Piano Teaching Methods Essay, Research Paper
There is lots of piano teaching method and each one has its strengths and
weaknesses. Now, I am going to inform you about the most common three methods
for children ? Alfred, Suzuki, Amadeus. First of all, the Alfred method uses
visual things such as colored pictures and graphics ? using software, compact
discs, and /or cassettes is the newest updated one in this method (?Piano
Teaching Method? 1). As you know, a picture is the greatest friend to children
and it helps them, even adults like us, to understand something a lot easier.
Additionally, it could grab children?s attention more easily and quickly than
a verbal explanation. For example, you can make a little card to show the scale
or the relationship between notes. It is going to be helpful because students
can look at it over and over. If you add colors or some pictures to that, it
also would be helpful to get students? interest. This method gives students
strength in reading intervals and seeing ?the intervalic relationship between
notes? (?Piano Teaching Method? 1). However, it might cause students to
play by totally ?relying on position playing? instead learning how to read
the notes because it uses ?the concept of position playing? (?Piano
Teaching Method? 1). In other words, students memorize the hand position ?
fingering ? but not read the notes. And some people point out that ?the
major composers should be presented to the students at a much earlier stage than
is typical in this method? (?Piano Teaching Method? 2). This method is
recommended for very beginning teachers who need a certain prepared lesson plan
to follow and once the teachers become more comfortable and get to know about
different methods, they are urged to ?expand from this method? (?Piano
Teaching Method? 2). The Suzuki method ? you probably heard this concept a
lot. This method was applied to teaching violin originally by Dr. Shinichi
Suzuki but it now is applied to piano teaching also (Mills et al ed. 1). The
Suzuki method approaches playing piano with ?listening and development of ear
and the memory? rather than reading music (Mills 114). This method relies on
playing by ear so that students become more sensitive about the tone they
produce and it makes student concentrate more on their playing, and become more
expressive with the music (Mills 114; ?Piano Teaching Method? 4). In The
Suzuki Concept, the author indicates that ?after the good playing habits have
been established, reading comes a little later? (114). However, the students
trained by this method could lack reading music skill because they depend too
much on playing by ear (?Piano Teaching Method? 4). For me, the most
interesting teaching method is the Amadeus method. The concept of this method is
that the teacher should give a lesson to children by playing with music as
children play with toys (Back and Lee 25). The author remarks that teaching how
to read the notes is not a first step (Back and Lee 25). In The Piano Teaching
Method To Make The Best Student, the author describes that in this method, the
teacher should guide children to be familiar with music by their sense of
playing, and help children to feel and express music through their bodies (25).
In this method, the easiest and the most recommended thing for teachers is to
have children sing (Back and Lee 24). By doing that children could learn musical
factors such as phrasing. Through this method, children can enjoy learning piano
more and become familiar with music gradually and unconsciously (Back and Lee
26). I believe that unconscious learning process is the strongest advantage the
students can get from this method. But as a teacher, you have to be always aware
of the lesson plan, otherwise this method might end up just as playing instead
of teaching (Back and Lee 26). Therefore, teachers should always prepare the
curriculum carefully. As I mentioned above, there are strengths and weaknesses
in each method. As a piano teacher, you should be knowledgeable about many
different methods and use them according to the student?s needs. You can?t
just insist on one particular method because each of your students? learning
style will be different. I believe that the role of a teacher is to find out the
best methodology for his or her students. Teachers should be flexible with
different methods of teaching.
Back, Ki-Pung, and Bong-Ki Lee. The Piano Teaching Method to Make the Best
Student. Seoul: Jak Eun Woo Li, 1993. Mills, Elizabeth, et al ed. The Suzuki
Concept. Berkeley: Diablo Press, 1973. Piano Teaching Methods. The Piano
Education Page.