2-year syllabus Options

[Roseau]

My feeling is that every 2 years we as teachers have to learn new pieces so that we can teach them to our students. I certainly do not teach anything unless I have thoroughly learnt it myself. Sometimes it takes several weeks to learn a piece properly, especially at the higher grades.

Do you really have to "learn" the piece to teach it?

I have on occasion bought pieces to my lesson that my teacher is unfamiliar with (these have included pieces on grades 7, 8 and diploma lists) and not only has he never refused to teach them to me but he has been quite excited at discovering something new. It sometimes takes him a couple of attempts to play a tricky passage correctly to me but I have never seen this as a problem; in fact I find it interesting to observe how he goes about sorting out a passage that he can't just sight read. And as for interpretation, he has a vast musical culture which seems to enable him to draw parallels with other pieces he does know.

[porilo]

My feeling is that every 2 years we as teachers have to learn new pieces so that we can teach them to our students. I certainly do not teach anything unless I have thoroughly learnt it myself. Sometimes it takes several weeks to learn a piece properly, especially at the higher grades.

Do you really have to "learn" the piece to teach it?

For me, definitely yes. I am a very slow learner, I always have been, but I learn things thoroughly and once they are learnt then they are learnt. I personally would not feel confident in teaching a piece at sight which I had never seen before. Occasionally it has happened that a student has brought a new piece and I always take a copy and ask them to give me a week to go through it myself so that we can start from the next lesson. When I was taking my exams I did enough sight-reading (and it's still my weak point) and I don't think I should be doing sight-reading myself during a student's lesson. I've never refused to teach a piece which a student wants to learn, and like your teacher I always enjoy discovering new pieces too, but get flustered when I am "put on the spot", which is why I always ask for a week's "grace" so that I can learn it myself first.

[Roseau]

I don't think I should be doing sight-reading myself during a student's lesson. I've never refused to teach a piece which a student wants to learn, and like your teacher I always enjoy discovering new pieces too, but get flustered when I am "put on the spot", which is why I always ask for a week's "grace" so that I can learn it myself first.

Maybe this is because I'm not a teacher and I have got hold of completely the wrong end of the stick but I don't think at the higher levels you necessarily need the teacher to be able to play the whole piece. I can't actually remember the last time my teacher played a piece all the way through for me. He will demonstrate bits I am having trouble with and sometimes he will play alongside me for a couple of lines (although obviously you couldn't do this unless you have a 2nd piano in the room).

[owainsutton]

I have on occasion bought pieces to my lesson that my teacher is unfamiliar with (these have included pieces on grades 7, 8 and diploma lists) and not only has he never refused to teach them to me but he has been quite excited at discovering something new.

I think this is a reason why my teacher at university chose to teach there rather than the music college: we were too musically opinionated and inquisitive to passively churn out 19th-century showpieces. A couple of weeks before my final recital I mentioned somthing about a Lutoslawski piece I was preparing, in relation to a rehearsal I'd arranged with my accompanist, and my teacher exclaimed "Oh, there's a piano part?!" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Aquarelle]

I am fine with two years. It is just about right for me though I must admit that the three year extension for those of us in Europe can be a godsend if you have had a pupil miss an exam - as has happened to me - broken wrist. It does also compensate for the fact that I only get an examiner once a year and can't just say OK we'll do it at the next session. It gives me the cholce of putting pieces on ice and doing something else until it's time to look at them again or choosing a completley new set or skipping a Grade exam.. And that choice will depend on the pupi's age, ability, tastes and also on the year they are in at school.

On the other hand I am glad the recorder syllabus lasts longer. Some of the pieces in the higher grades are quite hard to hunt down and I have had music shops send the wrong pieces.

I am already beginning to look forward th the next new piano set. As far as teaching pieces I have never played, I don't mind at all as long as I think they are pieces I could - or could have - played. If I understand what the composer wants and can get this over to the pupil I think it suffices. I have often had to say "Let's discover this together." After all you wouldn't expect every university lecturere in English literature to have read every single novel or poem - even from their specialist perieod. The thing is not necessarily to know - but to know how.