11.30.2022

πŸ’‘Aha Moments - The Principle Goal of a Piano Teacher

November 30, 2022 0 Comments
"A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.” - Anonymous

"A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.” 
- Anonymous

My goal as a piano teacher is to teach myself out of a job. 

Sounds strange, right?

I love my students and I love piano teaching, but I want my students to continue playing the piano even after they discontinue lessons. I want them to move beyond my knowledge. I want them to explore the many, many musical topics. 

How does a piano teacher accomplish this? 

The Principle Goal of a Piano Teacher

"The principle goal of education is to create men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.” 
- Jean Piaget

In her book, The Independent Piano Teacher's Studio Handbook, Beth Klingenstein explains that showing and not teaching creates a dependency on the teacher for every piece they will ever learn. She says, "Ultimately, such dependency means the last piece the student is taught will be the last piece played with accuracy" (156). 

Following this claim, she details many skills piano teacher's must teach their students in order to create independent musicians. 

The topics include how to teach:
  • Practicing
  • Memorizing
  • Performing
  • Timing and Rhythm
  • Technique
  • Sight-Playing
  • Fingering
  • Pedaling
  • Developing the Ear
Wow, what a list! When we shift to this mindset, however difficult, we benefit our students for a lifetime.

Pieces provide a vehicle with which to teach skills, but the end goal is not the pieces themselves, but the ability to learn more and more. Klingenstein goes on to say that pieces are learned faster and more pieces are able to be learned by a student who can effectively train themselves.  

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher . . . is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’” 
- Maria Montessori

As I continue to build this blog, my hope is to chronicle my journey learning to teach these and to provide helpful resources and tips for other teachers to in turn cultivate lifelong learners of music. That is the principle goal of a piano teacher.

What are some quotes that have helped you as a teacher? What is your personal response to this post? What are some anecdotes you have about putting this into practice as a teacher? Let me know in the comments! 

-Jenny

11.26.2022

πŸƒLesson Hacks: Label Your Flashcards for Quick Sorting

November 26, 2022 0 Comments
Alfred's Complete Color Coded Flash Cards for All Beginning Music Students
Labeled flashcard
When you have a solid block of students, sorting the correct flashcards can be difficult and time-consuming. To avoid using up precious lesson time sorting flashcards, I color-coded and numbered them! 

Below is a complete list of the Alfred's Complete Color Coded Flash Cards for All Beginning Music Students with the matching color-coded Piano Adventures Basic Method level and unit numbers. I wrote the numbers on the bottom right corner on the numbered side of each card. 

If you use a different piano method, I hope that this idea can still be helpful for you. 


Alfred's Complete Color Coded Flash Cards and Piano Adventures Correlation Chart


Link to PDF version


Key

Primer 

Level 1

Level 2A

Level 2B

Level 3A

Level 3B

Level 4

Level 5


Symbol

Card

Faber

Canary

Treble Clef Sign

1

4

Bass Clef Sign

2

4

Bass Clef:

Low C

3

1

Low D

4

5

Low E

5

5

Low F

6

5

Low G

7

10

A

8

10

B

9

10

C

10

8

D

11

8

E

12

8

F

13

5

G

14

6

A

15

6

B

16

6

Middle C

17

4

D

18

6

E

19

6

Treble Clef:

A

20

6

B

21

1

Middle C

22

4

D

23

5

E

24

5

F

25

5

G

26

4

A

27

1

B

28

1

C

29

2

D

30

3

E

31

2

High F

32

3

High G

33

3

High A

34

5

High B

35

5

High C

36

1

Pink

Single Eighth Note

37

3

Eighth Notes

38

1

Quarter Note

39

2

Dotted Quarter Note

40

8

Half Note

41

2

Dotted Half Note

42

3

Whole Note

43

2

Eighth Rest

44

7

Quarter Rest

45

10

Half Rest

46

5

Whole Rest

47

5

2/4 Time Signature

48

2

3/4 Time Signature

49

6

4/4 Time Signature

50

5

White

Adagio

51

7

Andante

52

7

Moderato

53

7

Allegro

54

7

Ritardando

55

9

A tempo

56

2

Pianissimo

57

9

Piano

58

2

Mezzo Piano

59

2

Mezzo Forte

60

3

Forte

61

2

Fortissimo

62

3

Crescendo

63

2

Diminuendo

64

2

Accent

65

10

Green

Sharp Sign

66

6

Flat Sign

67

6

Natural Sign

68

1

Fermata

69

4

Pedal Sign

70

1

8va

71

4

Staccato Note

72

1

Slur

73

1

Tied Notes

74

9

Repeat Sign

75

2

Repeat Signs

76

5

D.C. al Fine

77

4

Blue

Melodic & Harmonic Intervals:

2nd

78

5

3rd

79

7

4th

80

4

5th

81

4

6th

82

3

7th

83

3

Octave

84

8

Key Signature:

C Major or A Minor

85

4

G Major or E Minor

86

5

D Major or B Minor

87

5

F Major or D Minor

88

10

B-flat major or G Minor

89

Level 5


How did this resource help you? If you found this resource helpful, please share with a friend!

What are your lesson hacks? Let me know in the comments! 

Until next time,

-Jenny