Taking on Beginners

[natalyaturetskii]

I'm thinking of taking on some beginners to the piano, but I'm not quite sure where to start? What would be the first thing that you would teach them? Theory? Work through a beginners book?

Thanks
Natalya

[clavile]

I'm thinking of taking on some beginners to the piano, but I'm not quite sure where to start? What would be the first thing that you would teach them? Theory? Work through a beginners book?

Thanks
Natalya

One piece of information you're missing: How old will your beginners be? Young, older, or both? I started with a 6 year-old, who didn't even know his right hand from his left, and doesn't read well.

Depending on the age, I have several books I can highly recommend for young students.

The first thing I started with is posture & technique. To me, that is one of the fundamentals of piano. I've seen way too many advanced and even professional pianists performing with dropped wrists, stiff fingers, and sloppy arm movements.

It's so encouraging to me to see other people near my age also beginning to teach!!!

[natalyaturetskii]

Thanks! The beginners will be around 6-8 years old, and they have never played any instrument before, so they won't know much about music.

[keypeg]

Why beginners?

[keypeg]

The reason I asked is because beginners is a challenging level to teach.  You have to set up everything, and that setup stays with the student for years to come.  If you are starting out teaching, is that a good level to start with?

[clavile]

Thanks! The beginners will be around 6-8 years old, and they have never played any instrument before, so they won't know much about music.

Ah! Then I shall recommend my books.

Bastien Piano Basics, Primer level
Bastien Piano Theory, Primer level

Alfred's Basic Piano Library, Prep Course For The Young Beginner, Lesson Level A
Alfred's Basic Piano Library, Prep Course For The Young Beginner, Theory book, Level A

I often switch back and forth between the books, because Bastien moves at a faster level, while Alfred's moves at a slower level.

Both are made for young students who have never played an instrument before.

[ajspiano]

A beginner book will be good for you, not so much because books are necessarily the right idea for everyone, but because, generally, books have been written by an experienced teacher.. so there's reason in the progression of content. Following the book means you won't make any huge developmental errors. You need to observe that, be aware of what exactly is being taught as you move through the pages and make sure your student is learning that (as opposed to just what notes to play on that given page) - and why it should be in that order.

For example, a lot of books start with something to do with the black keys - this is because recognising the groups of black keys is imperative to the ability to locate/name specific white keys.

The bastien book has a tune, "two black cats" - so in learning it, as well as some basic rhythm the student will be able to find the groups of two keys..  a skill with is then subsequently used as the student learns the first white key song a few pages later..

Something you also need to take into consideration is that in order for you student to learn the song, they are going to have to practice it. With adults or older beginners, you can often say "lets repeat it" and that's enough because they understand and accept the objective is to better learn it. A 6 year old may think that its really boring to repeat something many times though, so its a good idea to figure out ways to encourage your student to repeat something without it becoming boring.

The other side of that is empowering the parents to be able to work with their child in a way that is fun and effective. The parents should be coming to lessons and learning how to practice with their child. You can't leave a 6 yr old by him/herself and expect effective practice.

....

One other thing with beginners, is to ensure that you have something for them to do during that first lesson that is actual music. A song. You can't spend the entire lesson trying to fill in basic knowledge..  they must be playing immediately. With youngsters (4-5 perhaps even younger though I don't take anyone younger than 4) "The chinese clock" is golden for that - its a duet, which means that they immediately have to learn to play with musical timing. It teaches the groups of 2 and 3 black keys thing, and its so easy a monkey could do it blind folded.

So you might take a short time to first discuss that the piano makes sound (and have a go at that), then learn that the sounds get higher to the right and lower to the left (which may entail teaching what right and left is), then that there are black keys and white keys.. and that the black keys are in groups..  which leads into using those groups to play "The Chinese Clock"

You'll find "the chinese clock" here (thanks to forum member "bernard") along with masses of other generalized info for teaching beginners.
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=2260.msg90216#msg90216

^about that thread, don't raise your expectations too high expecting to achieve what bernhard says he does. He is a very experienced teacher (and gives everyday lessons, rather than once a week). The thing about teaching that you don't realise so much when you start is that you have to learn about how to teach, not just what to teach. - the bonus is that it makes you a much better pianist yourself.

[asuhayda]

I like to teach a crash course in theory to beginners. Lots of primer level books tout "pre-reading".. in my experience, I haven't had much success with it.  The student spends months tinkering around on the black keys with little to no understanding of what they are doing.  I prefer to throw a bunch of information at my beginner students and slowly work through it as we go along.  This approach has worked for me.  It gets them reading music quickly.  Though it may be a slight struggle for them at first..  However, if they are submerged in it, then it forces them to try to understand what they're doing really quickly.  I change my methods up a lot, but here is a bread and butter approach that has worked fairly well for the most part.

Schaum Keynote Speller - (a brute force method of note reading and key association)
Schaum Finger Power - sort of like an entry level Hanon type technique book
 - or -
Czerny Op.599 - for kids who have a slightly higher aptitude
- or -
Bartok Mikrokosmos - for kids who have a high aptitude but aren't crazy about extremely classical music.


Alfred's Premier Piano Course - Performance Books - Martha Meir is one of the major contributors (and I like her stuff) - sparks younger students' interest

- or -

Ad Hoc sheet music selections - this requires you to do more work and research and you need some experience with determining what a young beginner is able to do.  But, for me, this has proven to be the most effective way to get kids interested in playing.

This is just my method though.  I recommend you try your own recipe.. pay attention to things that work and things that don't.  Every student is different.  Method books are very rigid and it's hard to fit every student into "that box".  One truth that I've come to realize over time is this, the best students I've ever had never spent much time at all in method books.

Just so you know, I'm a graduate level pianist that's been teaching for 12 years now.  Not bragging, just wanted to let you know so that you don't think I'm just making this stuff up.  I tried to go with the grain and teach out of Piano Adventures... didn't work for me... didn't like it... and neither did my students.

I hope this helps a littlle bit.

[benk88]

These ideas will help a lot for us beginners but aside from this I always watched videos about pianos:_:) womens fashion watches

[keypeg]

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