I spend quite a bit of time working with my piano kids on developing fluency in their playing. Why? Because there are benefits for everyone when this “clicks” for them:
1. As the teacher, you can then get into the “nitty gritty” of their piece without spending all your time fixing rhythm, correcting notes, adjusting tempo… phrasing can’t really happen properly until fluency is achieved.
2. As the student, it’s much more rewarding to play through a piece without stops and starts and “speed ups and slow downs”.
3. As a parent, their child simply sounds better when they practice. This means boosted commitment to lessons and more involvement in their child’s piano lesson life.
These 3 things are all very good things. But how do you encourage even young children to develop fluency?
Mirroring and The Magic That Happens
Mirroring (to me) is when I sit beside my student on the bench and work with one hand at a time on very small sections of a piece she can play through from start to finish; the key is in playing through with her. Both of our right hands (or left hands) play the same passage and her job is to listen, watch and keep up with everything I do. I’m not so concerned anymore with keeping her eyes on the page, or with mistakes that happen. I’m more focused on the overall shape.
When you “mirror” with your piano student, you are:
1. Making her aware of the places where her own rhythm and/or tempo isn’t correct. If she’s keeping up with you, red flags will pop up in her brain when something doesn’t match up exactly with you. Mirroring is more effective in bringing these places to a child’s attention than counting out loud as they play, or even playing with a metronome. If she notices discrepancies while playing along with you, it creates a lasting memory that will stick with her when she plays alone.
2. Teaching phrasing without having to spell it out. The idea of phrasing to a young child is a fairly abstract one. These kids still giggle at Sponge Bob… the idea of nuance and subtlety are often far from second nature! However, if they are playing along with you, and watching and listening, then they will naturally follow the rise and fall of your phrasing and it will slowly become natural to them. If you can get your piano kids doing this early on you’re ahead of the game big time.
3. Controlling the jackrabbits and speeding up the tortoises. Some children are born with an internal sense of pulse and rhythm. Some are not. For those children who can’t find a steady beat, mirroring forces them to play with good habits (not poor habits that are continually reinforced every time they play).
4. Approaching dynamics without the “cut and dry” idea of loud vs. soft. This ties in with phrasing as well, but for young children often forte becomes “pound away!” and piano becomes “play soft and slow”. If she’s following you she’ll find a natural forte and piano (and the mezzos in-between) that will become part of her muscle memory and transfer over into the rest of her playing.
How To Mirror With Kids Who Haven’t Done This Before
First off, share the bench. They need to see your hand at the correct angle (so no reaching across from your chair or standing beside them). Second, choose very small sections. You don’t want this to become a self-esteem-crushing game of “catch the teacher”. Keep them small and then eventually stick the small bits together into a longer mirroring session. Third, do this regularly; the benefits of mirroring can be immediate, but they can also take time.
Finally, learn to laugh when things go bad. There will always be times when your student just cannot keep up… or forgets all the F sharps, or makes up crazy fingering to keep up with you. Have a good laugh and know that there was just a powerful memory made. They’ll work at that section with a new-found awareness.
But Don’t Let Your Hard Work Go To Waste!
Mirroring helps build a solid foundation in many essential piano skills, but if your students go home and return the next week without having cracked their book, your hard work is wasted! To keep our piano students practicing day in and day out check out Andrea and Trevor Dow’s Very Useful Piano Library for supplementary repertoire students will love.
Denise says
Thank you so much for this post! I find it very encouraging and I really needed to read this today. You see, I am a fairly new piano teacher and I am learning as I go. I sometimes do the mirroring with my students as you suggest, but a part of me feels like it is cheating, that I am simply getting them to mimic my playing. After your explanation, I feel more confident to continue.
I am entering 6 of my students into a music festival on Saturday (first time for me!) and a couple of them were not caring about rhythm, dynamics, graceful wrist lifts (boy! do I get eye rolls at that suggestion!), even after I showed them how to play. So, I e-mailed each parent links to YouTube videos of children playing their child’s particular song and playing it well. The students watched and listened to another child playing their song and they came back to lesson playing their songs with huge improvements (even graceful wrist lifts!). It really showed me that mirroring someone else does help!
Keep up the encouraging and helpful posts, Andrea and Trevor! We are learning so much from you! 🙂
Catherine says
Thank you for the post, Andrea. This confirms the idea I have had recently of making rote learning a periodic component of lessons with all/most of my students for a couple of reasons:
1) because students are often able to play at a significantly higher level than they are able to read. This is true of beginners, but also of more advanced players. They are held back, however, sometimes for years, by their reading skills. What you suggest is a form of rote learning, although presumably in the context you describe they have already learned the notes and rhythms by reading,
2) it engages the student with the act of piano-playing in a different way, which stretches the mind, and
3) students typically enjoy it.
Also, I have a question for Denise: where did you find videos of other children playing your students’ repertoire? That sounds like a great tool.
Thank you!
Barbara says
Very eloquently said. Catherine. Thanks for the reminders of why we want to include this in our lessons.
Jamie says
I find that kids, especially young ones, love rote learning. They just want to play a song that sounds like a song! It feels like forever when they are learning the notes to be able to play something that sounds like music. I teach very young ones to play “Twinkle, twinkle” by rote early on and I find that they are thrilled with the accomplishment. It is easier to teach them to read the notes, if they have a sense that the notes will eventually make something recognizable. Thanks for a fabulous post, Andrea and I love all the comments.
Barbara says
Hi Denise: Great idea about the youtube videos. Thanks for the idea. Students almost always want to play piano because they’ve seen someone else playing, not because they saw a great piece of music notation. I believe our first job is to help students feel successful and that we should use whatever tools are available to make that happen. So you’re not cheating, your inspiring your students;)I sometimes teach students something by rote and then show it to them in notation, They are amazed at what they are able to play. Helps them to believe in their own ability. Good luck with your first Festival!
Donna says
Andrea, have you ever thought of doing short video snippets of you teaching a lesson to one of your students? For us visual learners that would be awesome!!
Cara says
Yes, I TOTALLY agree! I would love to see you teaching in person, Andrea and Trevor!!
Barbara says
As always a great post, Andrea. You always do such a great job explaining the how and why of a teaching technique. Thanks.
Nancy Slocum Hiatt says
Great ideas! I hadn’t thought of looking at youtube. I hope you will share your tips for finding children playing songs on it.
Sandra says
I frequently share the bench with my students. I have a small stool that is exactly the same height as the piano bench so I can give them more space, if needed. Not only does it work for all the reasons you mention — it seems to build a closer connection with students, especially beginners. We become engaged together in the process of learning.
Denise says
Andrea, I agree with Donna. I would love to watch a video of you in a teaching session. That would be inspiring! 🙂
Denise says
Barbara, thank you for your encouraging words! The Festival is at Mercer University, Macon, GA and I am super-excited! 🙂
Sarah Ehlers says
Oh my…Can I just say that I want MORE?! 🙂 This is exactly what I needed to read today and I’m so glad I read it before my students come for their lessons today!
Karen says
If you use the Faber Piano Adventures books, a man named Alan Chan has done a video for all (or at least most)of the lesson book pieces. He is the one playing them, and the camera shows his hands as he plays.
Fiona@A Woman of Notes says
I used to think this was “cheating” as well, until my girls learnt saxophone and flute and I realised their teachers play along with their students nearly all the time! No wonder my girls could play (and read) complex rhythms at a young age! I do find it harder to do at the piano, however because of the bench/chair swapping and shuffling. But worth it for those tricky passages, I hadn’t thought about using it for teaching phrasing, thanks.
Sandy Shelley says
Is the mirroring done with the teacher playing an octave higher or lower?
Andrea says
Hi Sandy – yes in separate octaves. I do lower if we’re working on LH specifically or higher if we’re doing RH. If it’s hands together then usually lower.
Diane U. says
I do this a lot. I have an electric piano on the right side of my piano and I sit on a rolling office chair. That way I’m playing the exact same notes, same octave. It also makes demonstrating complete pieces and playing duets much easier.
Rita says
Glad to see others are doing the same thing. I can see my students cinfidence sore as they play with me.
jenny says
Hi Andrea, One of my teachers at uni did this too and it definitely helped me achieve a better sense of phrasing and musicality.I often will play along an octave higher but I also spend time making sure they can read. I think it is probably best to do more mirroring though .Musical phrasing is easier to demonstrate.Thanks for the article.I’ll try putting them on you tube.