How often do you break free from your method book? How often do your piano students have the opportunity to play from sheet music that looks visually “different”? If you’re mostly supplementing from your method book’s accompanying performance or popular books, or from sources that are also “method-book-ish” then it’s likely that your piano kids aren’t often exposed to the beauty that is “non-typical” piano sheet music.
What is Visually Different Sheet Music?
The sheet music I’m referring to is music that has:
- Key signatures beyond just G and D major
- The opportunity for hands to cross-over each other
- The use of a large amount of the piano (varied octaves or more complex “out of position, out-of-the-middle patterns)
- Changes in tempo mid-way through the piece
- The addition of “non-notes” – tapping, clapping etc.
- Frequent use of sharps, flats and naturals
- Varied hand-positions (on the black keys, one hand in A, one in C etc.)
- … and much, much more!
Give your Piano Students Visual Variety From The Start!
Frequently breaking free from method-book-looking music gives your piano students confidence at the piano. I like to give my piano students as much exposure to visually different material as I possibly can; but it doesn’t mean that I’m selecting material that’s too challenging for them. It’s simply different.
Doing this while they are young, and approaching it with a “Hey! Check out this cool way of writing music.” approach means that they don’t develop the common fears and/or hang-ups that some older students grapple with when they are all of sudden faced with something out of the norm.
Does it mean that I’m sometimes moving away from the typical progression of learning to read music? Yes, absolutely. My student may never have encountered ledger lines… but what an in-context teachable moment! I’m not going to shy away from a great piece simply because the method book hasn’t got there yet. As a result, my piano kids are playing music that is unique and inspiring. We all like a break from the same old same old… and sometimes that means seeking out sheets that give our piano students the opportunity to experiment with music that is a treat for their ears AND eyes.
Carole Bryan says
One of my favorite “visual” tricks is to cut the music up and enlarge it…bigger notes are “easier”! I call them musical optical illusions and I chant “don’t ever let the way something looks scare you”.
Alexandra Weiss Toronto Piano Teacher says
Randall Faber has “Discover Blues Improvisation” book, which is a fantastic book for starting students to improvise.
Tami Fields says
I do this at recital time. I give them a chance to play their favorite pop piece. It is Very challenging!!! It is all the things you said and more. But in the end they have learned their favorite piece and challenged themselves in a new way.:)
Kathy G says
I absolutely AGREE! In my opinion most method books are pretty bland (both the content and the layout), and one of the things that annoys me most about a lot of the so-carefully-graded supplementary music that is available from many of the same publishers is the continuation of that same wide-open, soothing look. I’m sure there are all kinds of studies justifying the clean pages — and I’m not saying they aren’t great for beginners, although I doubt Bach’s kids learned to read and play from anything so sanitary and well laid out.
But if we want our students to be able to enter the real world of music reading — big ol’ books of tiny print lead sheets, crammed-to-the-gills-with-black-notes Schirmer editions, and any kind of ensemble music beyond Alfred’s best ….. they need to start using it as soon as they get beyond the ‘big notes’ phase. One characteristic of so much contemporary student literature that I really lament is the practice of using ‘8 va’ (or even worse: ‘play RH one octave higher’ rather than writing ledger lines. For heaven’s sake! Ledger lines are a great invention, and they are reality for anything beyond method book land.
Another way to get students used to reading something other than perfectly laid out scores, is to have them do lots of composing. Readying their own scrawled notes doesn’t usually seem to faze kids, so it shouldn’t really be that scary (for us teachers) to provide them with scores that are only slightly less white bread than modern sheets and supplementary books!
I wish I could be sure my students faced a future of playing only from Henle, Barenreiter and the like. But it’s a brutal world of printed music out there, and honestly — it’s where the real fun of music begins.
Kathy G says
One other trick I learned in a great pedagogy course is something I do with every elementary students, as soon as they begin learning to read music. When they can tap and count quarter, half, whole, and eighth notes, I grab a score of any standard classical repertoire — Haydn, Chopin, Beethoven, it doesn’t matter, and in some ways, the scarier the better. Then ask the student to point and count a line or two of one hand’s part. Same goes for reading notes. Even if it’s just ‘point to some space notes’ ‘point to some 2nds’ — the music suddenly stops looking scary as they discover they have already entered the real world of music playing. It’s very empowering.
Sandra says
I try right from day 1 to expose students to music that uses the whole keyboard. I do use a method book for about two levels; but I also use music that has to be pretty much taught by rote. I love crossovers, clef changes etc. They can learn it and then see how it looks written down. But they love using the resources of the whole keyboard. The RCM Preparatory book had some unique pieces in it. It breaks kids out of hand position reliance. Anything by Linda Niamath is good. There is a lot of good material out there.
Leia says
I so agree with you! I teach eighth notes, ledger lines, flats and sharps, dotted notes and more WAY before they are introduced in method books. And my piano kids are playing TONS of different music all the time.
PS Counting down the days till the next book… what is it going to beeee? 🙂
Barbara says
I absolutely agree with this. I encourage students to look ahead if they like. Many come to lessons and ask me about something 8 pages ahead that caught their eye. You can almost guarantee they will remember that element because it was “their” discovery.
Robyn says
Andrea, I’m assuming most of the extra music you’re talking about is your own music from your library that you let students borrow, right? The thought of seeking and having to purchase expensive music all the time just for them to try this or that overwhelms me!! What I mean is purchasing on their behalf where they have to pay for it. Personally, I love seeking & purchasing for my own library. I would love to stay in a music store all day! But I’m not as quick to spend their money just trying things out, or having to purchase a book for just one song.
Andrea says
Hi Robyn – the problems you are citing are exactly why we created PianoBookClub.com (shameless plug.. sorry, but it’s true!) I too was overwhelmed with trying to break free from the method books to give my kids variety and richness and it was overwhelming and expensive. Our aim with PianoBookClub.com was to help teachers quickly build a varied music library that had just the right piece for every “type” of student. It’s $8 per month and you can print unlimited copies of the music forever. My philosophy of exposing kids to visually varied music carries through into the pieces we include in PBC so they get appropriately-leveled music that is still different and exciting.