Hello, I am about to start teaching piano and I need some advice. First of all, are there any preferred "methods" or do you prefer to cater each students' repetoire to their individual learning style (this seems ideal, but quite a complicated task)? Also, what is the very first thing you'd ask a child on their first piano lesson -- I mean, how do you introduce a child to the piano for the first time? And finally, what is a good basic theory book/workbook for beginners?
On that note, I want to review my own theory, so can you suggest an advanced and thorough theory book?
Thank you!
Katie
Hi Katie! It would help to know a bit about your background. What methods are you familiar with? What books did you learn from? How much theory background do you already have?
You could ask your questions to 100 different piano teachers and get 100 different answers. There's no single "right" answer (although some answers might be better than others).
Here's what I do at a student's very first lesson. I let them get acquainted with the piano---play high and low keys, peek inside and see the strings and dampers, usually they ask about the pedals so I show them what each one does.
Then I spend a fair amount of time on the concept of rhythm and steady beat. I let them watch my metronome to see and hear a steady beat, then I have them close their eyes as I continue to let the metronome play, but I occassionally disrupt the beat and see if the child can tell that it stopped being steady. We march, play rhythm instruments, listen to a clock tick, anything I can think of to reinforce the idea and sound of a steady beat.
Then we play some games to introduce finger numbers and proper hand shape.
Then I show them how to sit properly at the piano---correct height of the bench, footstool for the feet if necessary, correct distance from the keys, and how to sit up tall with relaxed arms. I have them play any keys they choose with the finger numbers I call out.
Often the only thing they will be assigned to play at home the first week is some improvisation/exploration of the keys.
OK, I know I only answered ONE of your questions with this big long answer, but I'll tackle the rest tomorrow.
annie