One piano lesson is pretty much the same as another, it might be easy to think, other than the style of music being learned and taught. I mean, it’s the same pattern of white and black keys everywhere you go – how much difference can there really be between one piano teacher’s lessons and another’s?
It turns out there are (sometimes extreme) dichotomies at play in the lessons provided by piano teachers around the world. But it’s not a simple divide of “these” teachers versus “those”; in real life it works out that some teachers in profound agreement as regards one foundational approach may find themselves at opposite ends of the divide when it comes to another.
It occurred to me the other day that a Venn diagram representing the views of some of my dearest colleague-friends would be a complicated matter indeed – how to indicate the overlaps while still clearly demonstrating the exclusions?! Next thing I was jotting down a list….
Now, if you’re not a piano teacher this list is going to seem pretty arcane at times – and maybe even if you ARE a piano teacher you might scratch your head at one or two categories, and wonder why anyone would do it any other way than the way you and all your colleagues (in your community) teach and were taught! But believe me, somewhere out there in the world each and every one of these dichotomies is being contested, even if it’s not in your neighbourhood…
Without further ado, for the purpose of discussion, debate, dissent, delight, and possibly despair, allow me to present The Incomplete Dichotomies in Piano Pedagogy.
WHEN TO BEGIN READING: Sound before Symbol v Reading From The Start
HOW TO BEGIN READING: On-staff notation v Off-staff notation
GEOGRAPHY: Black keys pieces at the start v White keys pieces at the start.
RANGE: Playing across the whole keyboard in the earliest lessons v Starting in fixed positions in the middle of the keyboard
WHICH FINGERS?: Starting with the 3rd finger v Starting with the thumb
HOW MANY FINGERS?: Starting with playing only one finger v Starting with playing multiple fingers
TOUCH: Legato touch at the start v Tenuto touch at the start
PITCH LITERACY: Using note-naming and mnemonics to read pitches v Using intervallic relationships and landmarks to read pitches
CHORD CHART LITERACY: Teaching students to play from, and create, chord charts v Not teaching students to be able to play from or create chord charts
RHYTHMIC LITERACY: Reading rhythms by counting durations v Reading rhythm with rhythm syllables
DEVELOPING RHYTHMIC CONCEPTS: First note values taught via subdivision: crotchets and quavers (quarter notes and eighth notes) v First note values taught through held durations: crotchets, semibreves and minims (quarter notes, whole notes, half notes)
TONALITY: Major/Minor only v Modes/Tonalities of any kind
KINAESTHETIC LEARNING: Pieces learned hands separately v pieces learned hands together
LEARNING STRATEGIES: Learning from a score v Learning away from a score
LISTENING: Listening before learning v Not listening before learning
EXPLORING: Improvising as part of learning v No improvising as part of learning
REPERTOIRE CHOICE: Scaffolded learning v Student supplied
REPERTOIRE SOURCES BY TIME PERIOD: Mostly Baroque/Classical/Romantic Music v Mostly 20th/21st Century Music
REPERTOIRE SOURCES BY STYLE: Art Music Tradition (Renaissance to current day) v Pop Music Tradition (20th C to now)
RESOURCES BY MEDIUM: Print Music (paper) v Screen-stored Music (tablets)
USE OF TECH IN LESSONS: Screens Used By Student in Lesson v Screen-free Learning
ACTIVITY LOCATION: Always sitting at on the piano bench in lessons v Activities away from the piano bench in lessons
INSTRUMENT REQUIRED BY STUDENT: Acoustic Instruments v Digital Instruments OR
Acoustic & Digital Pianos v Keyboards
LESSON FORMAT: One-on-one lessons v Group lessons
LENGTH OF LESSON: 30 minute lessons standard v 45/60 minute lessons standard
And there endeth the list of dichotomies (for now). Some of these may in fact be dichotomies you experience in your own teaching within the same day or week- you take one approach with one age group or demographic and another approach with the rest. The purpose of this list is to encourage us all as piano teachers to not only reflect on our own professional practice, but to consider the possibility that there are teachers in other parts of the world, state, city, or even street, who do things quite differently, and to maybe wonder why…
Please, please, feel free to suggest more dichotomies if you feel there are issues missing from this list! And for those readers who are sitting there wondering what on earth some of these “dichotomies” are on about – I am rather hoping that the spirit will move me to write posts on the individual dichotomies listed above, exploring the ideas, philosophies and teaching strategies involved. But my goodness, it’s a bit of a catalogue, is it not?!