One-size-fits-all doesn’t work for average children at the piano.
In fact, the entire piano teaching industry is set up to create and serve extraordinarily gifted pianists and child prodigies, not your average child as an individual. And yet you as a parent want your child to enjoy playing the piano however humbly.
The only way to accomplish this is to choose your child’s piano teacher very, very carefully.
I’ve had students who resist every effort to engage themselves with the piano, sometimes for years of lessons. Yes, these kids are the difficult cases, and I am hired to be patient no matter how long it takes, and produce a child who likes the piano on their own terms.
The parents can see their child’s behavior since I teach in their home, and, knowing my methods and results, are willing to watch as I unravel the unique path to their child’s piano talent.
The single greatest factor I have discovered in these kids is fear. Fear of failure.
You can see it in their eyes when I play a new piece to see if it appeals to them.
If the piece seems too complex, they fear they will not be able to play it, and so shy away from it.
Here the child is giving you very valuable information; “I’m willing to try playing but not if failure seems certain.”
In this case your path must be simplification. Make everything so tremendously easy that the child cannot fail. A song may have to be broken down into ten or twelve little sections.
You must endure all their childish procrastination with good humor and an almost biblical patience.
An attitude of seeming not to care if they fail is very valuable for the teacher, for the child is looking at YOUR eyes, and if they see anger, the lesson is almost over.
But the results are quite interesting if you are willing to wait.
I’ve seen these kids become avid piano hobbyists, asking every week, “Teach me that piece that goes…” You don’t have to ask such kids to practice. They do it on their own until they get bored with the song, and ask for another.
Some write their own music, some of it quite good, some of it gibberish, but each one an honest effort showing their love for the instrument. I always take up their songs quite seriously and play them in various styles so they can see what their little seed of a song can become.
These kids may not read music as well as the others, and so I tailor the curriculum to playing by ear and eye, using chords. My job is to remove any obstacles to their enthusiasm, to the point of shamelessly lowering the bar so they can comfortably hop over.
There’s time enough later for Olympic feats once they are interested in the piano.
By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press All Rights Reserved
See also EXPLORING CHILDREN'S PIANO FINGERING GAMES USING FAMILIAR SONGS
See also TEACHING GUIDE DOGS IS JUST LIKE TEACHING KIDS PIANO
See also PSYCHOLOGY OF HOMESCHOOL PIANO
See also HYPERACTIVE KIDS AND PIANO
See also WHY CHILDREN SHOULD LEARN ABOUT PIANO CHORDS
See also ARE KIDS PIANO RECITALS HARMFUL?
See also LATE BLOOMERS AT CHILDHOOD PIANO
