gifted players who don't read well but play by ear

[mmorrisroe]

What repetoire do you suggest for a teen who plays very difficult music by ear but reads at a very elementary level?

[lostinidlewonder]

Bach

[thierry13]

Bach

Simplest and best answer 

[ramseytheii]

If you want to improve their reading, you might start with Mozart, since there are so many scales and arpeggios, and because the harmony can be so easily discerned from the notes.

As early as possible, I believe, playing the piano should be connected with harmonies, so that students never play individual notes that don't relate to each other, but always think in higher terms.

Walter Ramsey

[joyfulmusic]

I would like to see ever so much more discussion of this kind of student.  I sometimes wonder if learning how one teaches a blind person might help teach those who have huge issues with visual learning.

I have one student in particular who has the most beautiful natural touch.  When she plays a wrong note or loses focus on what she's reading, I swear she can't identify middle C.  She tilts her head to one side (which I have noticed students do who have trouble reading).But when she plays pieces I have taught her by wrote, my heart sings. Add to that, her parents bought her a baby grand on Ebay, despite my desperate protestations, which turned out to be an attractive planter.

When I look at the old manuscripts, I can't help but wonder how many students the masters had who were taught this way.  Surely Mozart didn't need music often.

[nanabush]

It's really unfortunate for students like this during practical exams.  One of my students will force himself to memorize something (by playing a measure 10 times, adding a new one and playing those two 10 times, etc), and rid himself of the sheet music.  He is playing at a Grd. 8 Royal Conservatory (Canada) level.  If I give him a piece of grade 3 or 4 music for sight reading, he'll do the same thing, completely ignoring the purpose of a sight reading exercise.

He gets mid-hi 70's on his pieces, good marks on scales and ear tests, but is just terrible at sight reading anything, no matter the level.  His exam marks are brought down quite a bit because of this, while if he had consistent ear tests as he did with other stuff, he'd be getting marks in the 80's on his exams.

That being said, I'd agree with playing Bach and Mozart - if the student is also learning music theory.  Picking up patterns makes learning music much easier, but if the student is unaware of the structure of basic chords (major, minor), and scales, then they'll be just as lost in those as in any other piece.

My student doing Grade 8 refuses to do theory; his parents, no matter how much I tell them, don't enforce anything.  His technique is fine, but he just can't relate to any patterns whatsoever.  He's able to see that a block of three notes on the staff evenly spaced apart will be a triad, but he can't see what triad it is at a glance; he literally has to pick out every note.  If I ask him what triad it is, he's lost.  It's frustrating beyond belief that his parents are so oblivious to this problem even when I tell them explicitely!!

[amanfang]

When I was about 3 or 4, my favorite books were Dr. Seuss books.  My dad would read "The Cat in the Hat came back."  He read it so many times to me.  One night, I said "I want to read it to you!"  So I recited it with all the inflection of the character voices, and I knew when to turn the pages, and I even understood what I was saying.  But I wasn't really reading it, as I didn't know how to read at that point.  Did that make the experience any less satisfying?  No.  Did I have to know how to read to tell the story?  No.  If I wanted to tell another Dr. Seuss story without someone else reading it to me, would I have to learn to read?  Yes.

I used to think that all my students needed to become well-rounded pianists so that they would be competent musicians.  My philosophy has somewhat changed.  For most students, I still use that approach.  I believe that my students should have theory, aural skills, improvisation, sight-reading, etc in addition to lesson and performance pieces.  But there are some students who don't fit that plan so well.  For some students, especially older ones, who have a particular polarity of strengths and weaknesses, I will absolutely use their strengths (in this case, a good ear) in their piano learning at the expense of not necessarily hammering their weaknesses (sight-reading).  In this case, I would also explain that learning to read will help them learn new music without me teaching it to them.  But learning by ear makes music no less enjoyable or meaningful.  Sure, they won't become professional accompanists, but that's ok.  This does not mean that I will omit sight-reading, or not encourage them to learn in a particularly structured, slow manner.  However, I would probably continue to teach by ear/rote.