Urgent Reply Needed: New Challenge, New pupil starting Options

[amybalcomb]

I hope you can all put your collective teaching heads on for this query!

I have a new piano student starting her lessons with me tomorrow and the parent has said she can play extremely well by ear but refuses to learn to read the music. She is 11yrs old and is about to start secondary school with tuition currently being provided at her school.

I have not faced this sort of reluctance before and I'm a little unsure how to approach the lesson. Naturally, tomorrow will be an assessment session and I will endeavour to talk to her and find out her concerns, but has anyone else encountered this?

Any advice before tomorrow morning would be much appreciated!

Many thanks.
Amy

[Priscilla]

I hope you can all put your collective teaching heads on for this query!

I have a new piano student starting her lessons with me tomorrow and the parent has said she can play extremely well by ear but refuses to learn to read the music. She is 11yrs old and is about to start secondary school with tuition currently being provided at her school.

I have not faced this sort of reluctance before and I'm a little unsure how to approach the lesson. Naturally, tomorrow will be an assessment session and I will endeavour to talk to her and find out her concerns, but has anyone else encountered this?

Any advice before tomorrow morning would be much appreciated!

Many thanks.
Amy

[amybalcomb]

Thanks, Priscilla - I couldn't see a response!!

[Priscilla]

Learning to read music requires a lot of effort, your new pupil is obviously enjoying playing by ear and probably doesn't see the need to learn to read. You could try explaining the benfits - accessing new music, writing down their own compositions to share with others etc. Also make the link between learning to read books and all the benefits that that has brought. (I suspect this has already been done).

Why not also include some very easy duets - played at sight, a simple part for the pupil with some interesting harmonies to satisfy the musicician.

[amybalcomb]

Great ideas, Priscilla, thank you.

I was going to discuss in general terms the advantages that music reading will bring to her and reading in general terms is a really good point.

I will let you know what pans out - it will either be the start of a long journey together or it won't! I'm open minded enough to realise that not every teacher-pupil relationship is meant to be - although I've been very lucky to have only lost 1 student in all the years that I have been teaching as a direct result of us "not clicking".

Fingers crossed!

[dolce@piano]

It'll be interesting to see what her parents mean by 'plays extremely well by ear'.

i.e. she plays extremely well period and happens to do it by ear ? or she plays extremely well CONSIDERING she plays by ear ? (or, indeed, neither and she plays OK, no more).

I would keep a very open mind until you've heard her.

If, however, she does play very well by ear you might need to ask yourself if you are happy to teach her this way as well as the classic way.
I've had a couple of pupils who fell sort of into the category of yours and while it's fine going back to the basics to learn note-reading I always spent some time on learning new pieces by ear as well because they often need something 'impressive' to keep it interesting and to retain finger dexterity. Generally, I've found it took about a term to get to grips with note names and values (for kids of about 10 or 11 playing grade 2 level music by ear) and about a year to be 100% the same as their peers.