How important is theory when teaching a beginner?

[droprenstein]

I'm tutoring someone with a some very basic knowledge. She can read music to an extent, has not-horrible posture, functioning technique, all that you can expect from a beginner. I was wondering if I should teach theory as well. I primarily taught myself music theory, as my first teacher focused a lot on technique. I was giving it some thought, and it seems double-edged. On one hand, it can greatly increase harmonic understanding and expressive potential. On the other, it seems to be secondary to technique and ergonomics, and the student(tutee) will often hate learning theory with a passion, even if they enjoy the piano. Would any teachers pitch in, on how much theory should be taught at the beginner level?

[ranjit]

I wonder, does the actual student like or dislike theory?

I would explain tension and resolution, and then show how the V goes to the I. I explain this to a bunch of people and I think many get it immediately. Then, I improvise and harmonize some simple tunes with basic chord progressions.

[bryfarr]

You could mention how old the student is... music theory is a set of concepts, so teaching it depends on the student's age, their cognitive development.
Also you could say what you mean by "teaching theory".  If the child is learning pieces, then you can't avoid talking about the key, the number of flats, sharps - - the key of D major, explaining how/why is the beginning of theory.  I think the circle of fifths can be covered quite early, preferably at the same time the student starts playing scales.  Basic form analysis can be covered early .. ABA is not a huge concept to grasp.  Harmonic analysis comes later, but as someone mentioned learning the authentic cadence early works.

[transitional]

Basic theory is a must for beginning to learn how to play, but it shouldn't be emphasized too much at early stages when people just want to play. At around grade 8 right now, I still don't have a good grip on theory, but I'm beginning to figure it out more and more - it definitely shouldn't be introduced heavily for around the first year of playing.

[ego0720]

Theory is important in assisting our reorganization and interpretation of music as we play (which aids in our memorization that affects the execution). As the complexity increases so does the need to understand how the piece was formulated and chunked. It should be taught to help us but comes with a  caveat: it’s nice to understand the composers intent but we should also reinterpret, only until after we reach a level of mastery. How much it is adapted is difficult to say. Sometimes songs should be left “as is” and sometimes not. That’s actually a good new topic to make. What songs should not be tampered with and which is good to revise or rearrange. The problem sometimes is losing hidden secrets that the original author encrypted in the song.

[taipeiteacher]

I believe that beginners need to have several things baked in from the start including posture, theory, technique etc. What works for me is to divide the lesson up into 5-minute segments, eg piano, rhythm, piano, theory. This way they hardly notice that theory is being taught. I use a whiteboard and give them the flat tip pen to copy some notes on the board. They seem to like it, especially rubbing notes out. :-)
It's going to make a HUGE difference to their sight reading later down the line