Knowing what pieces suit students

[pianoplayjl]

Hey guys I just want to know how a teacher thinks and gain more insight into teachers of all sorts.

If a student is playing badly how do you know what piece to assign to them/what pieces should be approachable to those students? How do you know what type of piece best suit your students?
Does it also involve your familitarity with the piano repertoire?


Lol sorry if my threads seem stupid but that is how I am.

JL

[megadodd]

I think, a teacher knows what the student is good and bad at, there is always something he/she is "better" and "worse" at, that's logical.
But I wish I knew aswell how a teacher knows, this piece..the student can play with freedom, and this piece will make him curse for the next 4 months.
There are ocourse obvious cases, but in the middlezone I would have no clue, so bumping this thread.

[keypeg]

I would think that if a student is playing badly, the teacher would determine what makes that playing bad.  Is it technique, and if so, what technique?  Is it difficulty in reading or recognizing notes, key signatures?  Is it counting?  Then, what does this student need to learn and how will he learn it?  And then finally what pieces can you use to bring that about?  I don't think you would start with pieces that he is able to play well because of what abilities he already has, and then stay there.

[cjp_piano]

Hey guys I just want to know how a teacher thinks and gain more insight into teachers of all sorts.

If a student is playing badly how do you know what piece to assign to them/what pieces should be approachable to those students? How do you know what type of piece best suit your students?
Does it also involve your familitarity with the piano repertoire?


Lol sorry if my threads seem stupid but that is how I am.

JL

Your threads don't seem stupid at all! Don't say that!

To me, it involves both knowing the student's personality, abilities, strengths, skills, interests AND knowing piano repertoire. If they are playing badly, why are they playing badly? Not practicing? Don't like the piece? Technical difficulty? Too hard to read? etc.

As far as assigning pieces that suit each student, usually I have a general idea of what they would like and be able to manage. Then I play a few choices for them and let them decide. So I might have 3 or 4 pieces ready and they choose the one they want to learn. Now, of course, just because they like it doesn't mean they will be able to play it and continue liking it =)

So, I always leave things open and tell them that they can always scrap a piece at any time, and they can always come back to a piece at anytime. Because I give them some of the responsibility and decision-making, I usually don't have too many problems.

I hope that helps!