THE BASIC PIANO CURRICULUM
What must a child learn in order to have mastered the “rudiments” of piano?
The following list is not dependent on any time period. Every child will take a different amount of time to absorb these subjects, and if you put a time limit on it, as most piano teachers do, you will have set up an impossible task for your student.
READ AND PLAY FIRST FIVE NOTES
A child should be confident enough to read the first five notes above Middle C with their right hand in any simple piano book, even if they have never seen that particular book.
Whether or not they play with fingering is optional, although it would be best if they can manage to organize their fingers. Learn to read these five notes five notes first, and hopefully get the child to use proper fingering, but fingering comes after note recognition.
PLAY AS MANY OF THE TWELVE CHORDS AS POSSIBLE
There are six chords that I insist on: C, F, G, D, E and A.
I allow them to play two note chords, that is, the bottom two notes of any triad, to alleviate fingering problems and to get them to concentrate on the essential visual fact: what do chords look like on the keyboard?
It is better to have them looking at the pattern of the keys, calculating where the chord is, than to be worrying about which finger goes where in the chord. Thus I allow two note chords, for it is simple to then add a third note to what they already know.
PLAY A SONG WITH BOTH HANDS
They must memorize a song with both hands and play it all the way through. You will have to find a song they really like, because they will have to repeat the song a million times to get it right.
It doesn’t matter how long they take. It’s not a race. You’re trying to give them a “calling card” so they can proudly let people know that “I play piano.” This has nothing to do with Carnegie Hall, but with how the child feels about playing the piano.
HAVE A SENSE OF RHYTHM
I don’t mean reading the rhythms in sheet music. I mean being able to play and count simple exercises that develop a sense of acting within time limits. See the piano game called FOURS.
Reading rhythms in sheet music is one of the most difficult tasks you will ever perform, even for musicians. Don’t expect kids to understand more than the barest outlines on these complexities. If a child can identify a quarter note, a half note and a whole note, you are on the right track.
A better tactic is to get the child to speak or say the rhythm. It’s a known fact among musicians that “if you can say it, you can play it.”
Some children learn this list in a month, and others take years.
Your job is to make the kids who take years to absorb this list enjoy the process.
Until you accomplish this list, you haven’t really even begun to learn the piano.
Most piano teachers rush ahead to cover more ground, but I go patiently over the above subjects.
Better to lay the foundation solidly, at the child’s pace, than to rush ahead to prove you’re a great teacher.
By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press All Rights Reserved
See also WHY KIDS NEED FREEDOM TO LEARN PIANO
See also TEACHING GUIDE DOGS IS JUST LIKE TEACHING KIDS PIANO
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