typical of her age. She is sensitive, and I know that when she gets overwhelmed, her thinking processes don't work very well. I did talk to the mom tonight and asked when she was able to first grasp the concept of the letter "A" being more than the cute first "word" of a nursery rhyme; that is, when did she discover the "concept" that the letter A could be used to form words? Answer: age 6-1/2! In a phone call, I asked whether or not she struggled with any of her schoolwork. Except for the times tables, she is doing well, said the mom. I asked the student the same question at her next lesson, and she had the same answer: she can't remember times tables. Mom said her vision tested fine.

[An additional question and answer concerning this student about learning steps and skips in order to read notation. Also see file with suggestions about teaching a student who is slow to learn the concept of lines and spaces. The end of this file is how I teach all students to read notes.]

It sounds to me as though this child has a learning disability - - possibly two, as they often occur in what's called a "constellation" of conditions. I'm -guessing- dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. I am not a trained medical professional nor a music therapist. I'm just a piano teacher, but one of my sons has learning disabilities and so I've had a very personal interest in reading everything I can find on this subject. I've also had several learning-disabled students and recognize the symptoms you describe. As I said, I am -not- a professional in the area of learning disabilities, so please consider my answer in this light.

When you said the child doesn't have any sense of note-direction, I thought immediately of dyslexia. It's as though she's seeing these things in 3-D while you and I see them in only two dimensions. Not only three dimensions, but these two notes are sort of "swirling around" in the three dimensions, and she doesn't know from which direction to look at them - - think of the TV ads where you've seen a CAD drawing program rotating the engineering drawing for a new car. This is how she perceives things, and she'll have to learn how to cope with it, but right now, she just can't do it because she's so young. She doesn't even know what's wrong!

When you said she "shuts down," that rang the ADD bell with me. It's sensory overload, and the child does the only thing she can: she turns off. She can't handle the input she has on board - - let alone any more - - so she just closes down. This is what my son did, over and over.

Another possibility might be a vision problem, but it sounds as though the mom has already checked that.

Now, the parents will -not- be happy to even entertain the idea that their child has learning disabilities. This is a terrible stigma in our society, and what a shame this is! The child is "damaged" from the get-go thinking she is "dumb." In addition, the parents think they've "done something wrong" or "have bad genes" and will feel personally indicted.

Learning disabled kids are not stupid. In fact, most learning disabled kids are -above- average in intelligence, not below!! *They just learn differently.*

These kids just learn differently.

Repeat that, please. These kids just learn differently.

They are not stupid, they are not uncooperative, or any other label that's been stuck on them.

They will be just as successful as people who learn in other ways. They will be able to do their schoolwork and be healthy, happy, and contributing members of society. They will be able to get as much higher education as they want to work for. They just process information in a way that is different from the way most people do it.

If most people learned the way children such as your student does, people like you and me would be considered learning disabled because we did not fit the "norm." School systems are built around the norm, alas.

It is time that learning disabilities be de-stigmatized, and this task has to be done one person at a time.

Therefore, the way you present your ideas will make a big difference.

• I think you do have to be matter-of-fact and call them "learning disabilities," but I think you should immediately use the example I used above ("what if 90% of the population learned the way Sara does? Then the rest of us would be learning disabled.").
• Assure the parents there is nothing "wrong" with Sara or with them. Naturally, they will not believe you. (And one of them may have a learning disability.) Therefore, the parents should speak with a medical professional about this. And at once.
• The longer the child goes undiagnosed and strategies are not modified for her, the more her self-esteem is pummeled and the greater the long-term damage will be. They don't want to end up with a daughter who is convinced she can't learn!

If the diagnosis does not come back as learning disabilities, then at least they know one thing the problem is -not-!

It is good that this child is being home-schooled, I think. One-on-one is very good for kids with ADD because the teacher/parent is totally focused on the child and vice versa. When attention wanders, the teacher can call the student back and can tailor the length of different lesson activities to the student's attention span, pushing just a little at a time to extend it over a period of weeks and months. This is the same reason private piano study is good for ADD kids. Not to mention the fact that it gives them a chance to succeed!

The parents should contact the special education arm of their public school district for specific help the district offers to home-schooling parents. This would happen, I'd think, after the medical consultation. In order to receive help from the school district, the child must have a formal diagnosis. There are certain federal mandates given to public schools, too, which decree that certain programs and counseling and so on be available to children diagnosed with learning disabilities. (I'm assuming they are home-schooling under the public school auspices, rather than a private group such as The Calvert School or a religious program. If either of these two latter, they would have to check with "their" district to find out what services are available to their daughter.)

Girls with ADD are less common than boys with it. The parents should press hard to get the specialized information they need for their daughter.

There is another possibility I feel I should mention. She might be having epileptic seizures. In your discussion, I recommend that you suggest the parents get the child a neurological work-up, which the doctor being sought for ADD probably will order anyway. But do mention it; perhaps suggest that the doc might refer them to a pediatric neurologist. A neurological workup might include such things as an MRI, EEG, and/or other tests to look at the brain's activity and physical configuration. Epilepsy is controllable through medication.

After 6 months of lessons, my student often cannot distinguish between B and D in notereading. She also confuses E and F in the treble clef and F and G in the bass. (We are using the Middle C method with both thumbs on Middle C.) How can I help her learn these basic concepts?

Now, as to the confusion between E and F in the treble and F and G in the bass, it could be several things. Maybe she needs more reinforcement with pieces that have all the notes she knows and only one of the "new" ones. You can easily write songs for her; they won't be great stuff, tune-wise, but this is reading practice and you need a -lot- more material than method books present. Let her choose the titles; encourage her to decorate the page at home the following week; you want her to feel that these are -her- songs!

On the other hand, if it's been a while, as you indicate it has been (6 months), she may still be struggling with distinguishing between line and space notes. You indicated that a vision exam turned up nothing. I speculated that perhaps learning disabilities were involved here and recommended that you suggest to the parents that she be evaluated. (This is the same student in the previous question.) Rather than respond to the extreme longevity of this problem as part of this answer, I have written a new file about teaching line and space differentiation to students who seem to be in a fog about this basic concept of notation or are slow to catch on. Please follow this link; the other link in this paragraph also may be of assistance about teaching students with learning and physical disabilities. Also see teaching notereading.

I'm a degreed teacher. What is your opinion of seminars or workshops given at the Learning Annex or park & rec centers, directed toward adults students and claiming in their promotional materials that "piano teachers are holding secret knowledge that they do not wish to tell you as a student" and that as an adult student, "you do not need not learn to play 'baby pieces' from children's books but instead can learn to play quickly and easily" if the prospective adult piano student will attend their seminar for $20 to $39 (and no doubt buy their tapes)? These workshop leaders purport to be piano teachers or former piano teachers. What's going on here? I tell my adult students that, as far as I know, there is no quick and easy way. I feel like they are leading these students on with false promises.

I am doing a paper on ear training in the private piano studio for my piano pedagogy class and would like your permission to use information from your web page. (1) Do you have any other sources recommend? I'm having difficulty finding information. (2) Where did you get your ideas about ear training, which you wrote about on your homepage? How did you come to your conclusions? They're all rational, but how did you decide what to do?

(1) Yes, this is a very under-researched and under-described problem, isn't it? I am sorry I cannot point you toward anything else on this topic. I've never read anything on it in texts or in professional journals. Not that it isn't there! It might be. It's just that I've never run across anything on this topic. This is why I put that file on my home page.

Ear training isn't all that difficult to quantify, but teachers get all tangled around in what they did at college and decide that their college curriculum constitutes proper ear-training activities for beginner students in the private studio. It does not!! Students in the private studio need information they can put to use right away. Identifying harmonic and melodic intervals by ear isn't what's needed right away. Later on, it's ok and a good piece of information to have at hand, but at first the student needs to figure out stuff like "Is this funny sound [dissonance] a mistake or is the music supposed to sound like this?" and "Which hand is making the error?"

(2) I arrived at these guidelines empirically; I've taught a long time. Also, I have a double Ph.D. (the other one is in instruction), so I've done a lot of reading and thinking about, as well as and doing studies on, how people learn. I also believe I have a gift for teaching. (Without wanting to toot my own horn - - and it's going to come out this way, no matter what! - - I think a gift for teaching means someone is able to take difficult or complex topics and put them into language that is understandable, as well as an ability to break down large masteries into small parts and describe those small parts so others can implement them.)

Bottom line: I trust my instincts.

You are welcome to use information (or quotes) in this letter along with information from the file on my homepage.

As to references, unless your professor (or the Music Department) has rules for bibliographic citations, here are the proper formats:

• Lewis, Martha Beth. Personal correspondence. April 10, 1999.
• Lewis, Martha Beth. Home Page. http://www.marthabeth.com/ beginning_ear_training.html. 1996.

What is a dompe, as in "My Lady Careys Dompe?"

Please see the file in my Q&A about interpretation.

A father came to me wanting to study piano at the same time as his son. Literally. His son has been playing for two years, and they took together with another teacher. The father does not mind learning at the slower pace of his child, but what kind of music would be good for both of them to learn?

I have a bachelor's degree in music and pursued public school teaching/accompanying for a while and found it unfulfilling. I went into another line of business, while teaching a few students. Now I'm looking to get back in, but in a more realistic way. I am interested in going back to school to get a master's in piano pedagogy. My question is: what jobs will there be with this degree that can offer monetary stability and peace of mind? I'd like to have some ideas before attempting 2 more years of education.

Do you have any suggestions on teaching lefties? I have a beginner 8 year-old student who played Jingle Bells for me, and I was quite impressed by her form in the LH. Her mom said that she plays songs by ear entirely with her left hand. Is there something I can do to introduce the RH correctly without pulling the rug out from under her? I praised her and told her that she has a special talent that some pianists could only dream of having. What do you suggest?

Since she plays by ear, your solution is simple: start with notereading. Start with the RH. "You can hear music in your head and play it. Now we're going to learn how to -see- music and play it!"

I have a 14 year-old old that is reading piano music at the late beginner and early intermediate level. This typical teenager is starting high school and trying to fit in. She's a hard worker and learns fast, however, she's expressed to me how lately her piano music does not inspire her much any more to want to sit at the piano and practice. Considering her parents just purchased a brand new baby grand piano for her she wants to stick with it, but she feels "nerdy" about the music she's learning and wants to learn more in the style of rock. Besides her method book music, she has learned some short classical works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach, some popular, Broadway, and movie hits, and even some good simplified arrangements of some longer classical works. I've begun to focus her lessons with more boogie, blues, and rock styles which is more up her alley at this age. I'm also teaching her blues scales in all keys. I'm running out of ideas for this diversified student.

You didn't mention technique. If she doesn't have a regimen of this, I think you should start one, but start slowly! And -don't- start with diatonic scales!! Other files on this subject on the pedagogy home page.

Besides the Broadway tunes and movie themes, which you're already doing, other ideas:

• Holiday music
• Fake book style playing
• Composition (try to link it to a holiday, such as Halloween, so she has some "general ideas" of mood on which to draw)
• Sight-reading, of course
• If she goes to church, how about hymns or music from the service? Also maybe she could play at the 4-yr.-olds' Sunday School class; they're a very forgiving audience and also like repetition, so she would probably play the same 6 songs for weeks and weeks (maybe all year! And this would present an opportunity to improvise!). In any case, she'd have plenty of time to add a new one to the repertoire. Stress that these should be simple arrangements, such as melody plus a note or two in the accompaniment, as little ones need to hear the tune loud and clear. Help her make these arrangements. In time, she'll learn to judge what can safely be left out; this would take a couple years, though.
• Other types of community service, such as playing at the retirement home once a month. These kinds of activities will show her that not only can she get satisfaction from her efforts to learn to play, but that her ability to play brings joy to others.

Do you suggest that music teacher have workshops?

As you have read in an earlier answer, I am not an advocate of group sessions ("workshops" or "studio classes," as they are sometimes called), but a lot depends on the teacher's general curriculum.

Suzuki teachers, for example, do a lot of ensemble stuff (especially the string teachers, as this is the venue in which most of their students will be playing - - in an orchestra, not alone on the middle of the stage as a soloist!). A workshop setting is ideal for this because the players already are gathered and ready to play.

Teachers who have students in particular sorts of adjudicated exams often have workshops for teaching of the music theory portions of this exam. It's more efficient to teach a class than one at a time.

Teachers who do competitions with their students also tend to have workshop sessions as a way to allow students to play before an audience numerous times before the competition. Sometimes the student's peers give feedback on the workshop class performance.

Still other teachers use workshops to deliver information for which there is not sufficient time in the lesson. Theory, mentioned above, is one area. Music history is another. Perhaps the teacher has several electronic keyboards, samplers, and so on and uses the workshop setting as a way to give students ensemble experience.

Just because I don't have workshops, though, doesn't mean -you- shouldn't. If the workshop format suits your curriculum and schedule, by all means, go ahead. You will not be alone, as many teachers use these.

Note: As to tuition for a group session, teachers who have workshops often let the workshop substitute for one of the private lessons of the month. Or, they charge an extra fee to cover the group session.

I want to start a monthly or bi-monthly piano club for my students. Where can I find information on doing this, and guidelines on what to do each meeting?

Do you have some tips on teaching pupils with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Do you have experience teaching such children?

Also read some of the other questions/answers on this page, as mention is made of ADD. See especially Question 37.

I have a student with weak finger joints. They collapse, especially the end-most one (and especially on fingers 2 and 5). Do you know some special exercises for such hands?

Let me caution you about when to pursue this problem. At the very beginning of study, there is a lot for the child to process (primarily visual, cognitive, and physical acts), and I wouldn't worry too much about the curving fingers in the early stages or you'll overload him. Perhaps you could wait as long as 2 months before even mentioning it. Then just do it casually, without making a really big deal out of it. When the child has, say, 3 or 4 notes playable in each hand, then you drag out the "curving fingers song." It may be that much of the problem has solved itself as the child's fingers become stronger and he has greater control of them. (In the file above, there are further links to several other files here which may be of assistance.)

Technical studies appropriate for the beginner will help the child gain additional strength and control. There is a section of files listed on the general pedagogy page concerning technique and the teaching of it. These may offer some solutions for you for this student.

What is the exact problem with thinking in positions as in the Alfred Basic Piano Library and other methods? Is pure note reading more difficult in this way and why? For me the advantages of reading in positions is that it prevents pupils' reading note by note (note spelling). More Gestalt so to speak.

I believe that thinking "in F position" or whatever position it is is a shortcut that circumvents learning rather than a shortcut that -aids- learning. It is laziness. If you do not agree, you most certainly should do exactly as you think makes best sense for your students in your program. These are all variables!! We teachers have to improvise and tweak all the time for each student

As to note-by-note reading, I have no problem with it. Note-by-note is the way we -must- learn to identify notes. I think note-by-note reading is a -good- thing! Each note is identified separately and associated with a specific location on the keyboard.

As to Gestalt, this is a natural accumulation of knowledge somewhere along the line as the student matures as the result of playing music (and, to some extent, diatonic scales). The eye eventually perceives a certain key because of the number of sharps/flats in the signature and the accidentals in the score, and the hand "recognizes" the key because of the way it feels. The student acquires this in his own time and in his own way; it's a "wiring" thing of both eye and hand, I believe. In fact, I wouldn't even know how to go about telling a student how to acquire it! Just as eventually everyone comes to what I call "Gestalt reading," Gestalt hand position happens, too. ("Gestalt reading," the way I think of it, is, for example, perceiving a group of 4 adjacent ascending notes as 4 ascending notes stepwise, reading only the first note. Or perhaps not reading it at all but finding its location relative to the note before. A triad is another Gestalt reading pattern, as is an octave or a third.)

Do you consider it as harmful to tell a pupil that there are seven positions in each key? I tell my pupils, for example, that the D position in G Major is D E F# G A and that the D position in C major is D E F G A.

This is also excellent if you want to teach modes. In fact, you might want to consider introducing mode names as "just another name" for the thing you've been doing all this time.

As to using it as a teaching device early on, I wouldn't. Too much input. And modes are confusing enough for music majors!

Again, use the method that best suits your students and your curriculum. Explore as much as you can. This way you can make a good decision about what to use as your "baseline" approach.

More at question 4 and the following question.

I have been using the Bastien method books and have found my students tend to rely on hand positions. I was hoping to find a better series of books but it seems there are none. You mention preparing special songs for students. (1) I am willing to write music for a 4-year-old beginning in the fall, but what do I do with the other 14 students of mine all at various stages of the Bastien books? I am a full-time university student and don't have the time during the school year to write songs for each student each week. What material is out there? How much am I going to have to create during my summer break? (2)How do you send your songs home with your students? Separate sheets of paper? (3) Do you use separate theory books or produce your own theory activities?

(1) You can't do all of this in one sitting, ok? It's going to take you several years, but you can make a gigantic start. For the 4-year-old, start by jotting down the titles of all the 5-finger songs you can think of (5-note melodies), such a Jingle Bells, Mary Had a Little Lamb, When the Saints Go Marching In, etc. Arrange those. If you start in a Middle C position, arrange them "across the break" for both hands, but try to avoid sharps and flats in these early pieces. Save such pieces for later if you can't get them into an easy key. See this file for further ideas on arranging music for beginners. (Of course, you also want to jot down a list of songs which require fewer than 5 fingers, such as Hot Cross Buns.)

As you play your own music and hear stuff on the radio and in concert, you'll say, "Wow! That theme has only 4 notes! I can arrange that." And then you do. I've drawn staff lines on scraps of paper so I can "take dictation" on something I heard so I can write it out at home.

As to the intermediates, you can make arrangements for them, too. Who wouldn't want to play a simplified version of "Moonlight Sonata"? Also there are some sheets of stuff out there - - mostly old stuff ('30s and '40s) that is now out of favor because of the artwork and over-reliance on playing by finger numbers, but still these things musically valid in content. See what you can find in old method books; try garage sales, etc. See your sheet music dealer, too, and ask him to see what's available; some of that old stuff is still in print.

Paint out the garbage (excessive fingering, for example).

Also, look at the stuff by Dénes Agay (Yorktown). He has a bunch of books called "The Joy of......," which are good. He's a good musician and scholar, and his arrangements aren't garbled up with junk. Your intermediates could use these books, for sure. Then get them into sonatinas as soon as they are ready. Be sure to spend some time on sight-reading, in a concentrated program of weekly assignments. I use books by Allan Small (Alfred); they are too full of fingering, but that can be removed. It's acceptable (not great!) music (rather predictable arrangements!), but not too difficult for the musical content that's there.

(2) As to format: I write by hand or use a notation program and then photocopy. Students put pieces in a 3-ring binder. (For a few more remarks about Finale, see the answer to question #105.)

Be sure you watch copyright, though. Only public domain stuff should be used. See my section on that if you haven't already read it. Note, however, that PD stuff -in a specific edition- can be copyrighted, so work from an Urtext edition to make sure that you are not mistaking an editor's ideas for phrasing, etc. as the composer's.

(3) For theory, I make my own as I need them for that particular student and that particular problem. (And I keep a photocopy so I can pull out that page when another student has the same difficulty.)

ReSa Publications (California) has some good theory sheets. You might look at those.

I have an 8-year-old student, studying just over a year. She's very bright, caught on quickly, and her enthusiasm is such a joy! Her preparation for lessons was always excellent, and she made terrific progress. She started out on an electric keyboard, and, as promised, her parents bought her a piano about 6 months into her lessons. A few months ago, her parents separated and her progress made an immediate nose-dive. She missed several lessons when her mother had to go back to work, and her father forgot to bring her, etc. I helped her work out a plan for reaching her weekly assignment goals (the piano is at Dad's and she lives with Mom, in a small apartment where there is no room to put the piano), but she's now struggling. I know she's having difficulty practicing, and her mother was always available to give her direction if she needed it before but not now. I'm just not sure how to handle this with her parents. She's a talented young lady and should continue. I could never come down hard on the student, as it's not her fault and she's really trying. It breaks my heart to see this little one losing her spirit and getting so frustrated. How can I approach this subject with her parents?

Now, you may not wish to do this - - that is, keep her with little actual forward progress - - and this is your decision, of course, as it is your business. Even if you eventually dismiss her, I'd encourage you to fight the good fight for a while for the child's sake. She needs you, as much as she needs music.

My kids don't like to play slow songs at all! But some songs just have to go slow! Can you give me some ideas of how to deal with this?

You speak often about arranging music for your students. What do you use for the sources? Do you have all these pieces in your head and work from there?

No, I don't have all of these floating around in my head, but, yes, a good many are there. Even if I think I know the piece, I fear I may make errors in notes and rhythm, so I always work from a score (Urtext).

Your question then becomes where to get the scores. Your music store, music library, colleagues, etc.

When arranging, remember that you don't have to use the entire melody! Often the first 8-16 measures are plenty; or, if you have to augment the rhythm (that is, double values so you avoid eighth-notes), 4-8 measures will do it. It may be necessary to formulate a cadence, of course.

Knowing that you don't need the entire piece, look for literature:

• musical examples from your college music history and music literature texts
• scores from your music cabinet
• hymnals
• anthologies such as Norton Scores (ed. Roger Kamien), Masterpieces of Music before 1750 (ed. Carl Parrish and John Ohl), and so on
• scores and miniature scores (check your music library)
• The Classical Fake Book (pub. Leonard) has many melodies, along with the chords; use your knowledge of the original piece to construct an accompaniment in keeping with the original (to whatever difficulty you wish; some Bach pieces, for example, might have only a one-note accompaniment rather than the imitative original accompaniment)
• take aural dictation (remember you need only the melody!) and fill in an appropriate accompaniment, relying on your ear for the correct harmony

Remember to respect copyright. Use only pieces in the public domain.

Note: -Editions- of pieces in the public domain are copyrighted, so don't take someone's arrangement of a Mozart sonata as the basis for your arrangement. Work instead from an Urtext edition so you are assured that everything on the page is Mozart's and you are safe in using it all. What is copyrighted on such editions are such things as fingering, dynamics, slurring, accents and articulation, and so on. The notes are unchanged (well, usually!). You can use an edition if you need just the notes. What you can't use are the editor's additions, and often you don't know what they are, which is why an Urtext is always best if you can get hold of one.

What do I do when a student arrives at the lesson in all agitated?

When my student plays, she moves her entire arm up and down with each note. How can I help solve this problem?

On your recommendation of the piece "Mysterious Procession" by Dénes Agay, I bought the book The Joy of First Year Piano. I am very excited by the possibilities of using this piece with some of my students yet am unclear about exactly how I can do this. From my understanding of copyright laws, I cannot make a copy for my student. Yet it is financially impossible to request that this book be bought for only a few pages. How have you used this book in the past? In general, how do you handle asking parents to purchase a book from which not all material will not be used?

Yes, you are right about copyright: you may not photocopy songs from the book, or even one song (unless you contact the copyright holder -and- receive permission).

What I do in a case like this with a book that has a few things I want to use as actual study pieces, is to use those songs I want (such as "Mysterious Procession"). Later we come back the pieces that are -not- studied initially, using those parts of the book as sight-reading material. I explain to the parent how I'm going to use the book when I request the purchase. "We are going to do some songs from this book now, and the rest we will do later as sight-reading. We -will- use all these songs, just not all of them right now." Parents accept this and buy the book without complaint.

You are right that we must be careful about requesting purchases; the parent needs to see the item in use! This goes for asking parents to buy a metronome, too, as they are pretty darned expensive!

I'm having a terrible time getting students to observe rests! A good example is the Clementi Sonatina #1, as in the first movement. Please help!

Ah, yes! A perennial problem! And it doesn't matter the age of the student or which piece of music it is, either. See my file on this.

I was interested to know about the "20% fun" part of the daily home practice. Do you have some suggested games or ideas?

Fun: playing old songs in a different way, playing pop music or holiday music, improvising, fake book stuff, writing a poem to set to music (usually I write the music if they write the poem--it's quicker--especially for those who haven't done any composition); for the little, little ones it's games with the parents.

How do you teach key signature? My students can never remember the altered notes.

Another problem we all face. See my file on this.

Like you, I emphasize note reading and am appalled when I receive transfer students who cannot tell the treble clef from the bass clef, despite years of lessons. I now have a student who presents a problem that has never come up before: an 11-year-old boy who is so eager to take lessons that he works to pay for them. He began studying with me as a beginner about eight months ago. His note reading skills are outstanding, his counting pretty good (except for rushing through half notes in typical pre-teen fashion!). My students' music is sparsely fingered. The problem? He cannot remember which number corresponds to which finger. He can get it if he thinks about it for 20-30 seconds, but that's too long. I've tried saying the finger numbers and raising the appropriate finger. I've even reverted to some older music (like the John Thompson stuff) that has all the finger numbers penciled in or put them in myself, but he just ignores them because - - he says - - he can read the notes! In my opinion, he needs to know and use the finger numbers, and it has to be automatic, just like note reading. Any recommendations would be welcome.

I have never encountered this before. My first thought, as I began to read, was "learning disability." This may be what it is. There's something about the wiring in his brain that makes it difficult for him to associate a number (a symbol) with certain finger (a physical thing) without actually paying attention to it, which is why he must pause 20-30 seconds.

I'm wondering if perhaps just some emphasis on principles of fingering (like my Two Commandments of Fingering) would do the trick. Then just let him use whatever finger he likes that doesn't violate whatever your rules are, which fits his hand, and which does not have an adverse effect on the music. Forget trying to get him to think finger numbers. Plainly he is motivated and would do it to please you, if nothing else, if he could do so without great concentration. Since he can read well, and it's only been eight months, try this for a while and see if he doesn't learn the finger numbers subconsciously and by pure repetition.

Another option might be to present him with a new piece and ask him to figure out the fingering and write in the numbers himself. This needs to be a song that lies in a 5-finger position and (well, by necessity, I guess!) is composed mostly of steps and skips. If this works well with one song, introduce another. Make this a specific thing on the assignment and call it a "Finger Mystery Song" or something like that.

This may not be the solution, but the only other thing I can come up with is writing the numbers on his fingers with water-soluble marker!

I think this will work out in time, however. Don't be too distressed. He sounds like a wonderful young man! Lucky you!

Sometimes an advanced students brings in a piece of music he or she wants to learn, which is ok. But if it's something I've never played, then it's not ok! Help! What do I do when this happens? I don't object to the student's studying the piece. I just don't want to be embarrassed by my lack of familiarity with it.

Just say, "I don't know this one. We'll learn it together." Right up front, you admit you don't know it.

Don't feel bad you don't know every piece! Even every major piece! Even one piece by every major composer! Who could? (Have you sight-read all 12 of the Clementi sonatinas? Everyone who hasn't, please raise your hand. Oh! You didn't know there were 12 and not just 6?)

Get a score to study and play the piece yourself. Don't try to wing it at the lesson.

I am a relatively inexperienced piano teacher. I was wondering how it is that some teachers can have high expectations that students will always meet (i.e., learn this new piece and have it memorized by next week), while others, such as me, will try to push their students just to learn a new piece hands together for next week, and they come back with only, say the right hand part learnt. This is in view of students who are moderately above beginner, i.e., grade 2-3. Am I just not motivating enough or not strict enough?

A lot depends on the student. As you know, there is much variability. AND other teachers could be lying!

Maybe the pieces you are assigning are too difficult? Too difficult to expect hands together in one week? Maybe the music is boring (are you using method books?)? Maybe the music is too much one style (and thus boring)? Too many things on the assignment list (and thus no one piece gets the attention it should?)?

Do you and the student work out what will happen at home in the coming week? If so, then the student is more likely to do it because his word is riding on the outcome, too. If you're not doing this, you might try it.

On the other hand, maybe you need to dismiss some students because they are not trying. Tell them they have one month to straighten up and fly right. Tell them exactly what you expect out of them and what will happen if they don't meet your expectations. If they don't, dismiss them. There is no reason for you put up with students who do not want to learn. (Note: If you need the tuition fees, keep the students on and get an advertising program going so you can get some new students and get rid of the disinterested ones. Best place to advertise: elementary school "Pricipal's Bulletin" newsletters and school directories. Word of mouth is excellent: tell your present studio families that you are looking for new students.)

How do you teach a student to "polish up" a piece? I know from experience that polishing just means more practice to get everything smooth and musical, even if I know all the notes and fingering already. You know the point when a student can play a song decently, but just not smoothly? I find the problem with some students' inability to make an entire piece fluid is because they don't know how to look ahead to the next bar and prepare; they have to stop at the end of every line and figure out the notes, the fingering, etc.. I don't know what to say about this except "look ahead and think about where your fingers should be next".

You need to teach the student what the next steps are after the notes and counting and fingering are learned. Are you sure the student understands these three basic things?

It's not enough to say "read ahead." You have to teach the student to do it.

Suggestion: Write some stuff in 4-4 time (non-melodic is just fine - - these are not great pieces of music!) that has a whole note in one measure, followed by a measure with two half-notes. As the student is holding the whole note, slowly move your pencil toward the first half-note in the next measure and say, "Read ahead." [I might say, in this instance, "One - read ahead - 3 - 4," as I often count aloud for my students as I tap (and also sometimes point - - this is a mixed media production, for sure!).] The third measure is a whole note; then a measure with quarter notes in it, and so on. Give them one measure to get organized, so to speak, and read ahead and then a measure where they have to play what they just read ahead.

Dynamics and bringing out the melody are two other things that must occur to have a polished piece. Also, the piece should be played at the proper tempo; the student may be playing too fast or too slow.

Another thought: I don't believe that every single piece must be polished to recital perfection. If the student really dislikes the piece (and that's after learning the notes - - many times students say they dislike a new piece when what they really mean is that it's hard for them and therefore no fun), we drop it. No big deal. There's lots of music out there; why grind away on a piece the student hates? She won't ever make good music out of it, and trying to polish it will only foster dislike.

Where can I find a list of pieces suitable for a medium-to-advanced intermediate, especially one that includes the lesser-known composers?

Sometimes, even though all the points are learnt, a student's pieces still sound rather hesitant and shaky. I think the student just doesn't know the notes well enough, but it's not enough for me to say "practice it until you're confident in playing all the notes correctly."

I have a beginner who is 7 years old and is always distracted. She's either playing her own little melodies by ear on the piano or staring at her shoes or something. It's hard to get her attention. Also, she doesn't really understand how to read notes on the staff. And, the parents don't seem to know much about music, plus they don't help her at home. I think she needs help practicing. Last, I wonder if I should just somehow pass her on to some other teacher. Her first teacher did not inspire her, and I'm afraid if I dismiss her, it will sour her forever on piano lessons.

Based only on what you have told me my experience, I believe the child has a learning disability. After you work with her for a couple of weeks, you might approach the child's parents about getting her evaluated.

I'm a piano/theory teacher at a private elementary school. The basis of our music program is to teach all the children keyboard. I have been encountering difficulties teaching a whole class of first graders piano all together because of the varied developmental stages the children are in and also because some students are more advanced due to their taking private piano instruction. I have this problem in all grades 1-5, and so now I have the kids in small groups of 2/3/4/6 students, depending on their levels, for 20 minutes (sometimes less!) during one recess per week. I have found that now I am making slow progress because I can get to the individual kids, whereas before it was practically impossible. However, I am still looking to improve this situation especially for next year when we will have more students starting at our school and more diversity in levels. I am looking for workshops or other schools around the country that may have such a program that I may visit. Or if you know of any Websites that can help me in this regard, I would appreciate it.

After using the same assignment sheet for the past 2 to 3 years as a teaching tool that will help my students keep track of what they need to be working on at home during their practice sessions, I feel I need to make a change. I am currently using a very generic assignment sheet that has a place to write out page numbers and practice tips for what to watch out for and to prepare for the next lesson. You may have seen this out of an assignment book pad (Alfred, I think). Anyway, I'm wanting to do away with this very boring, plain piece of paper they take home every week and try to give the student a more efficient way of listing specific problem spots I want them to work out; and/or musicianship concepts I want them to think about as they play, etc. Since I teach all ages, the overall assignment format varies from student to student. Before I used the assignment sheet, I used to just write out their assignment on a spiral notebook they brought to class, but I found myself writing so much during their class time. I also grew tired of writing the same things down over and over. So, I'm searching for something that they can go to daily as they practice on reaching certain goals. What do you suggest?

What do you think of practice time sheets and practice time/most progress awards? I tried the time sheets and practice time awards, and they did not produce the result I had hoped to get. I'd like any suggestions that may help with ways to set up their weekly assignments and any reward ideas you have, too.

I have a few courses in music and I'm studying with a teacher now, as I want to be a studio teacher. Can I teach beginners with what I have now?

I am of the opinion that beginners need the very best teachers possible, and as a newbie teacher (and one without a degree), you really aren't in that category - - yet! So do get some training. The better a pianist and overall musician you are, the better you will be able to teach.

I'm a piano teacher (and successful, I think), but my husband keeps saying, "Why don't you get a real job?" I feel I -do- have a real job. How can I answer him? He's a sales manager and works 40 hours a week. He tells me how the women in his sales force make so much money. I feel I am doing something important in teaching music. I am really angry about how he is treating me and feel that his remarks are completely un-called for and really pretty mean. Thanks in advance for your help.

Have you considered raising your fee?

An aside: My guess is that he's needling you because he is dissatisfied with something about himself, and it makes him feel better to make you feel bad. His problem may have nothing whatsoever to do with your career or music or even with you. It is a problem that is his alone, and you are just a convenient target for his anger over it.

On the other hand, perhaps his dissatisfaction truly is related to your career. Perhaps he genuinely feels inadequate because he is not earning enough to support the family as he wishes to do it. He may be taking pot shots at you because your having a career at all implies that he is inadequate.

If he is the mean-spirited type, perhaps he's aggravated by your income level. If you made more money, he wouldn't have to work as hard at his job! Then he could "sit around" the way you do and take it easy all day. Obviously, this is not the way a grown-up acts.

Perhaps you should look into some marriage counseling? If he won't go, go by yourself. (Jeepers! I sound like Ann Landers!)

Suppose I were to teach my daughter the piano starting at age two. Are you saying, according to what I read on your homepage, that eighth-notes shouldn't be introduced until my daughter is nine?! That seems a bit old!

Sometimes I want my students to repeat a section of the piece several times at the lesson (that is, practice with me). They balk. Do you have suggestions?

Sometimes there are a few minutes at the end of the lesson. I don't want to start something new because there isn't time, or the child seems fatigued or has been out of sorts today. I don't want to dismiss the child early. What can I do to fill the last 3 to 5 minutes of a lesson like this?

I'll begin teaching in the fall, and am struggling with which books my students should use. (1) I personally was taught with the Nelson and Neal piano study series, which worked very well for me. I notice that the majority of methods available today rely heavily on position playing and learning by rote. I want to stay away from position playing because I've heard horror stories about those students not really learning their notes well, etc. My question is: can you suggest other series besides Nelson and Neal that I may be interested in? What do you know about Frances Clark? (2) Do I need to get different levels of books for a beginner aged 5 vs. a beginner aged 7 or 8? If the series doesn't specify age groups, should I start the younger ones with the "prep" book and the older ones with a "level 1" book, for example?

One of my older students came to me with Bastien and with Faber & Faber in her past, and she claims to play by ear, not being able to read the bass clef notes at all! I worry about how to teach her at this point.

My 11-year-old daughter doesn't want to practice. She is so talented; she has played for 4 years. She has won two local competitions, and her teacher thinks her very talented in music. She has played the Haydn D major Sonata for the competition. She is very advanced in her math study, at grade 5; she has already done intermediate algebra program from Stanford University Educational program for Gifted Youth with an A+ grade. She still does not like to practise piano at all. She tends to rush through the piece without working on precision of the piece and says she is bored with the piece. She even considered giving up the piano. On the other hand, she can do her math for a very long time without complaining. I am wondering that if we are wasting our time and effort to force her to do something she is not naturally inclined to do. (Her piano teacher thinks otherwise.) Is it normal for a musical talented 11 years old still hate to practise after 4 years of hard work? When I sit with her for her practise, she seems to progress much, much faster than when I do not. We have tried let her practise on her own, but she does not seem to pay the same level attention as if I sit with her. Should I continue to sit with her for her practise? If so, when you think she will be able to practise and do it by herself? The main question is should she continue serious study of piano or should she quit?

You might try skipping a year of competition and see if the practice situation improves. Or if she decides she misses the competition. Or decides she does not like it. Better to eliminate the competition than allow her to quit. Note that sometimes teachers (and/or parents) insist on competitions because it's a way to showing the teacher is doing a good job and/or that the parent has done a good job choosing a good teacher. Examine why you (and the teacher) feel competitions are important.

My guess is if she keeps playing, as she matures she will appreciate what you are giving her the opportunity to do and how good she is at it already.

Give her chances to -use- her skills: giving concerts in the community or at her school, etc.

I have a student (11 years old) who is interested in competing for the first time. The requirements stipulate that the piece may be in any idiom by any composer, but not a sonatina or sonata movement. The time limit is 3-5 minutes. I have never entered a student in a competition before and am uncertain about what literature would fit these requirements.

I am a relatively new teacher with a small piano studio. Most of my students are elementary age and in their 1st (or early 2nd) year of study. That said, I will be taking 6 weeks of maternity leave starting in February. All of my students plan to return when I begin teaching again in April. I would like to give them some fun music-related "assignments" to do while they are out. I thought this might be a good time to do some composer- or music history-related "homework" sheets. Do you think this sounds like a good idea? I doubt if the majority of them will spend much time practicing without a lesson to motivate them. Or do you have any other suggestions? I have not really been able to locate any education books that look useable for this purpose.

7. Make "games," like decks of cards. Kids love games. They'll play games, but they hate flashcards (at least in my experience!). Ask them to play a game or two every day. Not only does this keep at least some of the knowledge in the active part of the brain, but they'll remember they will play piano with you again soon. We don't want out-of-sight-out-of-mind!

I have a piano student who graduated from high school last year. He wants to get a jazz degree from a local university. Right now his ACT scores are not adequate to allow him into college. Also, he can play advanced music, but his note reading ability is not that great. He has a great "ear" for chords and progressions, understands scales, and, on the whole, understands more theory than most students. His ability to actually sit down and read the notes is not that great, however. He is working on the first movement to Beethoven's Pathétique Sonata and lacks just the two pages in the middle section, going into the recap at the end. I have asked him about his grades while in school, and they were good. He doesn't appear to have a learning disability like dyslexia (which is what I tend to think he has) because he says he made high grades in English. Music is not English, and I wonder if I need to enlarge his music so he can see it better. He doesn't wear glasses, and I was wondering if he needs to wear them. I fear, when he does get into college, he will struggle with not being able to read the notes fast enough. He does have a problem taking tests and doing well, so I suppose we are hanging on until he gets a good score on his ACT. Except for my telling him to sight read more, is there any other suggestion you have to help him read better?

3. You may be right. He may be dyslexic. (And he may be embarrassed to tell you of his learning disability, if indeed he has one.) Good grades in English do not necessarily mean no dyslexia. He may have learned how to work around it. I think a professional evaluation would be a good thing for this young man if he has not had one. To wit, his difficulty with taking/doing well on standardized exams. In classes, it is possible to work slowly and thus get around a learning disability (in addition to learning other strategies to deal with it), but in tests such as the ACT, this is not possible because speed is factored in. (My son is learning-disabled, and he has a terrible time with timed tests, but if he can take all the time he needs, he does well on content scores.)

4. Prepare a specific program of sight-reading for him. Read my file on this. For his level, since he is struggling so with the Pathétique, back off to Clementi sonatinas. On to Burgmüller Op. 100. Go through the Kuhlau sonatinas. Then to Kabalevsky. There are plenty of anthologies, too. You get the idea. He should read, at minimum, one full movement a day. A full sonatina is even better. As we both know, the more he does it, better he will be; and the faster he will be better.

5. Cool it on the Pathétique. It sounds too hard for him (not physically, however). Have you done the "alla tedesca" sonata (Op. 79)? Try a couple of slower movements; is he doing II of the Pathétique? Also consider the sonatas in Op. 49 and the "La Molinara" variations. (And the Mozart "Twinkle" variations.) Also, being unable to conquer that middle section (ahem) must be frustrating to him. Better that he put his energies into reading, which is a major shortcoming - - it is, as we both know, debilitating. You have surmised correctly that he will be unable to keep up with college music studies given his current level of preparation in basics like note-reading and sight-reading.

6. He may have better luck if he memorizes his music as he learns it. This would be a short-term solution to the reading problem, however, but it is a skill he'll need as a music major. He must learn to read. Bottom line.

7. Having a good ear and understanding theory will not get him through a college level music program. He must read. There is no substitute, and there is no way to use other strategies. He must read. Without this skill, he's doomed at the college level. There is no way he can fake his way through. Period.

If he wants a college major in music, he must want it bad enough to learn how to read. If he is dyslexic, he will have to devise a workaround or other strategies to learn to cope. He can't be a professional musician and be unable to read (most rock bands excluded, of course).

Sometimes I have a child "running on fumes" when he comes to the lesson. He has been sick for part of the day, hasn't slept enough, and so on. How do I give an honest dollar's worth to a student who can't really concentrate and come anywhere close to his best work?

I have a young student who is beginning to express artistry in his music. He recently asked if he could insert a ritardando at the end of a phrase, even though the composer had not written one. I told him that he could not change what the composer has written, but can express himself through rubato, which I explained and demonstrated. He then argued that both the ritardando and rubato change the written music, and that it feels natural for him to slow down at the end of this particular phrase. I don't want to stifle his burgeoning expression. What should I do, and how can I better explain rubato?

I am about to embark on a new opportunity in giving piano lessons to a seven-year old girl, a half-hour lesson once a week. I have never given piano lessons, and after scanning your site, I felt a bit overwhelmed and inadequate, however, I am very grateful for the information you provide; it is a real blessing. I think I can take a few baby steps now on this adventure. (A bit of my background. I have taken piano lessons at different periods of my life and have played for some of the churches I have attended. My playing is more from the heart than from technique, and I do not consider myself a professional.) What kinds of beginner piano music books to purchase for my student, do you have any recommendations of specific titles or publishers or authors that are like what you describe, simple and basic? Also, considering my background, could you recommend what things I can do to make myself a better teacher for the child? Also, may I have your permission to download your information and print it out for my own reference?

My young students do not want to take repeats. They don't want to observe first and second endings, either. What do you suggest?

Yours and every other teacher's students! Two ideas on why: immediate gratification (let's get on to something new) and moving backwards visually instead of forward is psychologically not fun.

Solutions: The first time you encounter a repeat sign, make a big deal out of it and give the student an opportunity to do some analysis: "Look at this! What have you seen that looks sort of like this?" When the student has identified it as a relative of the double barline, then "sell" it: "A repeat sign is a good thing to find. You can tell this song is really -four- lines long, not two, because there's a repeat sign. The composer has made it easy for us by using the repeat sign instead of writing out the music twice because we now know that the second two lines are exactly alike! There are no surprises. As soon as you know the first two lines, you know the whole song. Pretty cool, huh?"

Before discussing the repeat with your student, ask yourself whether this repeat is necessary. Just because it's there doesn't mean you must observe it. If it is the first repeat the child has encountered, you must observe it, otherwise, how will you teach it? We shouldn't get in the habit of allowing students ("teaching" students) that some pieces music notation may be ignored. If you decide to omit the repeat, discuss why. Is this AABA form? If so, then you can skip the repeat, you tell the student, because ABA form is still balanced.

Is the repeated section to round out an AABB' form? (Take the repeat.) To extend the length of the piece? (Repeat optional.)

Ditto with first and second endings.

I was reading your article on hand position and I have a game I play with my students to teach them to keep their wrists up. I place a coin on their wrist and if they can play an entire song without the coin falling, the get to keep it.

At what point do you recommend introducing time signatures and bar lines? Do you use them in the middle C songs? Do you wait until after all note values are introduced?

First, some general thoughts.

I think the idea of duple and triple and compound and all of that is really of very little use to beginners. I think maybe middle intermediate is the right place to talk about this because, before this level, it will go right over their heads. Yeah, we can see three or four counts per measure, but what is this you mean by "pulses per measure"?!

I do put barlines in the music for the Middle C songs. (Only the snake songs and worm songs have no clefs or barlines; they also have only black noteheads.) I start with songs containing only quarter-notes, and the very first half-dozen have only quarters with stems up or down, depending on which hand will play. I ask the child to figure out "the counting rule" for each song and write the number beside each clef; the counting rule is "the number of counts" in a measure. It's easy to count the quarter-notes. I make a variety of counting rules, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9. I want to show that all music doesn't have to be 3 or 4, even though most of it is. The kids won't remember specifically we did songs with nine counts to a measure, but when we come upon one later, it won't be an outrageous an idea because somewhere back in the dim past, the child will recall doing songs that were not three and four, or even two, and therefore nine is no big deal.

If we are writing songs I always ask how many counts the child wants to a measure and groan when the answer is, "One!" And then I write it just that way, of course. It's looooooooong, too! They get the picture!

Next is half-note songs, the first of which is only half-notes, so it's an opportunity to differentiate between "number of counts" and "number of notes" in a measure. I often have to hold up fingers. "How many counts on this note? [I hold up two fingers]. How many on this one? [I hold up two fingers on the other hand.] How many altogether?" From there, it's half-notes and quarter-notes, again emphasizing the difference between the number of counts and number of notes.

For the ensuing 15-20 songs (depending on how many the child needs to get the point) introduce the four major notes--and I also introduce accents and staccato and note clusters to add variety, the child writes in the counting rule on each one. These are all done on Middle C, mind you. The note never varies, so the child learns to look at all the other details because the note is so easy.

I also simplifying the time sig to the top number only. What do they know about the bottom one? They don't know eighth-notes yet!

So, yes, I use barlines right away because that's the only way to really show how a time signature is chosen.

I find my students have no trouble with these concepts, and I sincerely doubt yours will, either. You just have to clear away the chaff and get rid of things we, as trained musicians, expect to see on the page. The children have no preconceived expectations, so they'll accept as gospel whatever you tell them. I believe that each piece of notation should be noticed and observed; at some point, there is overload; the overload is the stuff that should be removed. We would find the score "funny looking" because it is so streamlined, but the beginner will be awfully busy paying attention to everything on the page.

Would you please comment on teaching composition: what materials you may have found successful for a Middle School age student, and what theoretical background you would teach with it, such as chords, question and answer, etc.?

I think I'd start with a thorough sight-reading program, emphasizing a lot of different styles. The student will "absorb" this material while thinking he is working on sight-reading! (And certainly, we can ALL improve our sight-reading skills!)

Ear-training, of course, so the child can define the ideas he/she will "hear" in the head.

I'd go over the basics of notation. Even the obvious stuff--kids "see" things in unusual ways. For ex., having seen scores for many years, they'll put time signatures after the clefs in each score. And, does one need an accidental repeated in a measure into which the accidental has been tied? Stuff like this.

then the child should begin to notate things. Have him/her sound out "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and other 5-finger melodies and notate them. As things progress, specify a starting note (or, better yet, a key) and have the child notate the melody in that key.

On to a melody plus a simple accompaniment.

Meanwhile.....

Make sure the student is learning how to build the 48 triads, understands the three "kinds" of sevenths that can be added to a triad, ninths/etc., arpeggios. I also emphasize octaves and I-V-I patterns. These are all building blocks.

Next, set the child to make an arrangement of a simple song. I'd say a 5-finger melody again (J. Bells, When the Saints, etc.). Ask the child to make a set of variations, each displaying a specific idea (block triads, triads in 2nd inversion, arpeggiated triads, seventh chords, I-V-I in the bass, etc.).

If the child wants to write her/his own tunes, this will have happened naturally in the course of your setting up the groundwork. If not, introduce it now. Perhaps you'd like to work out the first melody together? I suggest something very straightforward, such as 16 measures with AABA form (@4 measures).

I think this is the time to talk about V-I cadences, secondary dominants, etc. Earlier, this information will fall on befuddled ears.

I have a 4-year-old student who is very bright. Just within a few months, he's learned to identify all the white keys on the piano, clap rhythms which include eighth notes, and read a little from a staff. Lately, though, it's been difficult getting him to focus during the lesson. I'm wondering if you know of any resources that could help me deal with someone so young and intelligent. I feel like he's getting bored with me.

A new student, a retired woman, has arthritis and a host of other physical ailments, as well. I read your articles about RSI, including the links, and they don't seem to address the problems of arthritis. Do you have any insight into this disability as it relates to playing the piano?

Several of my adult students have arthritis. It's a pretty common problem in adult students and may be aggravated by age and genetics. The first stop must be professional medical care: the student must consult a doc for advice and then follow that.

My guess is that the doc's advice will include pain relief. If the pain is not too bad now, maybe some OTC meds might help. The doc will tell the student how much, how often, and for how long.

Other ideas:

• First thing in the morning seems to be bad for many folks. Maybe later in the day would be a better practice/lesson time for her.
• Maybe some heat therapy? If it feels good and doc says ok, that is. Heat relaxes the muscles and stimulates blood circulation. Heating pad, towel straight from the clothes dryer, paraffin-dip bath, cloth heated in the microwave, a home-made warm pack, etc. On the other hand, the doc may prescribe cold (to numb the nerves; this usually is used at onset of an attack to dull the pain).
• The doc or physical therapist may prescribe some exercises for her. Ask her to demonstrate them all to you! Encourage her to keep at them. Perhaps you can make those part of her piano warm-up. The doc may also recommend yoga or tai chi.
• Have her ask the doc about non-prescription supplements, such as glucosamine chondroitin. (I don't have arthritis - - yet! - - but I have found this to help me when I have joints that "catch and click" when I lift weights. The supplement is not like taking an aspirin for a headache. It takes at least a month for the benefits to kick in. Let me emphasize that -my- doc ok'd this for -me-. This is not what might be appropriate for your student or for anyone else. I mention supplementation here only as an option to investigate. No one should medicate him- or herself! See a competent physician! Note: If you have diabetes or are uncertain about your blood sugar levels or have a family history of this disease, mention it to your doc, as glucosamine - - a glucose molecule in which one of the oxygens is replaced by a nitrogen - - can wreak havoc with insulin levels.)

Pick literature she can play. Some will not need any changes, but some pieces will! Edit as needed (redistribute notes between the hands, remove notes within an octave stretch, even remove octaves, etc.). Don't be afraid to edit! Do whatever is needed to make the piece playable.

"Take her temperature" every week for a good little while:

• Was this piece too easy? Too difficult?
• Which changes we made were helpful? What other sorts of changes might help? Which changes didn't seem to make any difference?
• Where are the trouble spots? What is it about those spots that cause trouble - - and what kind of trouble?
• What therapies are you using these days? Which ones help and which ones have little or no effect?
• What is the latest from the doc?

She loves to play and she wants to keep playing, so the first stop is the doc. Then you tailor the lit specifically to her and monitor how she does with each type of piece and each type of change you make.

As to the "as well" disabilities, you didn't say what, so I can't comment on that, but, again, tailor the music to fit her capabilities. Ask her what her doc recommended as therapies for these conditions and see how you can adapt those to her piano study.

A teen boy student of mine is suddenly making errors on octaves. He knows these intervals well, as we have done exercises specifically for this, and he's played a lot of music with octaves. What gives?

My question concerns memory. Sometimes a student will suddenly have a memory problem where one did not exist a week earlier. Can you help?

One type of memory is what I call "muscle memory." This is the weakest kind, in my estimation, because if a finger miscues, memory falters. Here is a good memory "test" which is based on a change in the way the piece is played: not a wrong note but a different speed. Ask the student to play at half speed (or less). He/she will see where the fingers falter and where the memory flat-out fails. Read more on this method and other memory methods in my file on memorization.

I'm 15 and working toward my grade 8 exam (RCM) I recently got excellent marks on my Grade 7 exam. I was thinking about taking students after my exam, the problem being my age and the fact that I can play but I have lots of trouble with memorization, scales, and intervals though my clap-back and play-back are excellent. Is there a way that in the next year or so I can start to understand my problem areas, or should I drop my hopes of a getting a student.

Yes, your age will impact your credibility as a meaningful teacher. If you do teach, I suggest that you take intermediate students, not beginners. A novice teacher - - in fact, you are even less trained for teaching inasmuch as you are not trained to do anything but play at level 7 - - can do great damage to a beginner. Remember you would be laying life-long foundations.

I do not recommend you teach now, based on what you have told me of your training.

I would recommend that you attach yourself to an established teacher, preferably one with group lessons, and be an aide. You would be able to observe teaching and student behavior and gradually take more responsibility - - perhaps for a big part of the group lesson.

I think what you want to do is admirable, of course, and I applaud your ambition. You are too young, sweetheart. Better to increase your own musical knowledge and work in an assistant capacity than teach independently now. I wish you the best. You are going to be a great teacher, based on your concern that you might not be ready yet. A hug to you.

I have a student who absolutely refuses to use a rounded hand position. Her knuckles collapse and she resists all my suggestions, saying it's too hard to play in the correct position. Do you have any suggestions for techniques that result in the proper hand shape, such as the technique Faber suggests wherein you "perch on the upper side of the thumb nail, thereby causing the wrist to rise into the correct position." I tried that, but her knuckles still collapsed. I've observed that she "clenches" her fingers towards her, rather than lifting. Any other tricks? She also holds a lot of tension in her shoulders. When I gently press on her shoulder to check for stress, she drops about 3 inches every time. I told her to feel the weight of her arms before playing by letting them hang down, and then picking them up without using her shoulders.

(Concerning the student mentioned in the previous question.) I think your observation that she may be trying to absorb too many concepts at once, causing rigidity, is right on target. I really hadn't thought of it quite like that. Also, this students plays beautifully by ear and composes her own songs, but I've been holding a strict line while working on her note-reading and rhythm reading. I'm certain she is frustrated because her old tricks of showing me her latest composition or playing a piece from memory (or by ear) aren't working. I don't allow our lessons to get sidetracked any longer. I try to be gentle - - that is, I make deals ("Promise you'll be serious with this set of books, and we'll do some repertoire of your choice."). Any suggestions?

I'm not sure I would bargain with her. You will cement her impression that she can negotiate with you as regards notereading. Your goal is to teach her to read. (She already knows how to negotiate!!) I think I'd address the problem head-on. I use Allan Small's Very First Solo Piano Book (Alfred). Many of the arrangements are horrid (but this gives us an opportunity to laugh - - I tell the students that "Happy Bride" is not played at my house - - "But you are welcome to play it in the privacy of your own home!"), but it does the job. Paint out all but the most crucial fingering numbers. Embark on a program of sight-reading with this book. See my file on this. The Small book is also good for analysis. What is the form? Where are the repeated sections? What pattern is he using in the accompaniment? And so on.

I think if you don't beat around the bush, you'll get the result you want, and she'll get the confidence she needs.

Also, you should allow lesson time for her creative activities, in my opinion. Otherwise, she will think you don't approve of creativity and that to do these things is somehow "bad." This is a gift she has, so be sure to enhance it. If occasionally you spend an entire lesson with a composition, so what? Her playing and progress through repertory won't suffer. By "occasionally" I mean once every two months. In the meantime, she can "work on" her composition and play just bits and pieces of it for you every other week or so, knowing that in x weeks, she'll have a whole lesson devoted to her composition. I think this would be motivational for her and would save you from using this aspect of her musical life as a carrot to get her to do the other things she should do in order to grow into a well-rounded musician.

What do you look for when you're teaching duets? How do you know what 8va they should be playing? I've never taught duets before. They can get through the notes ok, but there is no emotion in the music. (They are doing Sonatina in G by Beethoven.)

Also see my file on duet tips. It's written for consumers, but you probably will find some helpful information in it.

I'd say off-hand that you're better off worrying about whether they can read the notes, find and play them on the keyboard, and count so they stay together way before you're worried about whether there is any emotion in the performance! My dear old dad would say, "A sculptor doesn't run in a chisel out the ear the first thing."

Do you have any suggestions on how to accompany?

See my file on this.

I have a problem with a student who suffers from nervousness (in the form of performance anxiety) at the lesson. This student is an adult professional who has been with me for a few years and is self-motivated and practices regularly and diligently. I couldn’t ask for a better student. Our teacher-student relationship is healthy. Frequently, at her lesson, when she begins to play her exercises, etudes or pieces, everything goes along smoothly until the first wrong note or fingering occurs. Then the performance begins to unravel: possibly another missed note; maybe a counting error; a hesitation here, a pause there; backup to correct; a stop; and finally, a failed attempt to resume. Although she seems to remain outwardly composed, I can sense and understand her frustration. Any ideas on what I can do to improve this situation?

I think your student suffers from perfectionism. And really needs "permission to be human." Read my file on special problems in teaching adults.

What do you do when a student arrives without his books?

Do what you can from memory (such as the exercises or any memory material).

Use your copies of the music ("Of course, this copy won't have your markings on it.")

Work on sight-reading.

Work on some "evergreen" topic such as deriving scales or triads. Use the search function on your browser to search on "evergreen." I discussed it in an earlier answer.

Pull out a piece you were going to start in the near future and begin work on it.

What do you do when a student has not practiced during the week?

Assuming this is not a chronic problem, use the lesson time to practice with the student. "Well, just work together today on your pieces. Which one can I help you with the most? Ok, which place is the hardest? Let's start there."

(1) Sight reading....I hear so many different things on sight reading I'm not sure what is the best way to sight read. I read your notes and what you wrote makes sense to me. I have also heard a couple of other ways that are different, and I'd like to hear your comments on one in particular. I have a friend (a fellow teacher) who has her students sight-read a piece for 15 minutes, playing along with a metronome (to get the piece right). She has them play without stopping, which, to her is the most important part. Then she checks it. She doesn't care whether there are mistakes or not. She just wants them to be able to play without stopping. What do you think about this method of teaching sight reading? (2) My other question....One of my main goals as a student myself is to be able to pick up a piece, at any level, and play it. Should I be able to sight-read it slowly, then be able to play through the piece quickly after a few tries? (Does my question relate mostly to sight reading, or note reading or a combination of both?) What is the skill required to be able to do this fluently? This is the part I am most nervous about as far as being able to teach: my being able to just accompany my students in lessons. Any suggestions?

First question: I don't think your colleague's method is necessarily -teaching- sight-reading. I think this method is just a -way- of sight-reading a piece.

In any event, my take is accuracy, not keeping going. Really, the main purpose of sight-reading is to "get into" a new piece; secondary importance: picking up pop sheets, etc. Sight-reading well helps you embark on a new piece more easily (and, with students, less trepidation). Therefore I think it's best to go slow and get it right rather than riff through it with the main focus being not slowing down.

How do you know what speed to play, anyway? Unless there is a metronome marking put there by the composer, you should be somewhat unsure until after you have studied the piece. What does andante mean in the context of this piece? Is it a one-in-a-bar andante? If an editor put in a metronome speed, how reliable is that? Should the editor's goal be the "at speed" sight-reading goal?

If you are accompanying a choir, then you do have to sight-read at whatever speed the director sets, so this is a different kettle of fish. For this situation, your colleague's approach might be better.

Presumably, though, such sight-reading would take place at rehearsals and -only- if the director has selected something to explore so late as to be unable to get the score to the accompanist ahead of time; it really is in the director's best interest to have the pianist as well-prepared as possible, as the rehearsal goes more smoothly and the accompanist can assist parts which are struggling by bringing out that line.

Second question: Should you be able to play the piece after sight-reading a couple of times? I don't think so! In fact, I think doing so will be a substantial detriment to ever learning the piece well.

I think you have a number of interlocking questions here. I think it is note-reading, rhythm-reading, speed choice, finding the correct notes on the keyboard, and (a distant contender) keeping going.

In order to "keep going," you play with excruciating slowness. You have time to think and therefore can get over the rough parts. How about 40 to the eighth-note? I know this is absolutely glacial, but you'll be able to observe everything and have time to think and read ahead. (Reading ahead is another skill one reinforces during sight-reading.)

As to your being able to sight-read with students at lessons, this depends on the level of music you want to play. Secondo to your students' primo? At beginning level you should be able to sight-read accurately on the first go.

More difficult? Play slowly; you'd tell your student to do the same, right? If the student already knows her part, still play slowly. You need to be able to mesh the parts; as a side benefit to you, you have a better chance of playing accurately on the first go.

Of course, it's -far- better to run through your part a couple of times and practice any tricky parts. Remember that you're going to have to support your student (rescue her if she gets lost!) and take charge of the ensemble aspects as well as play your own part. So, tricky parts might not necessarily be note places; could be tempo changes, key changes, a place where the student has a little filler while you hold a note, helping your student count through a number of measures of rests, etc. Any potential trouble spot you should go over in advance. Since you're running the show, don't assign a duet part (or get to that part of the lesson assignment) until you've had a chance to play through your part. If a student brings something in and "please, may we try it right now?", then go slowly. If necessary, play only one hand. Or the first part ("Let's take a look at the first line, shall we?"). Remember you are in charge!

As to teaching sight-reading, I guess it boils down to whether you like your colleague's approach or mine (or something else). Decide and then teach to that goal.

Now, as sight-reading relates to learning a new piece, the approach I take is to play through the piece slowly and, on the way, note the problem spots (I mark them if I don't think I can remember where they are). Then I go back and pick the worst three places (or less or more, depending on how long I have to practice at that session). I work on these spots.

I do -not- start at the beginning of the piece and zip through to the end, "sluffing over" [my dad's expression] the hard places and slowing down where necessary to get through an extra-difficult place. That accomplishes nothing at all, as everyone else has figured out, also!

The "three bad places system" allows me to measure whether I met my goal for that session: learning (or at least figuring out the fingering or the counting, or whatever!) those three places.

How do you become more proficient at reading ahead when you are sight-reading? Does it just happen?

As you have deduced, reading ahead is critical for sight-reading.

When you're teaching reading ahead, move the pencil point along to the next note so the student's eye follows, too. Start with whole notes, moving your pencil and saying, "One, two, read ahead." When the whole-note measure is at the end of the line, say the same thing, moving your pencil slowly to the next system when you say read. Then start doing it with longer-value notes. Remind the student oftento "read ahead."

When you are learning, see if you can get someone to move a pencil point for you! Or, failing that, just keep it in mind and try to read ahead on the long-value notes, the same as when you teach. As you do this, you will see you can "ignore" whole notes and concentrate only on the moving LH. As you become more proficient, you'll be able to read ahead on shorter-value notes. No quick fix; sorry. But hang in there, and it'll come. Remember that you didn't learn to sight-read in a week, either!

Are there any good fake books out there? I am lacking as far as being able to improvise at the piano. I thought fake books might help.

Yes, there are some good ones out there. They tend to be grouped as "kinds" of songs (Christmas, '80s pop) or by those songs to which a publisher owns copyright. I feel the former is the better kind because it's not so limiting. On the other hand, you might find a publisher fake book that contains just what you're looking for. You also might be able to find a fake book of material on which copyright protection has run out, and this might be ideal. Query your print music dealer.

If you mean improvise as taking a melody, analyzing which triads to use, and constructing your own arrangement, then a fake book isn't what you need. This is a more advanced skill, and I believe there are some books out there that address this. You might ask a colleague or your music dealer for a suggestion.

I have a 15-year-old student who asked me "how to compose nice pieces?" He has composed some simple pieces, mainly using only three notes for eight bars, such as do - re - mi, mi - re - re. And do - re - mi - mi and so on. He himself said that his pieces are really boring. I have trained him by playing a simple melody and then asking him to find the notes on the piano or sing the solfège names, but he doesn't know which ones I played. He only can sing lah lah lah, mainly on the wrong pitch. When learning to compose, we have to listen many pieces to get the ideas, right? That's what I did, and it worked because my teacher gave me good marks. But he can't do this because he doesn't know the notes. He really seems to want to compose nice pieces. What should I do? Your advice, please.

See also question 105.

The balance between requiring thorough mastery of a piece of music and frustrating perfectionism is something I'm struggling with in my teaching. How "perfect" should a piece be played before it is passed? I frequently acknowledge that despite mistakes, the student has mastered certain objectives of the piece, which hopefully communicates that, though the highest ideal is a perfect performance, it is not necessary to pass on to the next piece. Most of my students are beginner to early intermediate.

I very rarely require "perfection" and then only within the framework of what the student is able to do...or needs to do at this point in his or her development. I think it's so sad when teachers spend the entire year on two or three pieces (often for competitions or evaluations - - more info on competitions is listed on the pedagogy main page). They think they are helping their students by honing these pieces to perfection. Actually, they're boring their students to tears and also doing them a terrible disservice by using up time that ought to be spent broadening their horizons, exploring other literature, spending more time on theory or keyboard harmony, introducing social music techniques such as fake book playing, etc.

Occasionally I'll let a student "drop" a piece when I feel as though he has mastered the "kernel" within it. All students do not like all pieces, and sometimes the student just doesn't like a particular piece. For example, I have an adult student who is returning for a music degree (she already has a Ph.D. in physics), and we were working on the Beethoven "La Molinara" variations because it's such a useful piece for ornamentation study. I thought that she should be familiar with it because she'd probably use it in teaching. Though she likes Beethoven, she just didn't like the variations. So, after we ground on it for a while and looked at the questions about ornamentation, we put it aside without learning to play it very much. No guilt. It was our mutual decision. We got out of what we decided was useful and then put it on the shelf.

I think that's a key issue. The student should not feel he has "failed" if he shelves a piece. Nor should the teacher. You know what your goal is for each piece, and once you reach it - - or reach a revised goal, in light of new developments - - be happy with that.

As to perfect performance, a sage friend once told me that even the best ones have about 5% wrong notes and that we should not worry. "Just drop your 5% in the bucket by the door when you come in and then enjoy your performance, knowing you've already made your 'contribution.'"

My question is about stickers. I use them as a reward when my students pass a piece. (1) Should I give stickers to my teenage students? (2) Nobody wants the last sticker on the sheet! I'm not going to throw it away, but the student who "gets stuck" is unhappy because there was no choice. What should I do about this?

I have a brilliant 14-year-old student who has been composing his own music for some time now. I want to help him to start writing down his compositions. How do I go about it?

There are also notation programs for computer. Coda Music has a freebie notation program called Notepad that probably will be all your student will need for a very long time. Coda's full program, Finale, has quite a steep learning curve (the first time I typed that last word I wrote "curse"--which isn't far wrong!!), but once he masters it (or masters portions of it he needs), he can play his song in a MIDI-equipped keyboard, and it will "come out the other end" as notation. He'll have to learn to play a certain way (most unmusical and therefore quite unnatural: no phrase lifts or staccato notes, for example) in order to minimize the notation errors which will have to be corrected.

Other notation programs abound. Finale's chief rival is Sibelius. One of my students is also a composition major (in fact, the student mentioned in question 103), and she prefers Sibelius to Finale. Her school uses Finale, however, so she's fluent in both (as I am not! and don't intend to take the time to be!). Sibelius has a demo version, not a working freebie. Anyway, suggest your student try one of these notation programs.

My students have a terrible time in Fur Elise where the hands play all those octave Es. The clef changes get them every time. You have such a store of knowledge I hope you will be able to help me with this problem.

A common problem! I use colored circles. See my answer to this question in my Q&A for students/parents.

I am interested in teaching online piano and guitar lessons, and my prospective students are all over the world. Can you recommend a platform for distance learning that is a good match for piano and guitar lesson content?

Recently, I bought a piano literature book for one of my students that has a CD of all the songs played in the book. Normally I don't buy books with CDs, but they did not have any more copies of only the book. What do you think about the student owning the CD to the pieces in the collection? I always thought it would be great for the student to listen to the pieces and develop "an ear" for good music. On the other hand, I don't want the student to simply mimic what she hears.

What do you do when a student has body odor? Especially a young teen.

Say nothing to the student. Call the parent (of the same sex, if possible) and suggest that "I think Bill is ready for some deodorant."

The parent probably doesn't sit that close to the child for prolonged periods in the afternoon and evening after the student has been physically active all day, as you do during a lesson, and probably is not aware of the problem. Parents will welcome your kindness, as body odor (in the American culture, I hasten to say) is not socially welcomed. So, don't be afraid to say something. You're doing the child a favor. Don't act tongue-tied when you talk to the parent and don't say anything else ("I hope you don't mind that I said something," or "I really think you should do something right away.").

Aside: I hope that all parents greet this need as a welcome step in growing up. Take the teen out to lunch and make it a special opportunity to go the store and examine deodorant labels and fragrances and select one the teen likes. Maybe see a movie or buy some article of clothing. I wish I had thought of this when my boys started using deodorant!

Another "odor" comes from dirty hands, again, especially with young teens. Ask your student to wash up: "Your hands look pretty dirty. Run in and wash up." If it dawns on you later in the lesson that the hands are the source of the problem, it's still not too late to ask the student to wash his hands.

For an adult, you can't say anything. Arrange to sit on a stool, not on the bench. See also this file for suggestions about what to say.

Do you have a suggestion for lessening the difficulty of the transition between practice of hands alone to hands together, especially for children?

Some of my students' parents seem discontent with what their children - - beginners - - are able to do at an early point of study. They want their children to, well, you know, play! Can you help?

Explain what you're doing and why. Tell them when they should expect to see/hear X and Y. And when Z will happen and why it will be a while. I think if they have a sense of a time table, they'll be more at ease.

Be sure to invite them to contact you any time they have a question. Let them know that you're available and welcome their communication.

I'll also note I am a firm believer that the student not perform "parlor tricks" to amuse the parents rather than learning how to read and other basics they can't do without. A lot of times parents are influenced by what other folks' kids are doing - - rather, what other kids' parents -say- their kids are doing!

Please help me with how to play the horrible measures in Chopin's Prelude in A Major. There are just too many notes. My students can't reach them, and even I have trouble!

You will find my thoughts about whether or not it's ok to make changes in music to fit the player's hands in this file in my consumer Q&A page (bet you can't guess!) and also some specific suggestions on how to revise and prune.

I stumbled across some of your articles on the internet. Can you please recommend a Piano Pedagogy text book for me. I took piano for several years and my college piano teacher thinks I should start teaching piano part-time. I would like a good reference manual for teaching techniques. Thanks, for any and all help you may give.

You will not be happy, but there really isn't one. I've read them all, and I find them falling short of the mark. (I know others will disagree with me!) Your best bet is to ask your teacher for guidance. You can look on the web, too (under piano pedagogy). Did you read all the Q&As here on my site (here on pedagogy and also on business and consumer)? You'll find a good deal of practical, in-the-trenches information there. Look for books on suggested student literature, such as the following:

Pianist's Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature, by Jane McGrath, Alfred Publishing Company
Intermediate Piano Repertoire: A Guide for Teaching, by Cathy Albergo and Reid Alexander, Frederick Harris Music Co. The Piano Teacher's Source Book, by Maurice Hinson, Indiana University Press The Pianist's Reference Guide, by Maurice Hinson, Alfred Publishing Company Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire, 2nd ed., by Maurice Hinson Indiana University Press

You probably will profit from some reading in learning theory and general psychology. Particularly, you might be interested in the work of Myers and Briggs. I have an introduction and application for music teaching on my site here.

Some of my students have a terrible time keeping good hand position. Will you suggest something I can do?

How can I find a good piano method? You wrote your own stuff, but I'm not sure I can do that. Also, I don't have a lot of time. I need something for beginner students (children) now!

You are perfectly capable of preparing your own material. Take a stab at it.

Don't try to write the entire program in a month! Do a couple of pieces. Add to them as you see fit/have time/have a student request.

Evaluate as you go along. What worked? What didn't?

After a couple of years you'll have a nice collection of pieces. You can use them to fill in or rectify shortcomings in the piano methods you are using. Perhaps eventually you may rely on them completely, after having expanded your library so all necessary pedigogical issues have been covered, of course!

Don't say you can't. You can. And, of course, if you use melodies from the masters, you can't go wrong! As you assign the pieces, you'll see where revisions are needed. Don't wait! Try it right away! You don't have to be a composer; just be a concerned teacher. Anything you arrange for a student will be cherished. I promise. Do try!

As to a method, think about what you used as a student. From your perspective then, what was good about those books? Bad? As a teacher, now, look back on those. Was anything damaging? Unclear? Not pursued at adequate length? Omitted entirely? Beaten to death?

What do you like to teach? Are you a process or a product teacher? How does a series you're considering mesh with this?

I really can't give you an answer that will be helpful to you at this point because I don't like method series and solved the dilemma by creating my own teaching materials, as you have mentioned. This took about six years to assemble in its a fully-developed state, and I'm still on the outlook for other things and students requests things that I don't have [yet!].

You need help now, though. I suggest you go with a series that does what you thought was good when you were a student, tempered by what you now know as a professional is needed by a beginner. You might end up taking a little of this from one series and a little of that from another. Don't feel as though you must "take the entire course" of pieces, technical drills, notespelling, sight-reading, and so on. Pick the best stuff from each series and integrate it. You may need to make some arrangements to help the transition. It's hard when you're first starting, but you have to start somewhere! So, make your best guess, be prepared to alter course and augment the material as needed, and then change series if you are not satisfied with the one you first chose.

Meanwhile start making arrangements of the standard repertoire. By arrangements, I mean pieces in the public domain, so you don't have to worry about copyright: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Clementi, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak, Chopin, and so on. Also, folk tunes are PD. If you are in doubt, don't use it until you can find out if it's still protected by copyright.

See also my pedagogy general page for more discussion of these topics. See also question 2 and question 15 on this page.

I have an 8-year-old beginner who has been taking lessons from me for about 7 weeks. We are using the Middle C method. She is having a lot of difficulty identifying notes. At lesson we go through the songs note by note with me asking her the name of the note. About 75% of the time she doesn't get it right the first time. I have sent her home with flash cards to help. I also make a page of notes on manuscript paper that she has to write the names of the notes on. I've resorted to trying to teach her the F-A-C-E, Every Good Boy Does Fine way of remembering to see if that would help. So far it hasn't because she can't remember which phrase is for which notes. I'm wondering if it's a learning disability or just trouble in memorizing. She told me that when she's playing it just "goes right out of my head," and she can't remember the notes. She said that's what happens during her spelling tests also. As we pick apart the phrases in the music and learn the notes she'll say "Ok, so it goes like this," and then look at her hands and try to play the keys in the order we just figured out. It's as though she's just trying to memorize the order her fingers play instead of reading notes. If I say, "OK, this time let's play it while you look at your music," she'll look at the music, but I can tell she's not reading the notes. She's just trying to play by memory again while gazing at the music. She seems to understand space notes vs. line notes and the concept of up and down the keyboard, but she can't seem to remember which note is on which line or space. Any suggestions?

Since she understands about steps and skips, she'll be able to find a starting note (you may have to prompt her at the beginning and just say, "This is Middle C" and keep reminding her until you say, "Find Middle C" and she does it. She may already be able to do this; most children can find this note very promptly very early.) and step and skip around on the keyboard as the notes step and skip around on the lines and spaces. In your little songs, start on Middle C exclusively.

Confine her songs to steps and skips for a couple of months until she is secure in finding which notes on the printed music correspond with which notes on the keyboard . There are a lot of songs in the C 5-finger pattern you can use.

Also, keep her in the C 5-finger pattern. DON'T move her around to G, etc. It sounds as though you are keeping her in C. Wise. Don't trouble her with complex counting, either. Stick to quarter notes as the smallest unit.

Try this and see how she does. Also, have you read my files on pedagogy.html on notereading? Lots of info there on that subject and the problems about how to introduce eighth-notes.

Yes, I have been on your website repeatedly. It is a wonderful help to me! Thank you so much for providing it. I found some topics which I thought might relate but wanted to get an opinion on this particular student and her exact problem. I'll try what you suggest and hope I can get it to click for her. She seems so eager and I can tell she's starting to get discouraged. It makes me feel awful that I haven't been able to reach her yet.

My students are either not practicing enough or maybe just not efficiently. Which is it, do you think?

Usually it's the latter. And because they are getting so little out of their piano time, they are reluctant to "invest" more because experience has shown that there's not a lot of "return" for the time they spend! Therefore, it's also a case of "not enough."

Of course, there are some students who don't practice enough to realize they're practicing inefficiently!

How do you teach four against three? My student is playing "Chariots of Fire." I have been using the phrase "percolated coffee."

I have not seen this question addressed. I've never even met anyone else who has encountered this situation. I have a 6-year-old male student who is incredibly rude to his mother. He almost treats her scornfully, as though she were dirt beneath his feet! He's 6!! The mother acts as though this is how she is normally treated and sees nothing unusual. I was speechless the first time it happened but decided perhaps I had heard incorrectly and should give the child the benefit of the doubt. Sure enough the next week, it happened again. What shall I do? I find this so upsetting! Not only is his behavior to her unacceptable (in my opinion), but I don't want him to think he can treat me that way, too. (I'm a woman.)

Having read your previous answer, let me ask about a related problem. I sometimes have young boy students whose parents seem to worship the ground they walk on! The child takes advantage, of course, and gets away with the most incredible rudeness and sass! The parents don't help. They indicate they think this behavior is "cute." What do you say about this one?

The child must know that in your studio, you are the boss! If you don't tell him you are (by word and behavior), he'll take over! - - in the same way some parents will pay their tuition when it suits them, rather than when it's due.

Note: (In case I get this question next!) If there are certain words from popular culture that you find offensive, you don't need to hear them in your studio. (Caution! Approaching rant: I can't believe the horrible words that are common parlance - - even among elementary school girls! - - and are spoken without any awareness of their true meaning. In fact, I often will say, "Don't use that word. You don't know what it means," especially to a young girl.)

Back to the bad language.

I have generally found this speak-firmly-and-promptly-to-the-problem method works like a charm on the very first "dose." If I must repeat myself at another lesson, I will say something like, "I spoke to you before about using that word at your lesson, didn't I? You must stop using that word when you are in my studio. I don't allow that word." I have never had to mention a problem the third time.

Agan, start the way you will continue! Be firm, but don't show anger. Give the child a specific example of behavior you do not wish to be repeated. Having done this, go right back to the lesson with a smile. Don't continue to dwell on the matter during his lesson, and don't "remind" him as he leaves the lesson.

If you think you need to speak to the parent about this or think the child will complain to the parent about this, intervene in advance. Find the parent after the lesson (even if you must go out to the car) and say, "I wanted to let you know that I had to speak to your son about a certain bad word he was using. I have told him on two other occasions about the same word, and today I was quite firm. I just wanted to let you know what happened today in case you got any complaints this evening." (Note: When you must go out to the student's car, stop the lesson early to allow time for this. You should not take time from the next student's lesson.)

Another approach: When the child makes a mistake, say, "Oh, beans" (or some other inoffensive expletive). The student will pick up on that word and knows it will take the place of the words he has been using. If the situation is more dire than "beans" will defuse, use "beans and ham!" If the student is in extremity: "beans and ham and onions!!"

I am 16 years old. I have taken piano since I was 8 years old and feel I am accomplished enough to teach beginners. I am not currently teaching but am seriously looking into it. I would like to ask if you had any tips for me. I don't really have any idea how to begin. I recently moved across the country and do not have a piano teacher right now, so I don't have anyone I could ask for pointers. Basically, where do I begin?

You didn't ask, but I want to tell you that you should go with intermediates. Beginners need the best teachers they can find to set a good foundation. I'm not saying you're not an excellent performer, but you are -not- qualified to teach beginners. You will do them great harm. Please start with intermediates.

• Intermediates already know how to read, something about dynamics and tempo, etc. You'll already have a foundation with which to work and a common vocabulary.
• You can't "injure" intermediates very much as you [quickly, I hope] learn from your own mistakes in teaching them. It is too "dangerous" to do this with beginners.
• It's why everyone wants an experienced teacher for her/his first grade student in school. An experienced pro has dealt with many different students in many different situations and will know how to spot a problem and work on it right away. A teacher fresh out of school has only "book learning" and doesn't have this "history" of experience yet. A brand-new teacher will flounder around a bit until finding the right solution. Meanwhile, the student is learning all different kinds of things while the teacher figures out exactly what's needed and what to do about it and what not to do. Very early in any child's school experience, she makes a decision about how successful a learner she is. If the teacher is casting about, looking for a solution and going through several things before alighting on the correct one, the student begins to think that she isn't smart enough to learn because things seem jumbled to her (and they are!).

This is a very common misperception: "I know enough to start teaching, so I'll start with beginners."

Absolutely not!!!!!! No beginners until you are familiar with teaching intermediate students. No beginners!!!!

Gradually (allow about 10 years - - no joke), you'll know what beginners need as a foundation. This can be learned through trial and error. I have lots of ideas on my site, but you have to learn how to mold them to the way you teach and the types of students you have. There's no magic bullet, though. If there were, I'd certainly tell you.

Even as a degreed teacher, when you start teaching, no advanced student will consider you because you've just started teaching and know nothing about the nuts and bolts of it, but intermediate students probably will. Especially if your fee is low.

I don't know where you live or what other [degreed, experienced] teachers are charging in your area, but I think $5 per hour ($2.50 per half) is what you ethically can command - - as an un-degreed, inexperienced 16-year-old. You will make more money dog-walking, baby-sitting, plant-watching, etc. than teaching piano. I advise that you begin your work experience with one of those.

Let me mention that teaching piano is NOT a lucrative profession, not matter how experienced and qualified you become, so don't expect to make a lot of money. Ever. In fact, teaching piano is not even a profession. It's a calling, and you have to be passionate about music, the piano, and students. That has to be your primary reward because the income is highly unlikely to be.

Because you are intelligent and ethical enough to inquire whether your credentials are ok, you demonstrate you are a principled young person, and I salute you. After you earn your degree, you will be a credit to all piano teachers!

PS. You need to find yourself a teacher post haste, too! Not only to continue your own piano study but to be a mentor. I am so glad you wrote. Best wishes.

Do you use the chord method for your beginner adults?

But to start this way is wrong, in my opinion. Students need to read and read both clefs. (See the general pedagogy page for a number of files on teaching note-reading.)

I do use a "chord" method, however. Part of my technique regimen is to have students "build" and play all 48 triads. At some point in that process, I introduce them to fake book-style playing. At first, it's just block triads and the melody. Then we work on different patterns the left hand can play. Finally, we talk about "filling in" in the melody the triad tones not used in the bass line. So, I do use this technique, but not as a method technique.

A related question is: Do I use a different technique on my adults than I do with my children? The answer is no. Everyone needs to read. And since you can get to melodies much more quickly with adults, they don't feel as though they "aren't playing songs yet." As an aside, I wouldn't worry about being able "to play songs" within the first week or so with adult students. They know they're beginners and appreciate the fact that a foundation must be laid first and are very tolerant of a couple of weeks of basics (these will take longer to teach to a child, of course, in which case you still should guard against the urge to have the child play melodies quite early - - you don't need to impress the parents. They've chosen you and put their trust in you. You want the student to be a happy and successful pianist, and you know the right way to do that. Take your time and do it right.)

I have just started to teach an young adult beginner the piano. She has had no previous piano lessons but played the oboe for several years about 7 years ago. She is exceptionally musical. I was trying to find out what natural ability she had, and she was able to play, practically note-perfect, by ear, Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Indeed, in the same lesson, she managed to harmonise with simple C, F, and G triads in the left hand. With an earlier tune, however, she struggled to read the notes. I am a bit unsure of how to progress. I will try to get her to improvise, and I am also trying to get her to sing, but she seems a little shy. The progress we make whilst using her ear is astounding, and I don't want to complicate her natural ability by insisting on making her read the notes. Her ambition is to be able enjoy playing the piano, not necessarily playing classical music. Do you have any advice?

(1) As a piano teacher I find it difficult to explain the answer to, "Why do we have to have 3/8 and 6/8 time?" It's a little embarrassing to not know the exact answer. Can you help? (2) Also, I find it not helpful when certain lesson books throw these time signatures in with 2 songs and then just expect the student will know how to think in these times. How do you handle this? Do you ever skip over these concepts and come back later, or do you just trudge through it? Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this is a problem.

Solution: (1) Convert all 3/8 to 3/4 by removing flags. If there are any sixteen-note pairs, boil them down to a quarter-note (or two eighths, if your student is using eighth-notes at this time). (2) For students reading eighth-notes *fluently,* describe that this composer has chose an eighth as "one." Write the first phrase of something in triple time (such as "Irish Washerwoman" - - sometimes known as "The Irish Jig") in 3/8 and 3/4. Let the student noodle out (which you listen to what she says) why the two versions will sound the same. Often students will see the eighths and think the whole piece goes faster than it would if written in quarters. (3) Come back to these pieces. This would be my last choice.

I have a 12-year-old transfer student (from Suzuki) who has dyslexia. Both Suzuki students who do not read music and people with dyslexia tend to "learn by memorizing," I believe. I know that for these students it is not as difficult for notes as for words. Do you have any suggestions for techniques I could use for them?

Also see my file on teaching students with disabilities. (There is also a addresses file that addresses teaching of gifted students.)

What do you use for rewards for your students?

Then there are fun games. When the date number is the same as the Hanon or Finger Builders number, it's double dessert (ditto, parents' ok). I also do other silly awards for things such as "playing well though the braces hurt a little" and things like that.

Some teachers award points (practice time, primarily, but sometimes for songs passed off or songs memorized or a certain score in theory or ear-training) and let the child choose a prize from the "treasure chest" when the point total reaches a certain number. Some award miniature busts of composers, give composer coloring books, trophies, and things like this.

I have considered giving a trophy when the child completes a book with me (they are long books). I figure if they can get sports trophies, why not music trophies, which certainly represent just as much time and effort (maybe more!). I will start doing this when I move again. It's too late to start now because some kids have already gone through all four books. They will feel cheated, even if they get a trophy for the last book, wishing they had gotten them all along the way. I wish I had thought of this many years ago when I moved to my current home town! I still may solve the problem by giving the little ones along the way, and, to phase in, give large ones to the students who would have missed the little ones in previous years. I must think on how to work this out!

I have just recently found out from the parent of a student with whom I have been struggling for the past 4 months that the child has "Turner Syndrome," a genetic disorder in which one leg of one X chromosome is missing. Have you heard of this disorder? It only affects girls, and a couple of manifestations of it is that physical growth is impaired, retention of learning is quite hampered, and coordination of RH with LH is very difficult. What do you suggest?

No, I have not heard of this disorder.

I'd say treat this as you would any other learning disability. Proceed at whatever pace the student indicates is good for her absorption rate. Do lots of review and recasting the same thing. Invent games to use that material you are choosing. Engage the parents at the lesson to play with you (you may have to ask them specifically to stay) and/or explain the game and ask that the family play it daily. You probably will want to do some composition for her. Maybe some with her. (There was a recent question about this on pedagogy_QA; look near the bottom of the file.)

Remember that the parents are delighted with whatever she can learn and enjoy. Your job is to adjust your expectations to what she can do now. And what you think she'll be able to do and work toward that.

As to RH and LH, I think some one-hand songs will be what she needs for quite a while (rather, tunes divided btw the hands - - although there are a fair number of songs with a 5-note compass). You don't say whether you're using a Middle C approach with her, but I'd advise that. Use only songs that fall within the compass of small F to one-line G. Don't ask her to move out of this position, either by extending a finger or moving her hand. Don't forget duets. Especially ones in C position. She plays the RH as written; you play the LH as written or ad lib. Be sure to work the LH, too. Take those songs in C position and write the melody in the key of G, so the LH has 4 notes (small G thru one-line D).

If you're not using Middle C and seem to be butting your head against a brick wall, which is what the situation sounds like to me (through no fault of yours or the student's), start over and use Middle C. Explain to the parent that you're going to "take a new approach to see if that works better." Believe me, the parents are so grateful to have found you that pretty much whatever you want to try, they'll agree to support.

As a follow-up question, how do I find out in advance about learning disabilties? It would have been so much easier with my student had I known in advance about the Turner Syndrome.

You might want to add questions to your in-studio interview about any learning disabilities or special learning concerns the student might have.

Let's walk through a possible scenario. The parent says, for example, "She is partially deaf." You do not show fear that you won't be able to teach her. You say, "I'm glad you told me. That will help me teach her more effectively." (Remember, if your best, well-researched efforts aren't working, you can dismiss her from your studio.) Asking up front shows the parent you want to know everything about the student that might impact piano study and learning/retention so you can do the best job you can.

If you prefer, however, you can stop things right there if you truly do not wish to or really feel you are not equipped to teach a student who is hearing impaired.

Note: I'd advise you to try, though. Tell the parent that you aren't very experienced with this condition, but that you'll be glad to try and see how it goes. And state that you'll want to work closely with the parents as you go along and find what works best. In all likelihood, the family has been rejected by other teachers when they found out about the child's disability. The parents will be thrilled that you have agreed to accept the student. They won't care that it's a "try," but you'll need to be up-front about the fact that you're inexperienced with whatever the disability and that you'll be relying on "working together" with them and the student to try to find what works well. As long as everyone knows where the others stand at the outset, things should progress just fine. Remember to readjust your own expectations. This child's progress may be completely normal - - or even above average - - and the disability has virtually no impact at all. If the disability does make progress slower, you already will have put yourself into the right frame of mind.

When you ask outright about learning disabilities, the family is relieved that it doesn't have to "hide" the student's condition from you or hope that you don't "discover" it and then be angry because they withheld the information. When parents do withhold pertinent information, it is because they are embarrassed that anyone should know ("Is it my genetic fault"? Of course, the answer is no, but if you have a learning disabled child, you can't help but think that there's something wrong in the gene pool.) Another reason the parent might not tell you about the learning situation is fear that if you know, you'll refuse to teach the child. As research is done and published, stigmas about learning disabilities are decreasing, and this makes the parents more at ease to tell you what you need to know.

Often, the parent will say something in the telephone query, however ("He has dyscalcula. Will this be a problem teaching him to count, do you think?"). This way you are not surprised, as when the information surfaces in the interview. The best thing to do in the future, though, is to ask at the interview stage.

I ask specifically about diabetes (I have a great hiccup cure that entails a spoonful of white sugar), epilepsy, and pet/food allergies. You'll want your own "laundry list," of course, but this is what I ask (beyond learning concerns).

How do you treat children who are very stubborn and obstinate and who, for example, refuse to practise with hands separately first or refuse to play stylistically correctly, ignore articulation etc. I`m a young teacher, and I think it's sometimes difficult for me to assert myself. Perhaps I`m too friendly or not strict enough. I tell them they would save a lot of work by practising their pieces meticulously from the beginning, but some students behave obstinately as soon as they have to exert themselves.

I have an eleven-year-old student who exhibits symptoms of dyslexia. Her mother, an elementary teacher, had noticed possible problems earlier, had the child tested, and the results were negative. However, she has consistent problems with left v. right, up v. down, fifth finger v. first finger. It applies to her actual negotiating of the keyboard, as well as reading. There is a distinct difficulty with applying direction on the staff to direction on the keyboard. Additionally, she has a great deal of difficulty in negotiating different rhythm patterns in each hand, when playing hands together. She is a lovely child, who really wants to play, works very hard, and truly loves music. Any suggestions?

Does her large-muscle coordination seem to be problematic, too? If she marches, can she keep the tempo when there's a change? Does she know left to right with her whole body? (Metronome work might help. Also try the Copycat Game. I also have some more files on rhythm teaching; see the main pedagogy page.)

How is she doing in school? How is her reading and hand-writing? What does the classroom teacher experience? Ask the parents for permission to speak to her teacher. It may be that some of the teacher's strategies can be converted to studio strategies for you.

I agree that by age 11, she should know left from right and which finger has which number, though the other skills will develop at her own rate.

I hope you are able to get more help than I can offer you here since she truly wants to learn. I'm sorry I don't have much more help to give you.

How do you teach a fugue? In what order to you recommend study of Bach's inventions?

Please see my file on this topic.

I have a new student who is so shy she will barely look me in the eye! Questions are answered with a single word, if at all possible, and the barest minimum if not possible. How can I teach this child?! I feel as though I am barely able to communicate with her!

With such a shy child, I think you will have to be satisfied with a one-word answer or even just a nod. This is all the child can do for you at this point. Down the road, she probably will open up to you when she feels "safe" with you.

Meanwhile, be gentle and non-threatening. Ask her for feedback that she can give in just a few words. Later she will be able to give you a longer answer, but be satisfied with a couple of sentences for now. Delight when you get a smile or a chuckle from her! Or a statement about what happened in school today!

Extreme shyness is not the same as passive-agressive silence. It does not sounds as if your student has this problem. In a passive-agressive silence, the student purposely withholds communication as an act of control.

You can tell the difference by looking in the student's eyes. A student with a bad attitude will look you straight in the eye (is that a defiant spark there?!) while maintaining a surly silence, whereas a shy student will avert her eyes or even duck her head while being silent.

I had a passive-agressive student once (I taught her mother, too!), and finally I had to dismiss her. I told her mom, "I'm sorry. I just can't teach her if she won't communicate with me!" (The mother continued lessons.)

I'm a traveling teacher, and one of my students has bench cover. Some kind of needlepoint or something. It hampers my student's playing. I don't like bench covers for this very reason. How do I handle this? It's not my piano bench.

I don't like bench covers for "working pianos," either, and discussed this recently in the consumer question file. I am fairly sure the parent won't be willing to covert the cover to a pillow (though you could ask....). I think the best solution would be to ask for a piece of Saran Wrap for the student to sit on.

Naturally, you'll have explain why to the parent. If you're lucky the parent will look thoughtful, and you can hope that person is thinking how to solve the musical problem but not having to discard the artistic one. At this point you would have the opportunity to suggest that the parent approach the stitcher and say that the teacher suggested the beautiful piece be converted into a pillow (or even a picture to hang above the piano), pointing out that this also has the benefit of keeping the needlework clean. I'm a great lover of needlework, and I can appreciate the need to keep a finished piece clean. My guess is that your stitcher will feel the same way and after first gasping about not only removing the piece from "active service" and all that will entail but also perhaps cutting it down (thereby losing some of the background stitches), it will be apparent that permanently taking off the bench cover serves both the pianist and the art.

I am a relatively new piano teacher and have been teaching for about a year. A student, a 9-year-old boy, is given a written assignment weekly during his half hour lesson. He usually has one new song in his Bastien lesson book, a review song in the same book, a new page in his theory book, and works periodically in a note speller. I wanted his family to purchase all the Bastien primer level books (4 of them), but they did not have the money. The mother has some older books (non-Bastien), however, and has been allowing her child to play from the other books at home. Also, the boy plays "ahead" in his Bastien book without having received instruction from me on these new songs that have yet to be assigned. After 11 months of instruction the child is still not reading music well....this is partially because he does not like theory...and did not start early in the theory book because his mother said he did not like 'written work'. I later insisted he begin theory, but we're not at the same place in theory as we are in the lesson book. My main dilemma is this: It is my belief the student should play only those pieces for which he has received instruction. What is your opinion, and what would you do in this situation? Would you teach a child who was being self-taught with other materials, or semi-instructed by mom on other materials?

If the parents can't afford the books (or say they can't), lend the child yours. This will work only for the non-write-in books, of course. Whatever you do, don't photocopy!!

As to working ahead, I think it's a laudable thing for a student to do! This shows you are such a good teacher that the student has sufficient grounding to take a stab at it himself. (I am assuming the mother is not teaching him these songs in his Bastien books. If so, you need to stop this right away. You're the teacher. It's ok for the mom to help, but she shouldn't be introducing the songs. That's your responsibility.

I often give a student extra songs because I think the student might "need" some extra things to explore or because I just bring some extras since I'm at the filing cabinet anyway. I tell the student to go on if desired. If there is a tricky place in a song, a place I want to introduce so it isn't learned incorrectly, I write "no" at the top of the song and say, "There's something I want to help you with in this one, so please don't do this one on your own." This seems to work just fine. So, no, I would not discourage working ahead at all. I would praise the student.

As to teaching a child who is semi-instructed, as you so cleverly put it!, I think a lot depends on the mom. What are her credentials? Fifteen years of study as a child and teen? (She probably can help in a way that won't hurt.) Two years? (Dangerous for her to "help.")

Yes, I'd teach a child who was getting "instruction" at home, but I'd find out from the mom exactly what she was doing. And then I'd tell her exactly what I want her to do and not do.

Tell the mom *how* you'd like her to help her son. See my consumer file on how to help with home practice. You should communicate that you are so grateful not only for her interest in her son's piano study but also for her extra effort with him at home. Important! Enlist her as an ally rather than casting her as a competing power center. The child is naturally going to choose his mother, if only because she's with him more hours per week!

• What specifically should she do (help him figure out a note or counting problem, etc.) and not do (start her son on a song that hasn't been assigned, etc.)?
• If you decide the child should not work ahead, tell her so and tell her why. And what she should say to him when he does. ("Mrs. Smith asked me to remind you not to play songs she hasn't helped you with first. Do you know what I'd like to hear right now? That song about the fire truck. It's one of my favorites.")
• Read my file on ensuring successful practice at home and transfer whatever you can use of that information to her.

As to the note-reading and not liking "written work," I think the problem is need for more notes peller work, rather than lack theory pages' being done. Not many kids like theory pages. Not many like written pages. Put 'em together, and gee...!

Recast this written work for notereading drill as a game. I have a lot of files on my pedagogy page about how to teach notereading. Look also at the file on sightreading. Be sure to call it "games" and not "drill."

Tell the mom what you're doing: "You said that Rodney doesn't like homework pages, but he still needs to learn that information, particularly recognizing the notes and where they are on the piano. We'll use games instead of theory written work to do this. We'll play the game tomorrow at his lesson, and I'll have a copy of it for you to take home to play every day."

Here's an idea for a game about sigh-reading: Make a deck of cards with the notes he reads well (maybe the F below Middle C through the G above it?), one card for each of the four note values. Make separate cards for Middle C in the bass and in the treble clefs. You have 10 pitch cards, one each of the four note values: 40 cards.

If he doesn't read all those pitches well, remove those cards for now. You don't want to frustrate him. You want to **set him up for success**. When he's successful, he'll want to do more. Make it easy for him to succeed. Let him succeed several times at an easy level before you make it a little harder. Don't "reward" him for doing well by giving him something harder! In fact, you may want to make his assignment for the whole week to work with only cards you specify. (Specifically tell the mom not to add any cards!)

To play: have the child "draw four cards" and play whatever they turn out to be. (Set them up on the music rack.) If he can't do four, do two. If four is not a stretch, try five or six. What you're doing is randomizing notes but allowing the child to "pick" and thus be emotionally invested in his "song." If the child can't read the notes and the note values simultaneously, first address the counting by clapping the rhythms.

In this game, the mother will be a powerful help! The fact that she's doing it with her son tells him this is important stuff. And she'll be there to reinforce daily, which will speed and solidify his learning. Be sure to praise the mom for her assistance, as well as praise the boy for his improvement!

Also see my file about piano readiness games. There may be some ideas there you can transmute into games for this child.

Don't stress about the fact that you're "not in the same place" in all of the Bastien books that "go together." This is not a problem at all. Some students are strong in some areas and will naturally forge ahead in them. Just don't let the other areas be cast by the wayside - - that is, keep working on them, not eliminate them from his curriculum.

As an aside, I'm wondering if perhaps the child needs more than two songs. If I understand your letter correctly, he has one new and one review song weekly. How about two review songs? You assign one for daily work, and he picks a different one each day for the second one. How about one-and-one-half new songs? Or two? He may not be improving his notereading because he's bored - - doesn't have enough actual music to play.

What is fake book style you mention?

I have a student who just broke her arm which playing softball. What should I do for literature? What should I do if the parents think she should "take some time off"?

See my file on this.

What is the best way to correct a student's fingering once it has gotten off track?

First, make sure the student knows what fingering to use and isn't creating his own version! When he does that, more often than not, you get all kinds of unacceptable combinations which will eventually impede the accuracy, speed, and musicality of the piece. Consult this file on fingering that I wrote for students but ought to give some guidance on basics of fingering. Write in fingering as needed (usually stretches, tucks, and crosses), but don't go overboard! (Well, in Bach, it's ok to number every note!) You don't want the student playing by finger number rather than reading the notes.

Now, as to fixing fingering, I think the best way to "burn in" the new fingering is with rhythms. This is another consumer file.

If your student is reading finger numbers instead of notes, you need to fix this right away! I have several files on teaching note-reading on my pedagogy home page.

How does one perform the notes printed in small type in the last movement ("Rondo alla turca") of Mozart's piano Sonata in A Major (K. 331)?

I began teaching after I turned 16 and had just a few students from the neighborhood. I started those students in the Bastien books because that's what I had used and was familiar with them. I did experiment over the years with several other series of books but found that I really just prefer the Bastien books. I hadn't realized until the last couple of years, however, just how much my students struggle with note-naming and hand positions. When I was a younger teacher, I was somewhat naive and unaware about the dangers of teaching by position. I also didn't realize that this was a specific drawback of using the Bastien series. I've changed many of my methods over the years and have become more "strict" with the students I have, however the note-naming problem still exists and seems to get worse and worse all of the time. I know if I were to start any new students, I could prevent this problem from the beginning (different method books, ways of teaching note-naming, etc.), however, I have had the same 20-25 students now for about 5 or so years, and, unfortunately, they're struggling because of my ignorance in the past about this matter. I'm trying to correct the bad habits they've learned for years of thinking "I'm in C Position, therefore in my right hand, this note [G] is played with my 5th finger" and so on. I'm having an awful time trying to teach them to play a different way than they've been accustomed to for the entire course of their piano studies so far. I have used Finale created several exercises and even original compositions that give the students an opportunity to play "out of position" or give them practice moving from position to position. It's helped somewhat, but will take much more time. I've tried using the Bastien sight-reading books and I've also devoted an entire lesson for each student on the idea of playing in positions and why we can't think that way. I try to help them understand that the first line note on the treble staff is the E above Middle C (not just any E) and that it is that note regardless of which finger is used to play it. Some still have trouble naming it, let alone finding it on the piano. But, just when I think they're beginning to understand, they'll turn to a new song and immediately ask me "ok, what position is this in?" It's very frustrating and I wish I'd known better in the first place not to dwell too much on different positions. I strongly prefer the Bastien books and really don't want to change to another method. I'm hoping to adjust my teaching methods to work with the Bastien series but still help my students get out of the position mindset. I'm somewhat concerned, however, not only for my current students, but about the fact that this fall I will be starting several new students who have never had piano lessons. I want to be able to prevent position thinking before it even starts. Help! (Sorry this is so long!)

Isn't it interesting that we tend to use as teachers what we used as students? Unless we see shortcomings and change to -avoid- what we used as students! I think this preference for stasis has perpetuated some questionable pedagogical practices, such as the ridiculous notion that a repeated note must be played by a different finger. (I'm not talking about quickly repeated notes, as in the later Hanon exercises, where a different finger makes clean articulation possible. I'm talking about student songs and sonatinas.) Or that diatonic scales should be begun immediately upon beginning piano study. (A stupid idea and the culprit for more students' quitting than anything else I can think of! Scales are stupefyingly boring unless the student sees a direct correlation with music currently under study. And, even then, scales will not be greeted with enthusiasm! Note: Try the chromatic scale first. Contrary motion - - finger numbers match - - and then parallel. Selling spiel: "You're going to love this! It will make your fingers smile!") Or that teaching eighth-notes should be addressed within the first months of study. (Yipes! No wonder our students can't read!)

As to position playing, let's face it: a lot of teachers like position playing because they don't have to work as hard as they would in making sure the child is href="teaching_notereading.html">notereading. It really isn't even "necessary" to worry about reading because the "song will come out" if the student uses position playing. Easier for the student, easier for the teacher. Hey! What could be better?!

Duh.......Well, true notereading would be better.

Unfortunately, true notereading takes a LOT of time and effort on the part of the teacher and student. Not an easy row to hoe! (See my pedagogy page for links to a number of files I've written on this topic.)

Here are some ideas you might want to try:

• Play snake and worm songs, as you mentioned you were going to use
• Play the "LH part" with the RH
• Play the part (whichever - - but it has to be single notes) using the eraser end of a pencil rather than a finger. Anything to disassociate a specific finger number with a specific piano key. Or, play the notes with the elbow or even the nose. (This also has as high Fun Factor.)
• Play the "Oh, Say, Can You Play?" game.
• Write a song together. You will play the notes on the keyboard, and the student will notate them. (Use only quarter-notes. A rip-roaring tune is not at all necessary. Start with three notes only....can't do a whole lot with three notes, right? Doesn't matter. You want the student to associate the piano key with staff placement.)
• Interleave Bastien generously with other stuff so there is plenty of material in C-position (or whatever) and you are confident that the student is confident reading all the notes in that position.

One of the biggest problems with "position playing" pedagogical methods, however, is that there is not enough depth (and breadth) of material before the books go to another "position." Therefore the student doesn't solidify notereading for those specific notes. Instead, the student is summarily upended and plopped down in another 'position.' Naturally, most students take the path of least resistance - - especially when the book promulgates this as the "way to do it" - - and play by finger number in the position. I think if the method writers weren't so focused on looking good to colleagues and really thought about how students learn, they would allow plenty of material for recapitulation.

I just went to my filing cabinet and counted how many songs my students play in Middle-C position: 82! And that doesn't count at least 30 more holiday songs (Christmas, Valentine's, Halloween, patriotic, Jewish, etc.). At about song number 50, I introduce Small C (octave below Middle C), first having had them play it using the "8vb" written notation. No other "C position" notes are used.

During those 82 songs, however, they also cover: sharps, flats, naturals, dynamics, accents/sfz/staccato, octave displacements (8-, 15-, 22-), pieces in 5 and 7 counts per measure, ornaments (mordent only), inégalité, repeat sign/da capo/dal segno/al coda/first and second endings, 12-bar blues form, minuet and trio da capos, metronome for speed, triplets, etc. As I have historic keyboards also, my students play music from appropriate periods on these instruments and see first-hand why the music of Bach, for instance, is written the way it is (no pedal, no dynamics), rudimentary imitative music, etc.

Because the notes are well-learned, it's easy for the student to concentrate on lots of other details - - but NOT eighth-notes!!

Technical skills include triad arpeggios, staccato in one hand and legato in the other, ditto forte and piano, hand position, metronome use, and other things.

Songs don't go to "C position" until "book II" (Middle-C position is then renamed "baby position"! - - "book I position" for adults). Even then, I don't call it "C position," but "book II position." The big challenge in moving to C position is recognizing that now left hand G, for example, is played with finger 1, not finger 4, as it was in baby position. There are also two new notes to learn (D and E, since the C was learned at the end of my book I). Anyway, learning a note in book II position is a thrill!

Another shortcoming of position books I find incredible is that these method books have kids playing in 4 sharps and outrageous keys like that! For petessake! No child in the first year should be reading in a key signature of more than one flat or sharp. The method book authors are not "better musicians" or "better teachers" because their students (and, hence, your students if you use their books) are "able to play in many keys." All this does is create confusion and foster the development of personal methods....such as "This is in F position, so I will use finger 2." As you know. By "reading in a key signature of more than one flat or sharp," I mean just that, however, this does NOT mean the students play only F-sharp and B-flat (those notes available in middle C position). The student should play all black keys within Middle C position, including all as enharmonic equivalents. Just write in the accidentals. The aim is for the students to locate these notes -on the keyboard-. For more on how to teach key signatures, see this file.

Rather than talk "position," perhaps you could say "built around a G triad" rather than "this is in G position". Are your students constructing triads? Think this would be helpful in turning their attention toward structure rather than path of least resistance. See the file on my technical program for a thorough discussion of this.

As to note names, I really wouldn't worry so much that they can point to a dot on the paper and say, "This is F." Note-naming by pointing to noteheads on paper adds an extra level of detail that doesn't improve playing. (It only helps you teach more easily because you can say, "Start on the F with the right hand.") In my studio, I aim for "this-dot-on-the-paper-on-this-particular-line/space-means-this-piano-key-no-matter-which-hand-or-finger-plays-it-use-your-nose-or-elbow-if-you-like-because-it's-the-same-piano-key". Later the letter names just happen naturally. You might consider dropping this component of notereading and focusing instead of making sure the printed note is accurately (and promptly) associated with a specific keyboard key.

I am almost finished completing my music degree requirements for classical guitar (not piano, sorry!) and my final assignment is to write a paper on a musical topic which has not had much, if any, coverage already. My teacher and I both feel that a paper about teaching adults (40+ years old) especially new to the instrument would be excellent material for classical guitar. Not much can be found on the subject. For now, or until we further refine the topic of the paper, we are interested in areas such as an adults' ability to learn music, any physical problems inherent simply because of being an older student, or any gifts such as a better ability to emote material due to life experiences. I am 45 years old myself, but have played classical guitar for many years. I decided I would like to teach and felt that obtaining a degree would definitely help me to be a much better teacher. With classical guitar, the majority of our students are adults (past the electric and steel string stage), who are ready for a more "mature" style, however, not much actual information is available concerning their special situation as an older student of guitar. I was hoping you could possibly lead me to some sources which I have not though of. I know you have taught piano for several years and have had many adult students. Anything you could offer me in the way of advice or direction to other sources of information will be greatly appreciated.

It doesn't matter what physical skill you're teaching, though: guitar, piano, or tennis. Good teaching is good teaching. (For that matter, in any "intellectual" subject - - math, history - - good teaching is good teaching.) I am assuming you have read my files about teaching in general and adult needs, linked from my pedagogy page If not, you probably will find a good deal of help there.

More specifically, I think you can just take my piano comments and recast them for guitar.

Also, I note that your question is really literature selection rather than age - - in that you state your older students want standard guitar repertoire (as opposed to pop, etc.). I think you might consider focusing on beginner "good" literature for guitar and let the fact that mostly older beginners want this type of music be part of the discussion rather than the focus of it. I think you'll be able to find more source material -and- have a generally more useful study because those teachers of younger students who want standard repertoire - - or those teachers, like me, who teach the standard repertoire as the foundation and then branch off into pop because "going the other direction" is burdenously frustrating for the student - - know where to get it and/or what to look for in general. Know, also, that you will have to do a lot of arranging to make the music appropriate for your beginner adults. Don't forget you can use just the first part. This is especially good for the very beginning students, no matter what instrument. Just stop at a tonic cadence. If you like, later, use that portion and add the next phrase or two, using DC to reinforce that it's a recap. The student already "knows 2/3s of the piece! Yea!"

I really do not know any other sources particular to your topic as stated. I'm sorry! But I think my comments will, at least, get you started.

As a teacher myself, my son (11 yrs.) and two daughters (6 and 8 years) take piano lessons with another teacher for some reasons that you probably can guess. My concern is with my son. During the summer, they aren't taking lessons from their usual teacher, so I am trying to help my son with his note reading. He is doing quite well in the areas of technique and using his ear, and he can play the first two sections of "Fur Elise" in the original. He loves Beethoven and wanted so much to learn to play "Moonlight Sonata" after hearing me play it, so I arranged a simpler arrangement for him and am now trying to make him read the notes and learn one measure a day. Now the problem: He has a horrible time with reading. He cannot read notes as well as his younger sisters. When I point to a note, he tries to guess what it is and then looks at my face for approval or disapproval. He avoids having to say the names of notes that I point to. He has been taught how to read and -can- name notes when forced to, but inevitably ends up in tears, slouching in his seat with his hands in his lap acting as though he hasn't even the physical strength to put his hands back on the keyboard. He literally acts as though I had just told him he had to give away all his favorite toys in the world or something like that. I am being exceedingly patient and kind, re-teaching notes to him and waiting long periods of time for him to answer, "What note is that? Can you say its name?" I am convinced of some level of learning disability (I know, it's the buzz-word of teaching nowadays), but I don't know what to do. He can't seem to decipher whether a note that he is looking at is higher or lower than the previous one. Do I just start over with "Book One" and have him sight read the simplest songs, and go ahead and teach him the stuff that he is capable of playing technique-wise by showing him where to put his hands. This is how I taught him" Fur Elise," and he loves it and can play it with a surprisingly mature touch and feeling. It's not just me. His school-year piano teacher is impressed with his talent as well. Is this something that some kids just need more time to mature into the ability to tackle, or do you think that he has a learning disorder?

Praise him for his special musical talents. Reassure him he can learn to read, too. And to be patient if it takes him a while. You'll promist to work at whatever speed he can work, provided he truly tries. My guess is that he will really work hard for you because he knows he has a problem and feels dejected when he can't do as you ask. He wants to please you, obviously.

Going at the speed he can go will give a feeling of accomplishment from that, as well as feel that you are standing by him, wanting to help him, and not being judgmental or making him feel less than accomplished because he's having trouble with this skill. (And of course, don't compare him with his sisters. From your letter, I see you are not doing this, but I add that here for other readers.)

Making the special arrangement for "Moonlight" for him was a wonderful gift. He knows he's special since you took time to do this just for him. Rather than one complete measure a day, you might try a phrase (or part of one), hands apart. Learn the accompaniment hand first. This technique also will help him hear the melody) since it's usually more difficult.

Some other ideas:

1. Start him with a book 1 of something and use it for sigh-treading. Tell him that you'll work together to bring his note-reading up to the high level of his playing. Praise him for his by-ear work and his love of music but emphasize that he has to learn to read better if he wants to play Beethoven.

2. Don't worry that he can't say the letter names for the notes on the page. Concentrate instead that he knows that the dot X on the page means key X on the piano. Letter names will come naturally in due time; perhaps longer for him than for other students. This requires a different mind-set from you. You probably were taught the same way I was: you have to know the letter names! This requires drill unless you have a photographic memory!

3. Don't teach him songs by rote (looking at your hands). Make him read.

4. Make letter names into a card game. I think there is an explanation on my site about these. Please search around on this page and also on the general pedagogy page (particularly for a file about teaching note-reading or games or teaching your children; don't remember where the info is!).

5. Have his eyes checked. He may need glasses. You also may want to have him evaluated by a neurologist or psychologist. As you say, there may be a learning disability of some kind.

6. Does he have trouble reading text? You might want to talk to his teacher and see what observations he/she has in this area.

I came across a notation I've never seen before. It looked like two half notes connected by three lines (like thirty-second-notes would be connected), but not touching the stems. There are two sets of them in the measure! The piece is in 4/4 time, so it looks like there are too many counts!

[This is a reader response to question #142, above, with more information that you may find helpful.]

The 8-year-old girl sounds very much like my 8-year-old son. In spite of the fact that he has an above average IQ, seemingly simple concepts go right over his head. He has had difficulty learning to read notes and made it through his first set of piano books by memorizing the songs. Unfortunately, I was unable to convince his piano teacher of this problem until I sent him to lessons without practicing all week, and she had to work with him "cold". He played so beautifully after I had struggled with him all week, that she was stunned when she realized he couldn't read the music (he picks out songs by ear and makes up his own songs). He has trouble distinguishing between line and space notes on the staff and seems to have trouble tracking along the line visually. He often uses his finger to follow the line when he reads print, but it's a little hard to do that and play the piano. My son has some visual motor difficulties. His vision is fine, but his eyes don't always work well together (sort of an eye/brain/muscle problem). Because of this, he had a hard time distinguishing between line notes and space notes. I think I also mentioned that he had trouble visually tracking along a line. He would also lose his place easily, causing him to skip things. One exercise he has done with his occupational therapist is called the Infinity Walk. He walks a figure 8 while he reads a series of letters or numbers posted on the wall at eye level without losing his place or changing the direction he's walking. This requires him to turn his head while he walks in order to keep his eyes on the letter chart. It doesn't sound too difficult, but it was very hard for him at first. He's much better now. Anyway, he cannot play the notes and say the names of the notes at the same time, but he can play and sing the words of the song. Like the little girl, he shuts down with too much input. He was tested by a neurologist who specializes in children with ADD/ADHD and was found not to have either of those conditions. Instead he has Sensory Integration Disorder. This condition can affect fine and gross motor skills, vision, hearing, etc. There is abundant information on the Internet about this condition, and there is an excellent book called "The Out of Sync Child" by Carol Stock Kranowitz. My son is doing very well with the help of an Occupational Therapist. We will start piano lessons the end of August with a teacher who is more willing to listen to a mom!

Is there a point at which a student is "safely innoculated" about playing piano and won't quit?

See also the consumer Q&A page for more information, as directed to parents. Search on "quit".

My students, when learning Bach, can't play fluently. I ask them to learn the music by phrases hands separately, 4-8 bars per week, depending on the difficulty of the piece. Then I get them to play hands together for the same bars for the following week, but this is where I run into a problem. They don't play in a flowing manner hands together, but they can play fine one hand at a time. Can you tell me what to do?

Read the file on how to teach Bach fugues. Perhaps your students should start with simpler imitative pieces, such as the "little preludes" discussed in that file. The inventions are by no means the easiest of Bach's imitative music! (The file also discusses how to teach imitative music.)

Is there good reason for refraining from using the thumb when playing black keys?

Not that I can see! I do it all the time, and I always put that out as the first option for my students when we're working on fingering. Sometimes they use the gyrations required to put 1 on a white note so they cross over (with 2 or 3, usually), but most often, they see 1 on the black note as most efficient, while not doing any musical harm. Men are the ones who most often do not use 1 on a black note; this is because of the size of their hands (usually the width of the fingers).

How do I obtain my records and exams for Royal Conservatory of Piano. I an now interested in teaching piano lessons.....where do I start?

I live in the States and am not familiar at all with Royal Conservatory processes. I suggest you call the Royal Conservatory directly.

My students have a terrible time with Hanon #2! What insights do you have on teaching this?

I have a student who contradicts what is on the assignment for the previous week: "But you didn't assign that." I don't want to argue with him, but I don't want him to think he is in control. Help, please.

My students have difficulty starting in any place other than the beginning. How can I help them solve this problem?

In your opinion is there a need for piano instructors who can teach primarily less "traditional" music concepts such as transposition, composition, improvisation, voicings, methods, ear training, the use of keyboards and other devices for performance, etc? I am well trained classically, so it is not a question of being unable to teach the standard repertory. I live in a "retirement area." If so, what specific thoughts and instructions would you suggest?

I have a transfer student who came to me not reading music well at all. (I attribute this to her previous teacher's choice of method books - - Bastien - - which teach "position" playing rather than real note-reading.) I kept her in these books even though my other students do not use them (I primarily use Faber and supplement a great deal with other material). She can figure out the notes if she spends time on them, but she is very slow. I think the reason is that some of the notes are "outside the 5-finger hand position" and, therefore, she's not able to use the skills from the Bastien books because they no longer work. It is taking her so long to learn a piece! I suggested more note naming exercises to the mom, who plays piano, but she thinks that would be counterproductive. (I don't know why she feels this way.) I may or may not be able to slip in some computer games for drill, however. To make matters worse, her younger brother seems quite gifted and is progressing rapidly. And he plays her pieces virtually at sight. He learns his own pieces in two weeks. The girl takes over a month. The mom is worried about her daughter's reading ability, and, I feel, rightly so. I have assigned her sight-reading exercises (folk songs, also) but have not been consistent with it as part of her weekly assignment. (I know what you're going to say!) She's working on an easy Mozart minuet (in F), and it seems as though she's struggling for each note. I'm about to assign the popular Minuet in G from the Anna Magdalena Bach book. Her Mom wants her doing classical, which I normally do too - - it's my first love - - but I'm just trying to keep her interested. The Mom and I agreed that I would not look for a high level of mastery on most of her pieces at this point but move through them more quickly (I will choose one or two "lessons" from each to reinforce and then move on). This goes against my desire to have quality music played well when I think it's within the capability of the student! She loves Christian pop music, so I'm trying to incorporate that as much as possible. I'm sorry this is so long! Please help me help her.

I agree that hand-position learning is not the way to learn to read notes.

And - - as you guessed! - - sight-reading is one way to correct the deficiency in a transfer student. Folks songs, etc. are the way to go for sight-reading literature. You note she likes Christian pop, so you might also try some hymns and other sacred literature as sight-reading material.

I think some drills would be helpful. Do them as games, not as flashcards - - unless this child is ok with flashcards (a few don't mind them). Computer drill is good, too, and you've already initiated this.

Now, then, the brother. I know this is contributing to the problem. He absolutely must -not- play from his sister's books. The mom should impress upon him that those are "her songs" and that he may not play them from her books, nor may he play them by ear. When she passes them off, then he may play them by ear. But he still may -not- play them from her books. He only may play the melodies by ear. We want to keep the brother away from his sister's books entirely. Obviously, she feels she cannot compete with her brother's ability, and since she can't read very well and takes so long to learn a new song, she's just closing down (no joy, either).

As to not requiring superb mastery for this child now, I agree with you. Have her learn the notes and make a stab at dynamics or whatever other "big" feature there is in the piece. We don't "pick" at it, requiring all the details.

I would advise you right now not to introduce the Anna Magdalena minuet. Instead, focus on music you know she likes (Christian pop + whatever else seems to be met with enthusiasm). I think you need to confine lesson goals right now to improving her reading and improving her self-confidence. Forget everything except the sight-reading (from music types she enjoys) and preparing songs of the types she enjoys. After a few months, I'm betting she'll be ready to have some of the standard repertory re-introduced. So what if this takes six months? Our goal here is to give her note-reading facility and shore up her estimation of herself!

You'll have to get the mom to sign on. (Also ask her why she thinks note-name drills would be counterproductive. It seems to me that they are just what's needed here.) I think it won't take very much explanation for her to buy in to your program to get her daughter back on track.

How do you get a student to practice the way you want him to during the coming week? When the progress I expect to be there if the student practiced as I request isn't there, how do I handle this problem?

As the teacher, you know much more about practice methods than the student does, but I think you'll have little luck with a recalcitrant one if you are Moses on the Mount. Try demonstrating the effect that your method of practice has.

You've probably read of my "drill" of specifying a certain number of times each day. I demonstrate by doing exactly the assignment for "days" at the lesson, and the student can see when he actually has learned what I asked - - it's a lot sooner than a week 90% of the time, too! "All right, this is Monday. Let's do line two 5 times....Now we'll do 5 times on page 1...[etc.] Ok, now it's Tuesday....." and so on. Usually by "Wednesday" the material is learned. The student see exactly how long it actually takes (not as long as expected!) to do the assignment on that piece as I requested.

Try this and see what happens!

I am a student studying the euphonium, and in my undergraduate degree program as a performance major, I am required to take secondary piano classes. I am doing a research paper on the importance of piano as a secondary instrument to wind instrumentalists, and I came upon your site this afternoon. I was wondering what you would have to say about this topic, if you could recommend any pedagogy books that address this issue, and how you feel about the situation. I know that I struggle every day in piano class and have trouble seeing the practical application of piano to my career path, but I still do it. Thank you very much for your reply in advance. This would help me greatly in my research.

This is a quote from your Teaching Hand Position file: "Some students have the habit of dropping their thumbs toward the floor when these fingers are not in use. I call this "drilling for oil." (This happens in a piece because usually a technical exercise will need all fingers nearly continuously)." Is this a bad thing? How do I stop students from doing this? Is it worth nagging the child about, or will they grow out of it if I wait long enough?

I'm not a real stickler about hand position in the first two months of study because the student has enough to think of, but after two months, it's time to look at hand position. Specifically that the thumb be held over the keyboard and the wrists be straight. Yes, it's worth nagging about because students will take the path of least resistance, and if you don't do something about it they'll think it's ok. In fact, 99% don't even notice they're doing it. If you don't point out that it's a problem and ask them to correct it, they won't even be aware that what they're doing is wrong.

Play "Alligator." Pick a song that is easy to play (passed off several weeks ago) and tell the student that you will be an alligator. If the thumbs drop, you will "bite" them. Meanwhile you hold your hands like this, approximately under the student's wrist:

Put all the fingertips together and put your hand under the child's with your fingertips pointing up. It's easy to close your fingertips around the student's unsuspecting thumb. "If the alligator bites you, I win!" And then be ruthless about winning. Don't give any quarter! They'll laugh and think this is great fun. Assign an "Alligator Song" to be played each day. Contact the parents and show them how to "be an alligator." Within four weeks, max, the problem should be cleared up.

So, yes, address this problem right away.

Use this same technique to teach how to keep the wrists up. This is called a "Piranha Song," and you wiggle your fingertips and tickle the student on the undersides of the wrists. I have written something about piranha songs elsewhere. I think it's in this file.

I have two mothers who spend the whole lesson times chewing out their other children in the next room. I just hate hearing it, mainly for the children's sakes. One mother is especially vituperative. It really gets on my nerves. What is your experience with this? Do you have a solution?

I have read that you do not believe in rote learning but in learning to read the music right away. I have read elsewhere (in my university course) that music needs to be internalized before learning to read it. Music is paralleled with language. The lecturer stresses that since language is first understood, then spoken, then read, then written is that we should teach music that way too. I think you probably won't agree with my lecturer, but what I want to know is: What are your reasons?

What does it mean to have "internalized" music? That the music is appreciated and has made an aesthetic impact on the hearer? That the listener is able to coordinate body movements to what he or she hears? Then music is internalized? How could hearing or moving to music be anything other than internalized?!

I think what your teacher is alluding to is the idea that the child should not be "bogged down" with a visual burden (reading notation) but should reproduce what is transferred to him by another method (rote, either by ear - - Suzuki - - or a "watch my hands" method). Playing the music learned by the rote method is more immediately satisfying than learning how to read, according to the premise of the Suzuki system ("Mother Tongue" approach).

Yes, true enough. That's primarily how reading language happens in hearing people.

I want to point out, though, that language is processed in the left hemisphere of the brain, whereas music is handled in both. This fact alone suggests to me that one cannot take the language-acquisition paradigm and overlay it with enough success on music learning to indicate that the language-learning model should be adopted in teaching music to beginners.

I've been down many educational roads and by-ways and re-inventions of the wheel in my many years of teaching (almost 50), and I stand by my opinion that reading should be taught at the outset - - and that if the child can count to 20, say the alphabet, and have a 2" width across the knuckles, that the child is ready for piano study and thus for learning to read music.

I draw from my own experience with hundreds of beginners and my synthesis of learning theory, psychology, and other reading and research.

You don't say whether your instructor is an active on-the-bench teacher or a part-time studio teacher, in addition to being a lecturer. (I'm also guessing that the title "lecturer" indicates a part-time college teacher, someone who teaches a course or two. That is how I am familiar with the term. A "lecturer" is several rungs below an assistant professor, adjunct professor, and associate professor. And, of course, far below a full professor. Graybeards are frightfully territorial about their titles!)

Remember, saying something and theorizing about it and holding forth in a lecture about it is far different than doing it! In one sense it's easier to talk and theorize and pontificate because there is no way - - other than imagination and guesstimation - - to quantify, and thus measure, the efficacy of the results of doing whatever it is.

Not so with doing it. The student learns it (with varying levels of completeness, ease, depth, whathaveyou, of course), or he doesn't. Very clear. Very measurable by the ability of the student to demonstrate what he has learned.

This divide between theory and practice is why the valid axiom is: "Those who can, teach. Those who can't are forced to do something else," rather than the condescending pejorative phrase directed at teachers by philistines who don't have a clue about the importance transmitting culture - - the same culture that is surrounding and nurturing them.

I also would be interested in whether your instructor has taken classes in Suzuki or Pace or other of the rote-learning methods and thus is of his/her opinion because of his/her own training. Or, he or she is of the rote-first school of thought because of having chosen to teach his/her own students in a rote method.

Nearly always, the background of the person with the opinion very much influences what the person says or does. This is one reason so many teachers introduce diatonic scales to beginners - - this is what their teachers did with them.

In short, those of us in the trenches (whether or not we spent time in the ivory tower, which, incidentally, I did) know what works best for us in transmitting the love of and the making of music. For myself, it's via reading, not rote. It's more efficient in the long run and it's definitely longer-lasting because if the student forgets, she knows how to derive the information for herself.

In fact, I believe that's what true learning is: knowing how to figure it out for yourself and where to find the answer.

Thus, that's what real teaching is: teaching the student how to learn.

If it's ear-playing that's needed in the curriculum, how about having the child pick out a simple nursery tune by ear? Or, play an "answer" to your four-note "question"? I don't think it's a good idea to confuse this one relatively-small aspect of learning to play the piano (or any other instrument) with the over-arching approach to introducing the study of it.

Also see several articles under the teaching children and teaching notereading headings (links on my pedagogy front door) for some more detailed files on this topic.

In the end, it's your decision. Why not try several approaches and base your decision on that? And you can always change horses if you find your initial decision is not working out for your students.

How long should it take an elementary school student (about 18 months of lessons) to learn a song?

I assume you're asking because you think one of your students is taking too long.

First of all, students progress at different paces (and even different paces on different songs), so you shouldn't measure one student against another's progress.

Ok, I know you want to pin me down, so I'll give you a generality: If the song takes longer than four weeks to learn, it's too difficult or the student bit off too big a bite of the piece.

Do you have any information on teaching blind students how to play the piano? I have no clue where to begin. Just wondered if you had any experience in this area!

I have never taught any blind students nor known anyone who has, but Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI), a national professional organization for women in music, has a program for sight-impaired students. The link currently to that program is at the bottom of the SAI page, in a red box. You might start there. (I don't know whether these resources are available to non-members, but surely they must be.) Also contact your local school districts to see if there are any specialists on staff that can either help or point you to someone. Also local junior colleges and universities. And state and county agencies.

Let me know what you find so I can put it on my site!

Addendum: I have heard from a blind student, and she says: "I use the Braille music with the Library of Congress system of Braille music." There's another search term.

Would you recommend teaching a program like Kindermusik to attract students to your studio?

I have one student that is ADHD (though with the over-diagnosing of this particular learning disability, and with his behaviour, I sometimes wonder if it's actually a lack of discipline at home, more than ADHD - but as I don't know enough about ADHD to know for sure, I assume he has it). Anyway, there are a few issues with him. First of all, when he fidgets (or starts playing glissandos up and down the keyboard, random notes, etc) and I ask him to stop - he doesn't listen. Sometimes I physically move his hand to the correct place on the keyboard - but he'll still purposely play an incorrect note. Part of the problem I think is that the father stays in the kitchen while I teach him in the living room - and will occasionally pipe up with "Nicholas - stop that!" which the child sometimes listens to and sometimes not. So, I will ask the father to stop coming to lessons. I guess I just don't know what to do when the boy simply doesn't listen. Stopping the lesson as "punishment" won't help - in fact that would probably be more of a reward than punishment! Also, he often simply doesn't try. He'll play the piece quite horribly, and ask for a sticker. When he obviously doesn't get one, he'll play it again, this time with very few mistakes. Also - he seems to only be able to handle one piece at a time and that's it! He simply does not seem to be improving at all. He took 3 years of Music for Young Children's group lessons - which probably did him no good. When I started with him in private lessons less than 2 years ago, I had to put him in Level 1 (I use Piano Adventures by Faber) - and he is still in Level 1. I know he rarely practices, which obviously doesn't help at all. I'm seriously beginning to think this a complete waste of my time and their money. Should I encourage the parents to let him try a different instrument (he's expressed interest in learning guitar)? Do you think this situation is hopeless?

I agree that it sounds as though there is a lack of discipline - - or at least a lack of structure - - in the home. Therefore, since adults at home are not shown any respect, he will not (or does not make the connection to) give you respect.

Another possibility may be that he really doesn't understand and is using the ADHD distractability as a cover-up. Yet you say he can produce the song well if he decides to.

If it is the latter case and he really isn't cooperating, take specific steps to improve the boy's effort or drop him.

Ask if there is something he doesn't understand or whether he's afraid to try. Sometimes folks (adults and children, with and without learning disabilities) shut down even when they have just had a success at something difficult. It's "safer" not to try [again] because if no effort is put forth, the person knows for sure what the outcome will be. If effort is expended, the outcome is unknown. Will it be success again (many - - most? - - kids with ADHD are so "beaten down" with schoolwork that they really do not expect to succeed)? Or will it be failure?

Structure the lesson firmly. Announce, "Now we are going to ___." Make it a small amount (two measures; 4 minutes) for a short time. Eventually you'll expect him to do more and for a longer duration. Alternate this with something different. "OK, now let's play the letter game."

As to wandering off mentally and goofing around, try the "look at my eyeballs" technique and tell him what you want him to do - - a small something, as noted above - - and that you expect his attention and cooperation. You are in charge here, after all.

If you decide he is, indeed, yanking your chain, tell him that you cannot teach him if he doesn't cooperate. "Should I tell your dad you don't want to take lessons?" If he says yes, call his bluff and tell his dad. (This would be the scenario if you actually will dismiss him. It sounds as though you are pretty much at this point with this child.)

I think you are spinning your wheels here, as you suspect. The child thinks he can twist you around his little finger - - he obviously has his parents buffaloed - - and zones out when he discovers you're not a pushover. Unless you want to apply for sainthood, I'd give serious thought to dismissing him.

When you do it, make sure the child knows why: "I am sorry you don't want to do what you need to do in order to play the piano. I cannot teach you - - in fact, I will not teach you - - unless you cooperate with me. You have shown me that you do not want to cooperate. I know you have the ability to cooperate. You have chosen not to. So, I won't teach you anymore. This is your last lesson, and it's time for you to take your books and go home." Pack up his books. Don't let him do it. You continue to be in charge. Plus, he'll likely dawdle with it just because kids dawdle! You want to end this unpleasant situation as quickly as possible. Call the parent in from the other room. "Casey's ready to go. I explained to him why I am not going to teach him anymore, as we discussed the other day I would do."

As to one song at a time, fine. For a student with a learning disability or one without, if one song at a time is all the traffic will bear, go with one song and don't worry. Sometimes that's all the student thinks he can do, and after a time will discover that he can handle two songs. If not, he'll continue at his own pace.

I'm fairly sure this child, however, is using "I can only do one song!!! No, no, nooooo! No more! Only one song!!!!!" to demonstrate his power over his parents (and, he hopes, over you).

I found your site while searching for information on group piano methods for my Masters in Piano Pedagogy paper at Boise State University. I thought I saw a blurb about group piano teaching but have not found the magic words in the various topic areas yet. Do you know where I should look? Maybe I missed it in the Q&A section (which is truly a collection of interesting experiences). I have been looking online and in stores for methods to teach to the elementary student that are not franchised or have extensive teacher training. Or methods with training by video/DVD I could buy. Last spring, I taught four groups of 3rd and 4th graders with four different methods: Hal Leonard's, Alfred's Group Piano, Mayron Cole's Piano Method, and Mrs. Stewart's Piano Lessons (which has a video I found online).

I am trying to create a contract to hand out to my students. I was wondering if I could trouble you for an example or two of a written contract agreement between private music teacher and students that I could use as a basis for my own contract.

I want my students to use their metronomes at home. I tell them that using a metronome is the way to measure progress (that is, when they can play their pieces faster). This does not good! How can I get them to use the metronome when they practice?

How do I deal with a student who is 7 and wet her pants at her lesson? Mainly the question is how to handle situations like this. In this instance, I went out to the parent waiting in the vehicle and the parent asked if I could just have her continue the lesson sitting on her coat. It was gross and of course had an odor.

You needn't have asked the mother if this was ok, in my opinion. I would have popped the child on the coat.

As to how I handle situations like this (thankfully, there have been very few), I have a piece of plastic that I put on the bench, originally on hand for wet bathing suits, but after a child has an accident, I use it every lesson with him/her.

In your case, I'd do the same for future + make the child sit on a "pad" of paper towels that you could take immediately to your trashcan outside after the lesson.

Another thing you could do - - many preschools do this - - is to ask the mom to give you a pair of underwear and shorts for in a plastic bag for you to keep on hand. Send the wet stuff out with the child in the bag.

Don't forget to ask the child to visit the bathroom before sitting down at the lesson.

I can't believe the mother is not addressing this problem. You probably should call her after the second time. You can chalk the first time up to "an accident."

Note: A colleague had a student throw up all in the keyboard. We are lucky that it's only urine on our benches, no?!

I have another student (5 years old) who always needs help whenever she goes to the bathroom (her mom drops off). I'm forced to help with that. When I ask her to wash her hands, she refuses and then wants to play the piano. Should I really be responsible for taking kids to the bathroom?

I have a student who is home-schooled. I know sometimes home-schooling families have certain things they don't allow their children to do, for example listening to the radio or watching television. This appears to be the case with this student. She doesn't enjoy the mainly classical songs in her lesson book, but she took off with "Linus and Lucy" from the Charlie Brown cartoons, when I loaned her the book. I've tried to see about other types of music, but she usually says she doesn't want to play it because she is "picky" about music. She is only 11, and I think she would really enjoy popular songs, but she refuses because of whatever rules are at home (she hasn't come right out and said it). Listening to the radio is totally different than playing popular songs. She even was "afraid" of looking at the Disney songbook I had. Should I have to be forced into only teaching certain songs to kids with these home-rules? I feel like what they do at home can't be demanded at music lessons, when she could equally learn a lot from all different kinds of music. If it is the lyrics, we could white them out. I just didn't know what to do. What do you advise?

My guess is that the reason the child is home-schooled is religious. The parents want to keep her from something(s) that are pervasive in our culture (and certainly there are a lot of negative things from which to choose these days!). I think you should be aware of any strictures the family has and do your best to work within those. For example, I had sesveral families (devoutly Christian) that did not allow their children to play Halloween songs. This was not a very big problem at all. I just didn't mention Halloween at all during lessons.

Even if it is not a religious consideration, you need to ask parents whether they object to your giving the student certain types of music. A non-religious family probably will want you to skip sacred Christmas music - - even secular Christmas music might be prohibited. You have to ask. A Muslim family will have different needs.

Sometimes you can guess, based on the cultural heritage of the student. An Persian student, for example, might be Muslim, but she also might be Southern Baptist.

Sometimes you won't recognize there might be special needs, so whenever there is the slightest possibility there might be a cultural or religious conflict (Christmas and Easter come to mind right away), ask the parent before you do anything. "Is it all right with you if your child plays Easter songs? I don't want to give your child music of which you disapprove.")

Have you spoken with the parents to see just what is and what is not allowed at home? Don't go by what the student implies.

Her implication may be a cover for "I don't want to" or "I don't like this song" or (most likely) "I am afraid I can't do it". As you know, many times a student will say, "I don't like this song," when he means, "This song is hard for me."

After finding out the parameters set by the parents, ask the child what sorts of music she likes and dislikes. Ask her to tell you the reasons she has for each thing. ("I want to help you find music you like.") Look for literature that is a good match for her preferences, bearing in mind, always, that you must give her a firm foundation of skills.

In answer to your question, yes, I think you should follow her family's preferences for music (assuming they are as the student describes them to you). If you feel you cannot provide her instruction using the "approved" material, your only alternative is to dismiss the student, suggesting that the parents find a teacher who use material that more in line with the types of music they want their daughter to study.

I'm back with another home-school question! I have an advanced 11-year-old student who outright refuses to play any music other than her lesson book series (she recently came to me from another teacher who is known to be very strict). I was willing to lend her a copy of a song from The Sound Of Music, but she refused and said she just wanted to play from the lesson book. This isn't the first time this has happened. She refuses to play most any music that isn't in the lesson book. I feel like she tries to dictate the lesson. I haven't talked to her parents, but I feel as if I need to. This child comes from a home-school family with rules about TV, music, etc., but I checked with a sibling of hers, whom I also teach, and asked if they had seen The Sound Of Music, and she said that it was a favorite and their family owned a copy of the movie. So, I know it isn't against "family rules." How can I get this child to try music that's not in the lesson book?

I was looking on your website, but I didn't find anything on ear training. I have many students who have problems with ear training on their exams. I was wondering whether you could suggest some tips on how to improve my student's sensitivity. Which books or methods would you suggest?

See my file on this.

As to books, I haven't looked for any, but there may be some out there. Try Google or your local music dealer. Also check with your colleagues to see what they use or any they might know of.

What is the real name of "Mozart's Lullabye"? I've never heard of this piece!

I have four students right now in my studio who have problems reading notes in their pieces. They can name notes using flashcards, can find them on the piano, and can draw them in their theory worksheets, but when they have several notes in a row in their pieces, they can't do it: they cannot seem to recognize the notes that they just did for me with flashcards five minutes earlier! So far to help them, I have encouraged reading ahead and preparing their fingers and practicing over and over in very small, manageable sections of 1 or 2 measures. I have to work very hard to keep their mothers from showing their frustration over this problem. Any other advice? The kids range in age from 5-9.

It sounds as if you are doing a lot of right things, but have you also considered a specific program in sight-reading?

Also, are you teaching "step, skip, and empty-triad" patterns? Usually, if they can recognize these patterns in their music they can figure out the rest of the notes. (I don't bother with 4ths, 7ths, and 6th and octaves because these are "too far apart" for beginners to grasp as a set pattern [called a "Gestalt"].) A good example of reading a Gestalt pattern is reading a die. When you see two rows of dots and note that they cover the entire face of the die, you know it's a six without looking in greater detail.

I think the combination of sight-reading and Gestalt patterns might be a combination that would help.

Also, make sure that the music you are giving them doesn't have too many different pitches. Or tricky counting. Or other complicating factors (such as dynamics or staccato/accents). I'd say these kids should not be using music with teaching_eighth-notes since they're precarious in their note-reading ability.

Go backwards and simplify the music and work slowly back to the place where the kids were, making sure that the rudiments of note-reading are well-established. (See this file for related material. Look near the end of it. Also check the pedagogy main page for other files about note-reading.) Augment with a lot of material from other sources, too.

You are very wise to keep in close contact with the parents on this matter, in particular asking them to continue to be upbeat and supportive at home when frustration sets in. You don't want them to think their children are stupid or incapable of learning to play the piano.

I have been playing the piano since I was 5 years old.  I am now 48.  I have not gone to college to get a formal degree, but I was taught private lessons by a "knuckle-hitter-with-ruler" teacher and then by a good teacher. I was 19 when I stopped lessons. I have always possessed excellent sight-reading skills, but my memorization skills are almost nil. When I have time to play at home, I usually play about 2-3 hours. My family says I play well, but I have played publicly only a few times and always with my music in front of me.   I enjoy all genres of music, particularly the classics, movie themes, and 40s tunes.  I don't care for jazz or boogie woogie. I have overcome my stage fright but not the memory trouble.  Still use the music. So, do I have what it takes to teach? I have taught a couple of my children's friends when they were young children around 6 to 9 years old. I taught each one a month or two here or there, but I don't really think their hearts were in it.  They would rather go out and play.  Or, perhaps it is because I didn't know what I was doing.  I know the piano. It is the teaching skills that need touching up, I think. It has always been my heart's desire to teach. I just don't know how to get started. I looked at a nearby college's music department website, and the memorization part scares the pants right off of me! Then I ask myself if I am too old to pursue a music degree, and do I really have what it takes to pursue a music degree? Where do I begin?

• What you need to do first is to get an excellent teacher (see this file for how to do that) and study very hard, including theory/analysis and performance practice in all the different musical periods. (Don't worry about pedagogy yet.) This teacher will have recitals, and you may not have to participate if you don’t want to. These recitals will doubtless require playing from memory. Particularly if you want to use this study in preparation for or in substitution for a degree in music, you will have to play in these recitals and do them by memory. (Further note: I am in the small minority of teachers who don't require memory playing. The main problem with playing by memory is not the memory process or playing by memory itself but the student's fear that he will forget the music and be completely humiliated for forgetting. See my main pedagogy page for a number of links related to recitals, memorization, etc.)
• Join a local music teacher's group (as a student member). There might be a provision in the national organization's by-laws that will allow you to "submit" this training "in lieu of" a degree. You will never be able to say that you are a degreed teacher, but you will be able to present this "in lieu of" program of study. Generally, a "certification" is issued by the group. (Of course, the teacher must meet stringent requirements, too, to prove that she can teach you at a university level. And you may need a separate teacher for theory/analysis) You probably will have to give recitals [from memory] to complete the certification. Investigate this and make sure you are clear on all requirements. (Note: Some states have a second music teachers' group that is in-state only and not affiliated with any national organization. California is one such. The Music Teachers' Association of California does have a certification program such as I describe here.)

More roadblocks.

Now what?

I think the answer is in your letter: teach what you love. You love Broadway tunes, 40s songs, movie music. Teach that! You don't have to have a degree to teach this kind of music. You don't have to memorize.

Promote yourself as a "casual-music-focused" teacher who teaches pop-type music. Make it clear that you do not teach rock, "light rock," and other genres people these days identify as "pop." Be sure to list the three types you mentioned.

Look for students who have grown up in a musical milieu similar to yours. They're probably going to be middle-aged and older. Where are people who like this kind of music, too? Find them at senior centers, community centers, retirement homes (You'll have to go to them to give lessons. Does the center have a piano? Do you have a portable keyboard on a stand?), rec centers of retirement communities, etc. If the latter, which churches are nearby? Place ads in those bulletins (usually Catholic churches have ads in their bulletins) or in the churches' newsletters. Post on bulletin boards. Advertise in "shoppers" tabloids. Post ads on any community bulletin boards. Sometimes these are even found outside grocery stores and other commercial locations. You'll have to hunt for options and then try them to see what works for you in your community. Also try the best teacher the parent(s) can find because a beginner needs the best foundation possible. With your background, this isn't you, alas, as you suspect.)