teaching repertoire piece

[BoliverAllmon]

if you have a student that wants to learn an insanely difficult passage that you think might be out of his reach. Would it be good to tell the student that he has one week to prove himself to play it and then assign him the hardest section of the piece which must be learned and memorized by next lesson. if they do this then they can continue learning the piece, otherwise they will learn something else. Is this a good idea?

[m1469]

Well, it is either impossible or not.  A truly determined student may attempt the impossible and even injure himself in the process.  The teacher who sees this potential in the situation would hopefully not even consider making the proposal coupled with a time limit, in the first place.

I would rather say, "If you are determined to play that piece, then we will indeed work on it.  But first we will play ______ piece to prepare for it."  Or something along those lines.  If that student's determination is true, it will carry the student through the "working up to it" repertoire and into the longed-for piece.  By this time, s/he has acquired a greater flexibility (my current favorite word to replace the word "technique") in preparation for the piece as well as a bigger repertoire.



m1469