my student... hates me???

[urbanspice]

I’ve had the incredible joy of taking on a very pessimistic, stubborn 10 yr old boy. He was transferred to me after his old teacher moved away. This kid can barely read music and can only play songs that are in “positions” namely, C. He was in Alfred lev 2 but I switched him to piano adventures level 1, which he seems to like but that’s about it. Now, since I am his piano teacher I have been trying to help with his reading but he seems to resent that and me for trying to help him. I’m trying to get him to memorize GBDFACE thing but he claims he can never remember it. So I usually write it on his song. He claims he hates piano but I think that is not true. He practices his lesson-book songs enthusiastically (so his mother says), so I think he just hates being frustrated. I tried giving him a fun piece to pique his interest but now it seems he hates it, even though I wrote an easier version. In fact, if it is not from his lesson book he seems to be very hostile towards the piece.
And our lessons have now turned into a battle of wills, so to say. Many times when I ask him to do anything, he refuses or just sits there. I always wait patiently, feigning disinterest by writing on my lesson sheets and I do let him know if he needs help to ask me. But this kid is frustrating and I just can’t seem to get a grasp on what makes him tick and how or what I can do to help him. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

By the way, he does have flashcards although I’m going to speak with his mom about making sure they are used. I have given him notespelling worksheets, too, to help him. And I’m also going to suggest that his parent (mom and dad alternate) and sister leave the room during lessons.

This kid is really frustrating me, which is quite hard to do! I’m a very laid back, slow to anger person but I don’t know....and he gets so angry (or should I say frustrated) that he seems he is about to cry. He scowls, he bangs the piano, he interrupts his sister’s lessons, he complains incessantly, has excuses for everything, refuses help...

[m1469]

Probably, for you to better grasp the psychology behind the situation, it may be helpful to have an idea regarding what kind of student he was for his first (?) teacher.  One possiblity is that he *may* have been somewhat attached to his last teacher and by no choice of his own, was forced to give that up and move on.  Or in some other way, he is just having a difficult time transitioning from one circumstance to the next.

I think I will just stick with that idea for a moment here.  If that is indeed the case, that he is struggling with the transition itself, it might be that the more "you" (though it could be anyone in your position) change what and how he works at his musical endeavors, the more resistent he will be.  He is clinging to familiarity, and in this case, his familiarity are his Alfred books and ways of "reading" which he has already grown accustomed to. But, whatever the cause, he is obviously clinging to what he is comfortable with, and that alone means to me that a mixture of methods is needed, and that a stark change is not going to work out too well for either one of you.

I would say that it may be worthwhile to give him space to cling if he *wants* to, but encourage his growth as well.  Ideally, one would wish to have him want to give up the need to cling to the old and then embrace the new.  But there are issues of control it seems, and he would most likely want to feel as though he is having a choice in the matter.  So, I think giving him choices could be a key factor. 

This may take a little more planning on your part, however.  You want to set up opportunities for him to choose what he feels "comfortable" choosing, yet it should be somewhat progressive by your standards (and in this case, I would be willing to accept ANY step of progress as an accomplishment).  So, you would want to set up parameters.  Ways of using what he already knows and is comfortable with, and then expanding on that.  We could get more specific later, if you wished.

I think one sneaky element here is that, along with him clinging to *things* he is comfortable with, he is also developing or clinging to a behavior he is "comfortable" with.  His behavior is in need of help just as much as his specifics on what he is studying and when.

I once knew a 3 year old whom was greatly struggling with a number of issues.  One of the struggles was getting her to eat at all, and then another was in getting her to eat anything remotely healthy.  Her parents would ask her what she would like to eat, she would tell them "eggs" for example, they would proceed to cook eggs, and she would proceed to refuse the meal once it was prepared.  Parents would then ask her what else she would like to eat, and the same thing would happen until everything ended up in a huge crying and angry mess.  In this case, she was clinging to a behavior because other things felt completely out of control for her.

I noticed that, when she was given the choice between a few different things to eat, which I was willing to prepare, and it was made clear that her choice would matter and that she would have to live with that choice, she would proceed to eat her meal after it was prepared.  The same with other specifics regarding her food.  She hated fruits and vegetables, or so she thought.  She refused to eat them.  But, I noticed that even though there was a struggle, she was willing to take a couple of bites of a fruit or veggie with her meal, if she could choose to be done with it after that.  Eventually, there was no longer any struggle at all and I could just set food in front of her and she would eat the entire thing.  I suppose she grew to trust my decisions on her behalf.  Her behavior and demeaner in other ways completely changed as well.

I think it is similar with some students who are resistent.  So, how can you give him choices that you know would benefit him personally as well as musically ?  How can you help him feel comfortable yet encourage his growth, when making these choices ?

You might also be interested in this thread here where a perhaps similar situation was discussed.  It's kind of a long read, but you would probably find it worth your time.  There are a lot of great suggestions given in that thread along the lines of dealing with hard-to-reach students :

(Tough Cookie student)
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=1922f578c65b9769485c8bb2d9ad06a8&topic=7894.msg79445#msg79445
(Insightful posts by many members on how to deal with hard to reach students)


This is an important subject and I am interested in how this goes for you.


m1469

[tompilk]

Give him the music to the OC and get him to play it in a week - or you drop him...

[sonatainfsharp]

$50 says he has a reading disability and you are the lucky one to discover it.

I went through an extremely similar situation, and that was the reason.

The reason he likes positions is because he can memorize them without any work. Once you deviate from what he can memorize, he gets upset.

He does love piano and he doesn't hate you, but he displaces his frustraion against you and the piano.

Have his parents be parents and test him for a few things, and you might be surprised (or not) at what they find.

Also, you are under no obligation to teach a student like this, no matter what the result, unless you want to work with kids like this--then more power to you. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with it when so many other teachers could do a much better job than I could with situations like this.

[steve jones]

I used to have this problem with a guitar student - I started fashioning ninja stars from plectrums and whenever he played up Id chunk one at him.

They only caused minor flesh wounds, so his parents were ok!

Seriously though, m1469 is absolutely correct. Understanding the psychology of this student is imperitive. All the best.

[dmk]

Give him the music to the OC and get him to play it in a week - or you drop him...

oh how bloody constructive....really is there any need for such a post....

I have to agree with m1469, understanding the psychology is imperative, sonatainfsharp may well be right re reading disability but I wouldn't suggest this to his parents without some kind of solid foundation other than a hunch

I can provide you with no valuable insights on the underlying psychology, this is merely a practical solution which has worked for me.

Find a piece he really likes and thinks sounds 'cool'.  10 year old boy and a 'tough nut' my guess would be something jazzy (try Martha Mier's Jazz Rags and Blues book 1).  Play lots of music until you find something he really likes, and he really wants to be able to play that.  Once you have found something he wants to learn bad enough, and if as you said he really doesn't hate piano, he will learn to read so he can play it...provided you don't pick something too hard that is out of his league. 

Once he can read I have often found students to be much more genial and will come around to learning other music and not just educational Jazz!!

good luck

let us know how you go

dmk

[pianistimo]

i agree with everything said, so far...and would add that if he does have a reading disability to not just make the whole lesson easier (by letting him perform jazzy pieces the whole lesson) but make it a reward for working the other stuff. 

also, the idea of starting around middle C may be better than fluttering all over.  take a note to the left and a note to the right and give him this sightreading exercise to read in front of you.  if he gets the lower note mixed up with the higher note sometimes - it REALLY helps to ENLARGE EVERYTHING.  it sounds stupid and basic, but will help in the long run.  every week he should add two notes (bass and treble)  and be able to sightread them up to his fifth finger.  Don't go beyond the five finger patters for awhile.  you can still read all the notes of the bass clef with five finger pattern.  just move both hands down one octave or up one octave (with thumbs sharing C).  when he can read all the notes - then you can progress to showing him what tetrachord scales look like (using C scale) from two octaves below (sightreading from the two ledger lines below to two above).  point to each note as he travels up the staff.  ENLARGE THIS SEVERAL TIMES so he doesn't see a blur of notes.

I know about some of this stuff because my son had some reading problems.  one thing is taking too much info in at a time.  You can use index cards to cover up notes that are directly beside - so one note is seen at a time.  putting hands together may be more difficult for a while - so the process may seem long - but in the end he'll be an actual sightreader!

ps  the site www.gardenofpraise.com has some good printable exercises that start around mid-C.  click on teachers, then scroll down to keyboard and music theory lessons.  there is some good stuff - and you can ENLARGE it several times on your computer.

[gaer]

Once comment: Most of the time, when I run into a wall with a student, trying to deal with the problems takes up so much of my energy that I have none left for the others, who are listening.

Dealing with emotional problems or unusual problems is unbelievably draining for me. I used to try to save everyone. Now, if a kid says, "I hate piano," my answer is:

"I'm sorry."

Then I tell the parent or parents: "Your son/daughter does not enjoy lessons with me. There are many teachers around. I suggest you find another."

Life is too short to put up with this. But that's just my personality!

Gary

[cora]

I would dump the flashcards. Also, I'd drop the notespelling workbooks. I'd probably ask the parents not to attend, but that would depend on what they're like. I'd make sure his lessons are only half hour long. And I wouldn't feign disinterest or ask him to ask for help when he needs it.

Instead, I'd continue in his principle book, as m1469 indicated, for security. And use one other book for contrast. There's no need to worry about him being in C position. I have my students remain in that position (or D position) for quite some time. I would not use GBDFACE as a means to reading for this student. He needs to focus on the sound he's making rather than on reading more notes. So, for instance, I'd give him Faber and Faber's book that contains Star Wars. Then I could do that with him as a duet. Then I'd play the original Star Wars music on the CD player. Or I'd find music that stirs his imagination; any of the stuff by Leslie Fly or Joan Last.

He needs a lot of interesting little exercises such as staccato/legato exercises, conducting exercises to get him moving when he's ancy, scales, and rhythms to tap on the drum. Perhaps you could teach him the Gypsy scale, the Pentatonic Scale, and the major scale. But everything you teach him should be organized such that he knows you planned the lesson just for him.

As for the teachers who pass up the opportunity to teach this type of boy: Some students are sent to learn from you, and others are sent to teach you something. You're missing out if you just try to make your life easier.

Good luck. Hang in there!

[timothy42b]

As for the teachers who pass up the opportunity to teach this type of boy: Some students are sent to learn from you, and others are sent to teach you something. You're missing out if you just try to make your life easier.

Good luck. Hang in there!

Bravo!  Great insight, and a good attitude. 

[tompilk]

Sorry about trying to make a sarcastic joke... it wasn't funny. The OC is amazing though...
Tom

[gaer]

As for the teachers who pass up the opportunity to teach this type of boy: Some students are sent to learn from you, and others are sent to teach you something. You're missing out if you just try to make your life easier.

I really think this is an incredible oversimplification and frankly insulting to those of us who work our ****es off to do the best we can for each student. You are assuming that anyone who refused to teach any student for any reason is "missing out on an opportunity". Well, if you have never worked with a student you could not teach, one you could not reach, one who did not want to be reached, one was spoiled, atagonistic, lazy and just plain hell to work with, you have not been teaching long enough or your are a saint.

If you do not have one horror story of breaking your neck, doing everything you can and more than is reasonble, to help someone because you are determined to turn someone around, only to end up in the end being dumped as a teacher and blamed as a a failure because you could not MAKE someone learn, with parents who expected you to magically produce some kind of interest and create miracles, my hat is off to you.

I care deeply about my students. I work HARD. I come here after teaching up to 6 days a week, trying to learn more, and I go to extraodinary lengths to help in any way I can.

But you are assuming this 10 year-old boy is teachable. Not all kids are. Not in all areas. This same child may succeed wonderfully in something else and may be wasting his time with music. We don't know this.

Sure, I learn from my students. I learn a ton from them, and I'm learning more all the time, partically to help them more, partially because I never want to stop learning myself.

But the assumption here in this forum seems to be that there are no bad problem kids who frankly don't need more understanding but need a strong wake-up call that they can't go through life expecting other people to make everything easy for them.

I'll stick by what I said. If we spend an incredible amount of time trying to be the perfect teacher for every single student, regardless of how many headaches they give us, we are robbed of the energy to do our best with those who are listening, trying, working, cooperating.

And I am not talking about talented people. I am talking about people with mostly very average natural talent who come to learn and who appreciate someone who is trying to help them. I will do anything I can for such people.

Today the general idea is that if any student fails, somehow the teacher failed. I think this is totally unfair and wrong.

Gary

[bernhard]

I believe, Gaer, that you are completely right.

I have had my share of impossible students, and they are energy drainers. This kind of student (and the parent which usually comes with it as a bonus ) needs to learn a lesson, and it has little to do with piano.

At the same time, I do agree with Cora (but not perhaps in the way she envisaged originally ). Yes, this kind of student gives you a perfect opportunity to learn something that a lot of dedicated teachers do not know and have trouble doing: These students give you the chance to learn not to care. They teach you to be ruthless, for instance in money matters (these are the ones who usually pay late when they pay at all). They afford you the opportunity to devise strategies to meet them at their own level.

For instance, at one point (many years ago) I had a student who was a serious muck abouter. Out of a 30 minutes lesson, the little Mozart managed to stay at the piano for 5 minutes on average. This was quite a creative kid in the way she could invent ways to spend her time (and waste mine) for 25 minutes out of 30. The mother one day hinted that she was not seeing much progress. My usual response in these cases was to be very polite, try to find some thing positive to say about the child ("she is  so talented") and brace myself for the inevitable change of teacher (we still had two weeks before the month's end) while fuming inside.

But this time I decided it was time for me to learn something from this student. So I set up my video camera at the corner of the room, and videoed the next few lessons without her knowledge. I let her muck about as much as she pleased, while doing my best to teach her. At the end of the month, I called Mum and Dad and said: "Your child, as you may have noticed has not been experiencing much progress. Here is why." And handed the video for their weekend viewing. the child went white and her lower lip trembled. From that experience, I learned to truly not care and have no sympathy for time-wasters.

If I ever get a student like that again (usually, like Gaer I kick them out) I make sure the parents understand that if they muck about, I will be there just for the money (I say so very clearly). If they muck about, they are asked to sit in a chair while I practise. And no they are not allowed to read a book or draw or do their homework. They have to sit in a chair and listen to my practice. If they thought piano lessons were boring, this is the stuff their nightmares are made of. When the parent comes to collect them I tell: "Thak you for paying me handsomely so that I can practise". If they don't like it, they can move on to another teacher. I learned to truly not care.

To parents who don't pay in time, I have been known to say point-blank: "Is that what you want to teach your child through your example? What do you think will happen when he thinks it is all right to delay payment on his drug dealer? Because this is where he is heading"

(By the way, a parent who comes to me and explains that they are struggling with difficulties, and the payment may be late is always met with the utmost sympathy - it is the ones whose child is always ill on payment day that pisses me off - although this stopped happening when I started charging monthly rather than per lesson)

But most teachers would cringe at the very thought of these aggressive strategies. So yes, this sort of student does offer us a good opportunity to learn and practice them.

(I have a feeling you have already learned this lesson, he he )

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

Today the general idea is that if any student fails, somehow the teacher failed. I think this is totally unfair and wrong.

Gary

Yes. It is. The teacher teaches, the student learns.

I point this out to parents who have this funny philosophy. If the child is not learning, how can that be my fault, when I am teaching to the best of my ability? And I add: If your child goes to the doctor and is foudn to be underweight because he refuses to eat, how can that be the fault of the Michelin 3 star cook who prepares his meals?

However one must be careful here. There are two philosophies that should not be confused:

1. "There are no bad students, only bad teachers". This is a very good philosophy for the teacher. It ensures that the teacher is always looking for ways to improve (since it is his fault).

2. "There are no bad teachers, only bad students". This is the philosophy for students. Since it is their fault they will work at improving.

But these are guiding philosophies. The truth is that you will find both, good and bad students, good and bad teachers. However for a student to adopt philosophy 1 and for a teacher to adopt philosophy 2 is not a good idea.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[m1469]

Gaer,

I want to say that I agree with everything you have said.  I would just like to make a couple of brief comments regarding this thread and your thoughts along these lines.  You are a teacher whom has had lots of experience with many different students, and I am guessing this bag of students includes some that have been difficult (perhaps very difficult) to teach.  I would guess that earlier on in your career, when you were just starting out, you accepted some cases you would no longer accept at this point in your career.  I think there are some significant aspects to that very phenomenon.

When a teacher is just starting out, as you know, one "needs" (the degree of need will vary, of course) to accept perhaps almost everybody who comes through the door just to establish a business of any sort and if nothing else, just to make ends meet.  I can speak from my own experience regarding this, as you would have a hunch.  What happens during these years is irreplaceable in terms of the teacher growing in fine-tuning the ability to recognize if and how s/he can help an individual (as well as if that individual can be of any benefit to the teacher and studio).  I think to some extent, cora's response applies here.

But, it would be expected that a teacher who takes his work seriously and wishes to keep progressing along with their students, that s/he will, over time, select different "types" of students to match the progression of the studio standards.  While I still have a couple of students I feel I could do without, I don't feel ready to release them either.  I am still growing in my ability to demonstrate more completely my ideals as a teacher.  Funny enough, I believe that until I know firmly how to best deal with these students, they are still serving a defineable purpose in my growth as a teacher.  When I can start to confidently turn away students, based on understanding I have gained from my experiences with the less-than-ideal students, I know I will have learned what I need to have learned from them.

I would venture to guess that the starter of this thread is not in a position to turn away a bunch of students, otherwise, s/he probably would have in this case.   The point is, you have learned what you have needed to learn from these "kinds" of students and you know when to send them somewhere else, and you have learned this from experience with and exposure to this very kind of student, as well as your growth as a result of dealing with them.  Some people are still learning this (including me), discovering their niche, and these students are still serving a purpose for those teachers.


m1469 

[pianistimo]

for students with a slight disability, the parents may be doing all they can to improve the child's abilities.  it might be that flashcards and notespellers are not a good motivating idea and that 'fun stuff' that appeals to them and still helps them sightread is really great.  it's just, if they've heard the tune before - it's likely they are not totally relying on their sightreading to play.  but, considering the difficulty or ease of some pieces, it might help their sightreading if they can't figure some of the notes easily. 

i don't think it's always laziness.  sometimes a child might be exceptionally bright, but that their 'outside the box' thinking - gets them into trouble.  i still say the first half of the lesson needs to have as much 'discipline' as the child can muster.  and then, the second half - more relaxation, a few bribes (pencils/erasers/books - again with large print/extra music/music bag?) showing a child like this HOW to be organized is helpful,too.  they come to appreciate how to order their lives.  if they are disorganized - they might be the only student you buy a book bag for (or sew one) but they come to understand that you care about their progress just as much as the other students - and no matter how slow they are - they will always fit in.

some students like this are SO happy to come to piano recitals because their progress (and adjustment of some lazy habits) is sometimes modified by seeing and hearing others that struggle similarly.  i know my son went to a spelling bee one time.  he thought he was the only person in the world that got letters mixed up - or spelled more phonetically.  even though he never won - and might never in his life - he enjoyed being able to participate and also to see how others handle disappointment.  some of the other boys didn't spell so well as the girls.

this often goes for dexterity.  the girls just whiz around the keyboard sightreading - and the guys at first are one note at a time.  that's ok.  you'll find girls are more apt to take those flashcards and actually pick out notes at the piano -whereas the guys use them for target practice or accidentally lose them.  (that's where the book bag might have a slot for the flashcards).  remembering to bring things to lessons can be another addition to discipline.  to remind them to bring everything to each lesson.  (just remembering this can be hard - but worth teaching).

with this type of student, cora might be right about music that motivates them.  i'm wondering also, if giving this student the opportunity to do stuff the others wouldn't want to.  for instance, most students like cd's and to go to recitals (and remain quiet and listen, etc)  but this type of student would probably enjoy going into the sound studio better.  my son has learned (at church) how to run the sound board.  he is way more interested int he 'controlling the sound' aspect.  suppose a recording studio - or checking out various computerized music things would appeal to this kind of student.

[classicarts]

I say drop the kid, not all kids are for piano.  If you don't, you might be sorry later.  May turn out to be like "Sixth Sense."

[timothy42b]

I did not mean to side with Cora's approach over gaers. 

Indeed, I think both are valid.  If a student is going to be more than you can or want to handle, it is far better to recognize it soon and avoid frustrating both of you.  At the same time some teachers are good at, and may even enjoy, dealing with the challenge. 

It seems to me the second worst thing to do is get angry with the student.  The worst thing is to become angry and remain unaware that you are, this causes no end of difficulties, but is extremely common. 

My perspective is a little different, probably because I spent about 10 years as staff on the back wards of mental hospitals, where ALL the clients are difficult, and where you can't dump any of them. 

And to that end, let me address the terminology (not the content) of the quote below.

These students give you the chance to learn not to care. They teach you to be ruthless, for instance in money matters (these are the ones who usually pay late when they pay at all).

<large snips>

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

1.  Yes, they give you the opportunity, but not the methodology.  In most cases it will not happen by accident.  There are some shortcuts that work. 

2.  Let me suggest different wording that might be a little more universally useful.  Instead of learn NOT to care, perhaps we could learn TO be detached.  If not perfectly detached, at least we control our emotional reaction to the point it doesn't interfere with what we rationally want to do.  Instead of be ruthless, perhaps be efficient/expedient.  Ruthless for many people is going to carry the connotation of retribution.  Dumping a student because the two of you are not a match for whatever reason can be done calmly.  But if they "have it coming," or you enjoy it, then alarm bells should be going off.  Don't punish them, help them to succeed elsewhere; in the long run this distinction benefits your own mental health.

Hope that's not seen as critical of the post.    I think in this case the wordsmithing matters. 

[urbanspice]

Thanks for all your suggestions! His lesson is today, maybe we can get some improvement.

[classicarts]

..the kid gets a little older, and then, he starts to stalk you for all the bad piano lessions he had with you, and blames his despicable failure life on you.   Holy Cow!! Is that kid name Bartney??!!

[mmx]

Lol.Just to be patience.You have to give him sometime to learn.Maybe for now he will say he hate piano but soon or later he will realise whether he got interest in it or not.
Writting the notes is a bad idea because they will get used to it and never learn how to read a note and they will have a hard time.C is always easy because there is no key.It also same as me last time i thaught piano is a waste of my time but now i enjoy it a lot.Give 5 years time.Im sure he will know whether he wants to continue or not.

Sorry for my bad english 

[urbanspice]

Thanks for all your suggestions, everyone. His lesson went ten times better yesterday,. And after watching this kid closely, I think that his "bad behavior" may have been due to nerves. He was avoiding coming into the room with me by getting water and his Dad took him walking during his sister's lessons to calm him (and his attitude). I didn't stray from the lesson book and even gave him the choice of his next song (and he happily chose haunted mouse.) Then I played some songs for him - a couple from Martha Mier's Imagine (this is really an excellent book by the way and man, I felt really stupid when I thought Jay Leno was calling Harriet Miers by the wrong name... ).
This is kid completely comfortable and clinging to positions. And it works for him so we'll stay there. And I think he is happy where he is and when he is ready to get of positions then I'm sure he'll let me know. But anyway, when I played these songs I was told him about how some songs changed positions and what positions they were or the  difficult parts in the song, which he really paid attention to and liked.
But he didn't choose any of those songs. Please don't kill me, but I bought one of those keyboard books that have the letter names on the notes. I played some songs for that book and he loved them. He got right back on the piano and started playing, he even let me help him and kept asking me questions -- I don't get this or where's is this C at? Eventually, I'll try to teach him some chords. But his attitude was so much better, not only that but he was proud of himself for playing the song (Blue Danube Waltz). And this is saying something since this kid is always so pessimistic and I can't is a common phrase of his. When he left lessons he was smiling instead frowning or on the verge of angry tears.
"I'm really good at playing this piece, especially since it's so difficult"
"Yes you are, especially since this has all those high C's."

[m1469]

Hi urbanspice, congratulations on your success !  It seems you found out some important and useful information with regard to his behavior as well, that's great.

I am posting in because of something you mentioned in your last post here.  You wrote :

This is kid completely comfortable and clinging to positions. And it works for him so we'll stay there. And I think he is happy where he is and when he is ready to get of positions then I'm sure he'll let me know.

He may never want to leave them without some secret encouragement from you, so it may be worth your time to help him out of it.  There are a couple of things along these lines that you can do to encourage his growth beyond thinking in positions, but using them at the same time.  He will not even know he is leaving them.  Now, I certainly am not trying to tell you how you should be teaching, I have just struggled with a couple of students who have been absolutely stuck in positions (and could not actually read the music) and have had to help them figure their way out of it.  So, I am simply offering suggestions which you can take or leave.

Landmark notes.  So, he is resistent to the musical phone # GBDFACE, that's okay for now.  Using positions, he can still become familiar with landmark notes.  The "C's" might be a great place to begin, since he already knows middle C position.  And there is C Major position (involving C3).  So, it would just be a little game for him to find the other C's.  But in the meantime, it will begin to shift his focus from blind positions to knowing a few notes that will enable him to begin to find his own way around the piano with new pieces (without a teacher needing to tell him which position it is "in").

You can write out the following C's and play a little game with him :



First point out the ones that he already knows -- and these will be congruent with the ones in his beloved positions. 

Then, show him the ones that he may not know.  Then they are found on the piano.  Then the game becomes you pointing to different ones and him finding them on the piano.  It's simple, but most students seem to enjoy it and it immediately expands their concept of reading and the piano topography.  The same thing can be done with some other notes too.

Okay, as I said, take it or leave it.  Maybe you are already doing something like this and I certainly don't wish to step on your toes.  But, I just thought I would share in the fun with you  .


m1469

[classicarts]

You know I was just joking around, that said, congratulations on your day with the kid and much success.