Any Ideas? Options

[kentmusiclady]

Hello all! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I have a new student who has just had his 3rd lesson with me. This student is 7 years of age and has never had any experience of reading music or playing the piano at all. Over the last 3 lessons I have been assessing his ability in how quickly he absorbs information and how well his performance level is of the basic tunes that I have provided him to practice each week. Every week he has returned with the pieces played to perfection and is already reading both the bass and treble. His memory of performance directions is very good and although he has only just had his 3rd lesson he has already memorised half the grade 1 Performance Directions. Sponge springs to mind!!

I am at a loss as to which book to start him on... As the beginner books such as Me & My Piano, Chesters and Hal Leonard Piano Lessons are too basic (in my opinion), considering he is already reading the bass and treble together (5 finger span only). I would feel it a waste of time to go through these books, as he would fly through them in no time (probably only a matter of weeks). I also do not want to start him on anything too advanced....

Any ideas on which book might be suitable would be terrific!

Thanks.....

[bourdon16]

My advice would be to err on the side of caution. If he has NEVER played the piano before nor read music, I would use the material you are happy with and by all means let him speed through it. Better to be thorough now than have to retrace your steps later.

Remember that you are teaching his hand/finger muscles as well as his brain to read music. You must be enthusaistic about that you teach him; don't let on that you think you may be going at the wrong pace but give him plenty of praise when he completes something well.

I had boy who sped through the Bastien Basic Primer and is now a little stuck; I expected he would slow down - remember to reinforce what he knows all the time. Why not use more than one book at once?

[barcarolle]

How about piano time?

[kentmusiclady]

My advice would be to err on the side of caution. If he has NEVER played the piano before nor read music, I would use the material you are happy with and by all means let him speed through it. Better to be thorough now than have to retrace your steps later.

Remember that you are teaching his hand/finger muscles as well as his brain to read music. You must be enthusaistic about that you teach him; don't let on that you think you may be going at the wrong pace but give him plenty of praise when he completes something well.

I had boy who sped through the Bastien Basic Primer and is now a little stuck; I expected he would slow down - remember to reinforce what he knows all the time. Why not use more than one book at once?

I think that is not a bad idea actually, using more than one book....
Thank you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[BusyBee]

I would tend to agree with Bourdon16 on this one. I have been 'fooled' by pupils in the past who have whizzed through their first tutors but were heavily reliant on finger numbers. I use the Green Schaum Pre A alongside 'Tunes for Ten Fingers' which gives me the opportunity to teach the pupil well-known tunes while reinforcing a technical or note/pattern reading issue at the same time. I can assess the pupil's understanding by presenting the same concept in a different way in the other book. At the end of the lesson, I have recently adopted the policy of leaving the pupil to 'try out' a piece by themselves whilst I move away from the piano, where I can't see their hands, to write in the diary. I tell them I'm not listening but I'm actually assessing while I'm writing and make a mental note of any extra input they might need next lesson.

Going deeper into the piece being learnt can be a challenge for the bright pupils by suggesting transposition into different keys, placing hands in different octave ranges, making up a middle 4 or 8 bars etc.

He sounds like a great pupil though - good luck (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SueHM]

I have a 6 year old pupil who whizzed along brilliantly for the first few months and I used 2 books side by side for him. He is a bit stuck at the moment, so we have slowed right down again. Some kids just manage to 'get it' very quickly with the 2 staves.I find it very helpful to get them to see the 2 staves as a continuum with the middle C line missing from the middle. Works well for thinking about reading alto clef too.
Perhaps your whizz kid would like to do some theory too - why not get him started on a grade 1 theory workbook.

[ad_libitum]

Yes if he's learning the pieces from the tutor books very quickly, maybe something like the easiest Dozen a Day alongside would reinforce it?

Busybee's idea of transposing and playing around with the pieces is great (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)