TEACH A NUMBER of piano and organ lessons to students who are actively involved in the Catholic Academy of Sacred Music, and whilst most of these students have begun their keyboard studies with me, there have been exceptions, and it is about these exceptions and the manner in which they have been taught that I would like to write today. Probably the most frustrating aspect of taking on a keyboard student from another teacher is the student’s inability to read music, even after years of study under a previous teacher. I have watched high school students in their first lessons with me use their fingers to count up the lines and spaces of the treble staff in order to tell me the name of a note ON the staff, not on a ledger line above or below the staff. The same student struggles to count a short section of his repertoire out loud if it contains anything more difficult than quarter notes or half notes. It goes without saying that most of the musical nomenclature beyond simple terms such as piano or forte is just mysterious to such a youth. Finally, there is the problem of practice, which if there is any, usually takes the form of furiously tickling the ivories for half an hour before a his next lesson in a last ditch effort to learn the repertoire. But it doesn’t have to be this way. What follows are a few “tricks” that have greatly aided students who have been with me from a young age, so that by the time they enter junior high (if not earlier) they have no difficulty reading music and learning repertoire on their own, which means that most of our lesson time is spent on aspects of musical performance.
Practice Time • I love my mother dearly, but I’ve never forgotten the timer she would set for 30 minutes most days for me to practice the piano in early elementary school—oh how I dreaded it! Most of that 30 minutes was probably spent pining for the timer to go off and I doubt indeed if there was much practice taking place. Instead, when I teach young children I ask them to play each piece through 2-3 times per day and that is it. They can be finished in 5 minutes, but I have discovered that when they do this every day they come to their lessons more prepared (because they have actually practiced each day) and less frustrated (because it takes up very little of their time). I have also known some parents who have struggled to make practice part of their child’s daily routine, but because most of my students are homeschooled, I simply ask the parents to list “piano practice” on their child’s daily school sheet and this solves the problem. Students will need to practice more the farther they advance—but they’ll be more likely to do so if they can actually do something with the music in front of them.
Sight-Reading And Counting • Knowing the names of the notes on the staff and counting rhythms is somewhat like knowing one’s times tables in mathematics, one simply can’t advance if one doesn’t yet know them, and the younger one is, the easier they are to learn. Therefore I require beginning students—who only play one note in one hand at a time—to name each note out loud as they play (this is the for the first of the 2-3 times each day they need to practice a piece) and then to count out loud as they play (this is second of the 2-3 times). Even when I suspect a student isn’t naming notes or counting out loud during his weekly practice, I make him do this in his lesson and it helps immensely. I have found that most of these children naturally sing their note names and even their counting, which is also a great help toward future sight-singing in choir. When a last ditch effort is required to ensure a student learns his note names, I will have him play Staff Wars (check out the app) while other siblings are taking their lessons.
A Book Over The Hands • I also want to mention that while some students keep their eyes on the notes as a matter of course, there are many who don’t (which retards sight-reading immensely), and here the old trick of covering the hands works well. It is harder for parents to take care of this during the week, but for those students who need it, I will hold a book over their hands throughout the whole lesson, but I assure them it is not done as a punishment. I encourage them to trust their fingers—their fingers will figure out where to go on the keyboard and students readily experience the fact that they play better this way. It takes a while to catch on, but it does.
Musical Nomenclature • Every single week and with every single piece I take just a minute to ask children about key signatures and time signatures, as well as things like the names of the clefs, bar lines, measures, dynamics and tempo markings. Repetitio est mater studiorum!
A Final Thought • With time, the aforementioned techniques will bear fruit, and when your students enter into the world of playing serious repertoire they will spend the majority of their time perfecting their music—putting their hearts and souls into it—instead of waiting for you to play it in their lessons so they can learn it by ear. This is not to disparage using one’s ear, but there are much more effective ways to use the ear. Give your students the gift of reading music instead.
