Where should students be?

[brotherben]

Hello!  I have a 2 part question that I am hoping for some feedback on.  The first part is how do I know where my students should/shouldn't be in their piano skills?  This goes along with a student I have.  Because I've only taught for almost 5 years, this one student's father considers me to not be a great teacher.  He wants to know where his daughter SHOULD be in her piano skills/abilities.  She is almost 7 and is working through the Alfred Prep Course level C.  She has played the songs well and has great dynamics, phrasing, and doesn't hit any wrong notes.  Her fingers are curved very well, and she sits at the piano fine.  There are no huge breaks between measures.  We have worked on the breaks and making sure she knows the next notes before that measure happens.  Her theory is fine.  She knows theory a lot better than she shows, meaning if she's shown the material in her lesson, she grasps it.  What else am I missing?  Where should a 7 year old girl be in her musical/piano ability/skills?  What should she know that I've missed?  Are there other things I need to bring in during lessons?  Any comments are needed!!!  Thanks

- Ben

[monk]

Hi,

You really don't seem to know that much about piano teaching. Sorry!

Otherwise you should know that the question "Where should a 7-year-old be in her skills?" makes no sense.

Everyone is different, and it totally depends on how much she practices, what her strengths and weaknesses are and so on.

So you should tell her father the same.

But this here really made me scratch my head:

There are no huge breaks between measures.  We have worked on the breaks and making sure she knows the next notes before that measure happens.

That's bad teaching style. You should always work on playing PHRASES, and from beginning on it should be clear to the student that the sequence of notes makes the music, not individual keypresses! That every musical line either wants to go on to somewhere or wants to end.

This is why it's better to begin without written music, which (I suspect) you haven't done. Instead you seem to have her teached from beginning on: "See the note - name it - play it - see next note - name it - play it etc.". This approach can make the student fail totally if he doesn't happen to make the transition to feeling phrases by himself "by accident".

The poor little girl seems to have stored a very wrong and very hard-to-remove information: that bar lines are actual "borders" and that there something ends/begins. And this is only possible if she doesn't hear that the music wants to go on! Her ears are not really involved, but only her intellect and her "mechanics".

So, if there regularly are breaks between the bars, you know that in your teaching there has been something wrong. Sorry.

Best Wishes,
Monk

[Swan]

Hi Brotherben

Do you have other kids around this age in your studio?  I know most parents like to make comparisons even if I don't!  How do you think this student is going compared to others of her own age or others you've taught before?  The answer is of course as Monk suggested, irrelevent, but a part of our job as teachers is evaluation and reporting progress to parents.

How long have you been teaching this student?

this one student's father considers me to not be a great teacher.

Is this something he's told you, or something you'only suspect?  If he's allowing you to continue teaching his daughter, he can't be that disappointed with the results.  

He wants to know where his daughter SHOULD be in her piano skills/abilities.

If you are trully happy and satisfied with her progress as you seem to be, then you need to communicate this to her father with solid reasons.  Then ask him honestly, "How do you think she's going, and do you think she's capable of greater progress?  What is her attitude at home?  What stage is she at with self discipline?   Does she still need reminding to practise, do you need to sit with her to practise?" etc

Teachers usually only spend half an hour a week with students.  Parents spend a lot longer.  It is unfair and unreasonable to expect a teacher to work miracles alone. If this father thinks hiss daughter is capable of greater things, ask him what he's doing to make it happen.  And there's nothing wrong with asking what he thinks you can be doing to improve the situation.

BUT!  If you trully believe that you are doing the best for this student and you're happy with her efforts and progress, communicate this with confidence.

Ultimately, its in the parents hands to stay or leave.
Unfortunately there are some parents who drag their beloved around from teacher to teacher in search of the 'perfect one' without it ever occurring to them perhpas it has more to do with what's happening on the other six days of non lessons.

What else am I missing?  Where should a 7 year old girl be in her musical/piano ability/skills?  What should she know that I've missed?  Are there other things I need to bring in during lessons?

Mmmm, here's a brainstorming list of things I include in lessons

1. Improvisation
2. Aural games
3. Score analysis - with lots of discecting into 'bit's with colours
4. Sight Reading
5. Composition
6. General knowledge relevant to the piece I don't use methods, (although I do take certain repertoire from lots of different methods).
7. History
8. Time management
9.  Project planning
10.  Musical critique
11.  Performance

...that'll do.

Monk make the point

You should always work on playing PHRASES,

, but babies need to be on their stomachs before they can crawl, and they have to crawl before they stand up and balance, and they to balance before they can take steps, and finally we have walking!

I teach the name and recognition of individual notes first.  Then we look at one bar at a time if that's what's needed.  Then we can look at patterns the indiviual notes make - because ultimately we need to take in these huge chunks of information all at once to be efficient sight readers.

But I wouldn't be too quick to label yourself a 'bad' teacher.  Anyway,

Do you organise recitals for your students?  It's very benefical for parents to see the standards your teaching does produce.  It also helps if they do see another child playing exceptionally well, they're not as quick to throw all the blame on you.  

I'm not familiar with the Alfred Prep Course.  You say she's up to level C.  Does that mean she's completed level A and B?  You've mentioned her age, but haven't said how long she's been playing.  To help evaluate her progress, step back and ask yourself, if you knew she's been taking lessons for 'this long', and you heard her play a number of pieces, would you be impressed? Or would you think, boy, what's going wrong?  I have students that constantly impress me.  I also have students whom I'm constantly saying, 'boy, what's going wrong?'  It's normal to have standards, but like Monk has said, everyone is different.   You may not be missing anything except confidence in your own abilities.  (Bit hard to judge from one post).