PIANO
MUSIC & MOVEMENT
EARLY CHILDHOOD
VOICE
Piano Curriculum
1. Beginners through Early Intermediate
Lessons, while highly personalized, are based on standard classical technique and repertoire. Typically, beginners through early intermediate students work out of a series of Method books, which present concepts and practice material in a logical and approachable fashion. I prefer to work out of the Alfred or Faber series (Preparatory through Early Intermediate levels), supplemented with extra pieces as the student’s interest and/or learning needs dictate. Students will work out of:
(a) Lesson Book: piano pieces designed to introduce and reinforce new musical concepts and technical skills. Content is a balance of especially composed pieces together with arrangements of well-known Classical pieces and traditional Folk songs.
(b) Theory Book: written practice in applying new concepts as they are introduced in Lesson Book pieces.
(c) Notespeller: written practice for acquiring fluent reading skills. Theory and Notespeller exercises are carefully disguised as crossword puzzles and games, which students seem to find quite entertaining. At risk of sounding quite ancient, I must say that “they never had anything like that when I was learning piano…”
(d) Technique: is covered in the Dozen a Day finger exercises series, which amazingly is extremely popular with the students! Scales and other technical drills are presented as skills sheets to be worked through (parental initiative is sometimes required in providing suitable bribes as motivation).
(e) Supplemental Pieces: I strive to provide a balance between the generally-unpopular-but-necessary things like scales, and providing pieces the child really wants to play (which they get to choose themselves). Supplementary pieces are often arrangements of T.V. or movie scores, Disney or other favorite songs, well-known Classical themes, or are seasonally inspired (Holidays, etc).
2. Intermediate and Beyond
As students progress towards Intermediate level, more repertoire is drawn from collections of carefully-graded original Classical repertoire of all styles and periods. Generally the student will have at least one technical assignment and two or three contrasting pieces to work on. Listening to recordings of example performances and assimilating basic information about the composers and musical styles being studied gradually takes the place of theory assignments. The double dragons of technique and theory become integrated into effective tools for understanding and mastering more advanced repertoire, and the student becomes increasingly capable of independent study. And of course we always make time for “fun” pieces, too!
Practice Expectations and Assignments
Students over the age of seven years old are expected to practice a minimum of thirty minutes a day, five days a week. As material becomes more challenging (or as recitals loom!) practice time will necessarily increase. My youngest students seem to do well with practice schedules of their own devising, structured around the number of repetitions per piece rather than around the block of time taken to do so.
Specific tasks and protocols will be written in the practice notebook. Some students do well with a highly structured weekly practice plan, complete with charts and stickers, while others prefer to stretch my imagination in regard to inventing ever-fresh practice “games”. I certainly consider it one of my primary goals to leave student and parents well equipped for a week of productive and satisfying piano practice.
Typically, students will be assigned the following:
1. Technical work (finger exercises, and/or scales, etc)
2. Two or three pieces from the Lesson book (in various stages of preparation. These usually take one to three weeks to work through. Some may need to be memorized)
3. At least one “challenge” piece (preferably something the student liked well enough to choose for him or herself). These usually take weeks or months to work through and are to be memorized.
4. And/or one or two “fun” pieces (usually something easily mastered for sight-reading practice and immediate gratification)
5. One or two pages per week from the Theory and/or Notespeller books.
Depending upon the student’s level and needs, exercises in sight-reading, ear-training, rhythm drill, composition and/or memorization may also be assigned. I maintain a lending library of books, games and software to try to keep things as varied and interesting as possible.
Ensemble performance (duets or small chamber groups) are a wonderful way for enthusiastic students to develop their skills and socialize at the same time. Pending schedule constraints, I am always delighted to coach student ensembles! (Sibling ensembles must be able to work together without actual warfare before I will enter the fray).
For those students who enjoy working towards specific goals and events, I can prepare them for the Minnesota Music Teachers’ Association examinations in performance and theory. Their exam curriculum is highly structured and many students enjoy the sense of direction and concrete accomplishment as they move from one Grade level to the next. At the higher levels these exams may be applied toward High School Diploma Credit. For students who thrive on competition, the MMTA also offers a full range of recitals and awards.
Participation in Studio Recitals is highly encouraged! Apart from the opportunity to sample lots of New Zealand baking from my kitchen, the sense of community and accomplishment gained is well worth any stress experienced regarding performing in front of others. My recitals are utterly non-competitive and generally feature one “serious” and one goofy performance from the teacher (students seem to find the latter highly gratifying). They also seem to find it inspiring to discover that their teacher can actually do the things she is forever talking about…
