[SIZE=1]Hello!

I'm completely new to this site, and this forum! Sorry if this sort of question is asked all the time, but I'd be grateful for any advice.

I've just started teaching piano privately from home, and have had my first few pupils these past five weeks - all beginners. I'm using "Tunes for Ten Fingers", although I don't stick to the book religiously.

The first thing I did with each pupil was to take the piano front off, to show them the inside - my mum thought this was a pointless idea, but I thought it perfectly valid! What does eveyone else think?

At the minute I'm finding out about different teaching resources, so any suggestions would be great. My pupils seem to be getting on well after 5 weeks, and are able to play tunes reading most white natural keys in the treble clef, and a few in the bass. They are still playing with hands seperately.

Does this seem like a good level to be at by this stage? I know every pupil is different, but I'd like to have something to gauge their progress by!

Sorry this has been so long

Thanks,

Amanda

Hi Amanda

It is perfectly normal for beginners to be playing hands separately after 5 weeks. I do not know 'Tunes for 10 Fingers', but it sounds as though it introduces ideas gradually, which you need.

My favourite beginners' books are the John Thompson 'Easiest Piano Course' (4 volumes - I use 1 to 3). I back these up where necessary, with Fanny Waterman's 'Me and my Piano'. Other contributors will chip in with their favourites.

Some basic principles for teaching beginners (these are the basic principles behind any good teaching):
- introduce each new idea one at a time; a note at a time, a rhythm value at a time etc. Reiterate the new info over and again by questioning your pupil - what is that note called?; where is it on the piano; how many beats does that note last for? - that kind of thing.
- accept that beginners will absorb info at differing rates. Don't be worried by the slower learners. Enjoy the quick ones.
- be patient. Never get cross. Try not to feel impatient.
- laugh a lot.
- listen to everything the pupil has practised at the start of the lesson and work outwards from there.
- do not keep beginners on the same material for more than a week (except for special reasons). They will have made mistakes; this does not matter. A common mistake amongst inexperienced piano teachers is to imagine that everything has to be perfect before a pupil can tackle the next idea. It doesn't; children make mistakes (actually, so do adult beginners).

Ways to help beginners learn new pieces:
- clap the rhythm, first with you then without.
- say the names of the notes.
- identify the direction of movement as up or down ('up' and 'down' can cause problems at the piano, as it is horizontal. Memo to myself: try using 'higher' and 'lower' instead - why didn't I think of that years ago. Hey-ho )
- along with the previous point, try to get them to see that line to line (and space to space) on the music = miss out a note on the piano. All this, after all, is how we all read music; note names are only there to help beginners who get stuck.
- identify repeated sections\passages.

Others will contribute with their own successful tips. Enjoy you teaching, Amanda. It is the best work in the world.

Steve

Hi Amanda,

I agree entirely with all Steve said, and would add that I have always tried to keep the last five minutes for fun pieces. I have a few pieces which I have adapted for very easy piano and which I introduce almost at the first lesson - pieces which most children will know, nursery rhymes etc. I also have some duet books with very easy treble clef parts. Playing these at the end of the lesson and, if mother comes, as a 'showoff piece', gives enormous confidence to the child and makes lessons fun.

Best of luck with your career - its good fun.

Jean

I usually show them the inside of the piano fairly early on too... always a popular activity and it is ggod that they know how it actually works.

I use Tunes for 10 Fingers too, I like it.

Oooh, I love 'Tunes for Ten Fingers'! Sings: *Elephant E, Elephant E, fell from the top of a sycamore tree!* See, I still remember the songs after 8 years. It's a great book!

The 'Piano Time' series (also by Pauline Hall) is very good for older beginners and quick learners as it progresses a bit faster and is still fun.

I'm definately NOT a piano teacher but something fun that my piano teacher did at the very beginning was to get me to make up own 'compositions' . For example playing on all black notes and it sounds oriental, playing to sound like a mouse or an elephant, playing a little sad or an angry tune. Maybe just for a few minutes at the end of a lesson. It teaches listening skills. Do you like that idea?
MusicManNZ (aged 12)

Thank you sooo much everyone!

I feel much more confident now! I know teaching is the job for me already, even after such a short time. I'm really grateful for all the tips, and pleased to find I've already been using some of them without realising. I suppose it's all a learning curve for me too, and I'll relax a bit more once I get into the swing of it

I'm also lucky that the children I've started off with have got an ear for music, and seem really enthusiastic, which helps a lot! I have my first adult student tommorow, who is twenty years older than myself, so it's going to be completely different again!

Sbhoa I'm glad you do that with the piano too! None of my own teacher ever did, but it just occured to me that it would be nice to explain exactly why a piano makes the sound it does - it is a fantastic instrument!

I really appreciate the advice,

Amanda xxx

"I'm definately NOT a piano teacher but something fun that my piano teacher did at the very beginning was to get me to make up own 'compositions' . For example playing on all black notes and it sounds oriental, playing to sound like a mouse or an elephant, playing a little sad or an angry tune. Maybe just for a few minutes at the end of a lesson. It teaches listening skills. Do you like that idea?"

...I love that idea! I want to make lessons as fun as possible. My first piano teacher was very strict, and we only seemed to plough through the grades with little else in between. It wasn't until I got a new teacher at grade 6 that I realised there was so much more to it!

Has anyone watched School of Rock? I watched it yesterday as my pupils have been raving about it.... Looks like I have a lot to live up to

One of my 6 year old beginner pupils loves making 'chinesey music' using the black notes especially at the top of the piano. She sometimes asks to do some with me playing at the same time - sometimes these little improvisations can go on for a good few minutes! I think its good to break up lessons with a bit of aural/improv/theory etc of course it depends on the pupil.
Im starting up again tomorrow after a long summer break...well, when I say break I mean having the time to sit at my desk for 2 months and try and finish PGCE work............

Hi, it's a good idea to get them to sing what they're playing as well, perhaps even before they play it - then they have a really good idea of how it is supposed to sound before they actually play it. I have taken to singing it to them first, asking them to sing it with me, then playing it. It makes it much more fun and also more musical. Another thing I am doing is teaching some tunes they know such as nursery rhymes by ear - again, getting them to sing and then finding it on the piano - jingle bells, old macdonald on the black notes are two that come to mind (the hand stays in one position). I was quite surprised that they found it really hard to know if the music was going up or down - even twinkle twinkle little star with the interval of a 5th at the start causes problems!

Otherwise they can get really tied to only playing what's written on the page (and thinking if there are no written notes they can't make music) and not listening to a thing they're doing! Also I agree that getting them to make up tunes on the black notes is a brilliant idea - I taught a new person the other day (she's 6) who had made up two lovely tunes solely on the black notes and was able to use them to talk about the concept of up and down, dynamics, adding a rit at the end, thinking of some words and singing them.... it was a very special lesson! I can't wait till the next one.

Barcarolle, you are SO right about singing before playing! Ideally the pupil should be able to sight-sing the music before playing it, but of course that takes a lot of time and training!

It really scares me that there are so many children whose musical experiences at school are so poor that they don't understand the concept of musical higher and lower and can't hear pitch differences.

I love what you're doing with your new pupil - sounds great. Music teaching can be so exciting when you and the pupils start to be creative and we get away from the 'written notes are music' and the grade exam mentality.

Sorry to mention it (I'm not really ) but have you ever done any Kodaly training?? You sound as if you would take to it like the proverbial duck and this would give you some other similar insights into the way you're doing things already.

Singing before playing is so helpful - we used to do that for every piece we learned when I was at junior school. Clapping is also good as well - gives the student a chance to really get a handle on the rhythm before having to reproduce that on their instrument. With those who really won't sing, one thing that was fun and worked really well was having them clap their hands to the rhythm but also raising or lowering the hands with the rise and fall of the tune. Really helpful.

Hi Cyrilla - thanks for your positive response! I thought about this year's Kodaly course but only about a week before it ran so I didn't go. I am thinking of going next year. And this new approach of mine is developing because I am on the MTPP (Music Teaching in Professional Practice) course at Reading Uni - it's really changing the way I teach.

I think you run a Kodaly class in Croydon - but it's bit far for me to come from Chertsey - if you know of anything in my area please let me know.

Hi Barcarolle - I'm glad the Reading course is so good - I've heard good things about it from many people.

Sorry you didn't make it to the Summer School this year - see you next year, maybe???

Just to make you feel really bad - Hammerklavier travels to Croydon from Reading every week for my Kodaly class! I also have another student from Camberley and one student from Whitstable/Herne Bay!! So if you ever feel REALLY keen and energetic...I'd be more than happy to include you too! (went through Chertsey on a boat the other week )

As far as I know there's nothing in the Chertsey area at the moment - sorry.

Hi Amanda

I am so glad there is someone else out these starting up like me! I feel better already having read this and all the replies. What would we be without the internet? I have grade 8 piano, grade 6 cello, also play piano accordion and djembe, BA and MSc (geography related), and PGCE (also geography), but still kind of feel I shouldn't be trying to teach piano. But I am going to persevere! I've taught friends for free and they enjoyed it and got something out of it. I think I just need some reassurance.

[quote=cking1,Sep 15 2005, 10:03 AM]

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Hi Amanda

I am so glad there is someone else out these starting up like me! I feel better already having read this and all the replies. What would we be without the internet? I have grade 8 piano, grade 6 cello, also play piano accordion and djembe, BA and MSc (geography related), and PGCE (also geography), but still kind of feel I shouldn't be trying to teach piano. But I am going to persevere! I've taught friends for free and they enjoyed it and got something out of it. I think I just need some reassurance.

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Thanks for replying cking1! I know just how you feel (yes the internet is fantasic )

My own degree is in Drama, (at the time I just thought I should get a degree...) although the skills have come in useful in teaching. All the same, I haven't taken my a.b.r.s.m diploma yet, though I hope to. I hesitated at first, but the best way to find out if I was able to teach piano, was by getting a couple of pupils and diving in! I really enjoyed it even though I was nervous, and now that they are progressing, I feel something's been achieved.

I think I have the same doubts as you... Even though I knew I was a good pianist, I still felt really paranoid that I'd be a fraud, and that someone would find me out It just took a few weeks of teaching to reassure myself that I did know what I was doing, and although I've still loads to learn, I discovered that I know a lot more than I thought I did (if that makes sense!)

Keep me updated on how you're getting on - it's nice to know of someone else in the same boat

Amanda x

...apologies for all the bad grammar in that last post... I'm very tired

Amanda xx

Thanks for replying cking1! I know just how you feel (yes the internet is fantasic )

My own degree is in Drama, (at the time I just thought I should get a degree...) although the skills have come in useful in teaching. All the same, I haven't taken my a.b.r.s.m diploma yet, though I hope to. I hesitated at first, but the best way to find out if I was able to teach piano, was by getting a couple of pupils and diving in! I really enjoyed it even though I was nervous, and now that they are progressing, I feel something's been achieved.

I think I have the same doubts as you... Even though I knew I was a good pianist, I still felt really paranoid that I'd be a fraud, and that someone would find me out It just took a few weeks of teaching to reassure myself that I did know what I was doing, and although I've still loads to learn, I discovered that I know a lot more than I thought I did (if that makes sense!)

Keep me updated on how you're getting on - it's nice to know of someone else in the same boat

Amanda x

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I will let you know how it goes! I think you're right, you just have to go for it, I will know pretty soon whether it's the right thing to do. The little girl has the same name as me so that's got to be a good sign.
Charlotte

Good luck!

I fell of my feet with my first pupil - an extremely intelligent and musical little girl!

One of my biggest hurdles was trying to train my dog not to bark at pupils! Luckily enough, my first pupil also had the same breed of dog as me (a very noisy Dachshund) and between us we managed to quieten her down

It was a good thing too, as I had forgotten how many children can be frightened by a barking dog, and I didn't want that!

Now she doesn't bark at any pupils coming into the house - in fact she's a real novelty as she likes to lie down under the piano stool! The kids just love her!

Amanda xx