This is a monthly blog consisting of contributions from piano instructors throughout the world. It represents many teaching philosophies, opinions and literature suggestions. After reading the article, you may offer your comments to add to the “conversation”. All such messages will be reviewed (and possibly edited) prior to posting. Enjoy!
Progressive Pieces for the Elementary Pianist
Kristi Baker has had a thirty year career as a highly regarded public school music educator. She currently serves as Adjunct Instructor of Applied Piano at Ottawa University and as an instructor of Piano and Choral Music in the Osawatomie Public Schools. She is also pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at Kansas University in Lawrence, KS.
Addressing the needs of each individual student is an ongoing process which becomes increasingly complicated with every new text, game, or gimmick that appears on the market. We, as professionals, know that there is no such thing as “The” method, the series that works for everyone. It is possible, however, to find materials that can be used in a number of ways to accommodate the educational needs of a variety of students. I found myself in particular need for such materials this year in my current public school position, where among other things, I teach a class of sixteen piano students, extremely diverse in terms of age, academic ability, and pianistic skill level, on eight pianos with no materials beyond my personal library and a very small operating budget. Following a short period of experimentation with various methods in my library and producing a fair amount of original material, I have found the Neil A. Kjos Piano Library, compiled and edited by Keith Snell, particularly the Beginning Piano Repertoire book with CD, easily applicable to all sixteen students in this class.
What makes this series work so well in my situation is its adaptability to younger and older students alike. The text is clear and concise, and utilizes vocabulary that is easy to understand without being condescending to my high school aged students. This comes in especially handy in my situation, where a number of the students read considerably below grade level, while one or two of them are well ahead of their class. The price of the materials, while not necessarily the primary concern, is definitely an attractive feature, as well. Most are priced at under $10.00, even those with CDs included, which makes them affordable for most of my students and more easily purchased on my nearly nonexistent budget. The instructional approach is logical and systematic, building one concept onto another rather than covering one at a time, and nothing is contained within the pages of the books that overwhelmed even my students for whom the smallest new concept is struggle.
The Beginning Piano Repertoire book, which I use the most, begins with simple exercises in the Middle C Position, then works to the C Major Pentascale in a very step-by-step manner that my non-reading students can maneuver through easily. Sharps and flats are applied fairly quickly allowing for easy transposition to other hand positions and for the introduction of the minor pentascale in short order. The students, therefore, are exposed to a wide variety of moods and styles within the simple pieces right away; this is an important motivating factor, especially for older beginners such as those I currently teach. The pace of the series is fairly quick, but not so quick that my slower students get lost along the way. In fact, most of my students work through at their own pace.
I like that students are reading on the Grand Staff with Key and Meter Signatures from the very beginning, although I would probably start a much younger student in a pre-reading method and work up to this one. I have two very low skilled special needs students that I began this way in order to teach and reinforce the concept of directional reading on the keyboard. They both struggled greatly with the idea that right on the keyboard was ‘up’ and left was ‘down,’ and one of them needed extra time and study to master the concept of which hand is left and which is right. Once these two concepts were mastered, they transferred easily to the Snell book and have made steady progress by layering one small success on another. Both students are now able to approach each new piece with little or no trepidation, although they continue to move through the material at a much slower pace than the rest of the class.
The majority of my sixteen students came with no previous musical training outside of school and no experience with the piano. Two of them had previous training, four years and ten years, respectively. Two more play other instruments in the high school jazz band, and so have some reading ability, albeit extremely limited. All of my students save the one with ten previous years of study, showed complete intimidation when it came to reading music. Motivating them to learn to read became even more difficult after unsuccessful attempts with a couple of standard class piano texts. I began using Beginning Piano Repertoire to teach sight reading to one student at a time but quickly found the entire class taking to it as a vehicle for building their music reading skills. The more experienced students continued using it for sight reading practice and concept review while most of the kids, with the addition of the companion theory and technical study books, are now working their way through at their own pace.
An added benefit of this series is that music contained therein is well written and makes use of more contemporary harmony, and my students seem to really enjoy playing it. That means they are spending more time practicing on their own than they had been. I began hearing a marked difference in their rate of growth within the first two weeks of using this material. Although I have not used the included CD in class, it has provided extra practice incentive, especially for the two jazz band students. My advanced student has now used the entire book for sight reading practice and is now using it for transposition, as she sight reads more advanced material.
While I am not a true fan of the Middle C approach to reading, its brief use as a starting point and introduction to pentascales and more advanced reading in this series has worked extremely well for all of my students in this rather oddly configured high school piano class. I can see further application of the repertoire books, in particular, when it comes to assessment of prospective transfer students. Discussion of the structure and concepts contained within a particular piece followed by the playing of that piece would open a window for the teacher into the student’s actual knowledge and skill level.
The Kjos Series, as a whole, seems to me a logical and viable series for filling any knowledge or skill gaps in new transfer students. Because it is written in simple language that is accessible to young and older students, alike, they could be remediated as necessary without them feeling as if they have regressed. I plan to utilize this series to a much greater extent in my own private teaching after having had such success with my current high school piano class. As the series makes increasing use of the music of established composers from the current and previous centuries as it progresses, I highly recommend it as a valuable method and supplemental resource.