A couple of months ago I had one adult piano student finally realize that an arrangement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was too much for her, and after several weeks of struggling through it, she asked if maybe we should go back to basics and review some of her old lesson books. First, a little back story on this student: she had originally taken lessons several years back when she was stationed at a military base overseas. Her original teacher had the unorthodox philosophy of having her pick a song or piece that she really liked and wanted to learn, and he taught her music theory and notation through that, instead of teaching the latter separately and starting her on very simple pieces and songs, THEN progressing her steadily towards this piece. The problem with this is that her first teacher most likely glossed over several important points of music theory/notation as well as technique, causing her to be shaky on several aspects of basic piano playing. So by the time I picked her up as my student, she was struggling with playing what should've been familiar notes in an easier arrangement of Moonlight Sonata. Whereas a typical student who was learning this piece wouldn't be struggling with the same issues as she was. If anything, a student at that level would be more concerned with musical/expressive goals. Now I as a teacher 4-5 years ago would have just told her from our very first lesson that she needed to go back and relearn several basic ideas, notations, etc. and forget about this piece until she mastered x,y,z. I've learned that that approach doesn't go over too well with adult students, but it's necessary for child/teen students who need structure and an authority figure to set guidelines. With adults, they just hear someone telling them that they CAN'T do a piece or song they love, something that has inspired them to take music lessons in the first place, so it's almost like someone saying, "You're not good enough to take lessons." So I've learned that adult students need to figure this solution out for themselves and ask the teacher, "What should I learn or master first in order to play this piece?" I just wish every adult music student understood this from the very beginning of taking lessons! Students, please have realistic expectations, and if you have a piece in mind that you would eventually love to play, work with the teacher to set up short-term goals and benchmarks toward that long-term goal. Understand that your teacher has wisdom and expertise and can help guide you towards musical success, but only if you listen to them!
0 Comments
|
About this blogHello world, this is your friendly musician friend and teacher, Joseph! This is where I share my thoughts and feelings about anything and everything music-related. Enjoy! Archives
September 2022
Categories |