Teaching piano is a real balancing act. We all want our students to be successful, and yet, at the same time, we don’t want them to think that the piano is a walk in the park. In fact, if I find a piano student is continually telling me that her pieces are “easy”, I start to get tense. I get tense because when I hear this, I immediately assume (often correctly) that my student is developing the mindset that she is a “natural”.
It is because of my fear of “the natural” that I avoid praising a piano students results and instead focus on praising effort.
I don’t want my piano students to think that they are naturals… because it gives the impression that people are either piano players or are not piano players… and that innate ability is more important than hard work and dedication.
I want my piano students to realize that the success they have on the piano is the result of their hard work and dedication, not an innate natural ability.
Because what happens to the naturals…
At some point in the future, the “naturals” will come up against an obstacle. And if they have spent years believing that their musical achievements on the piano are the result of an ability bestowed upon them at birth, they won’t have built up strategies for overcoming that obstacle…
After all, who needs strategies when you are a natural?!
Which Is Why Repertoire Selection Is So Important
To avoid “the natural” mindset, piano teachers must put a great deal of thought and effort into repertoire section. Piano students must always be appropriately challenged.
Give them something too easy and they become “the natural”. Give them something too hard and they become “the un.. natural”.
Give them something “just right” and you have piano students who will learn that their musical achievements are the result of hard work, dedication, and perseverance.
Should Piano Teachers Avoid “Too Easy” Repertoire?
So, does this mean piano students shouldn’t play music below their abilities. Of course not! Playing “easy” music for the pure enjoyment of playing has many benefits for piano students, but it is in the way that “easy” repertoire is presented that makes all of the difference.
Before beginning an “easy” piano piece, students should know that the reason the piece will be “easy” is because of the work and effort they produced in the past. Examine the “easy” piece with your piano students and have discussion about aspects of the piece that they at one time found very challenging. And then discuss what they did to overcome those challenges and why those tricky bits are now easy.
A Video Your Piano Parents Need To Watch
The inspiration for this post came across a TedTalk I watched recently on the idea of “grit” as it relates to education and learning. It is a fascinating video that all piano parents need to watch and certainly reinforces the value of sticking with piano lessons.
This is so true!! Thank you for putting it into words.
Perseverance and resilience (not afraid to fail and learn from the mistakes made which could have caused the failure) and a positive mindset are indeed are the ultimate ingredients to success.
I dread this comment as well. More often than not, however, the student who has decided her music is “easy” hasn’t actually mastered it at all. This sends a false message to the parents that she is “too gifted” for the level of challenge being provided her. That’s when it’s a good idea to invite the parents in to observe a lesson. Children frequently can’t hear the things you are asking for such as a steady beat and phrasing. They usually think they are done before they really are. Developing aural discernment is a long arduous process requiring repeated exposure to quality music. It’s important, for me, to take measures to foster the parent’s faith in my expertise. Without their trust, the endeavor is most assuredly destined for failure.
VERY well said, Heather!
I make a conscious effort from the earliest days of lessons to assign a variety of types of pieces. The majority are “just right”, mixed with some that are easy confidence boosters (with the added benefit of extra reading practice and/or allowing “you’re on your own” learning), and a regular infusion of challenge pieces that are manageable but should take a little longer to master. When I first started teaching I eventually noticed the phenomenon of kids taking of like a shot from the first lesson, mastering several new pieces a week, but then hitting a major wall of discouragement when pieces got a little more tricky and would sometimes be assigned for more than one week.
Oops.. Posted too soon.
I realized eventually that if I could set students up with the understanding that sometimes we would need to work a little longer or harder to master certain pieces that we could avoid this phase of burn-out. Kids who are just starting out have no preconceptions about what piano study will entail so adding these challenge pieces from early on is a great opportunity.
I know you guys are very busy and probably won’t be able to respond to this comment…If anyone would have the time, I would love some input on this situation. This blog post describes one of my students perfectly…And it’s almost spooky how timely this was posted! Ha ha! 🙂
My student definitely has the “I’m a natural” mindset, and it has been encouraged by her parents and others for a long time. Her attitude has been difficult for me to work with over the last few months as she’s beginning to enter the “teenage” phase of life. She has made comments to me about how she’s a “better piano player” than I am (and I’m her teacher!). She has also confided to me that she doesn’t need to practice because she can sightread perfectly. ..And this applies to both piano and flute. I think you understand and know where I’m going with this. 🙂 Most recently, she has progressed to the point that her music really IS difficult for her. She won’t practice now and when I tried to gain some perspective into the situation, she told me it’s because “it’s too hard.” Again, this blog post really helped me understand more than ever what’s going on with her and I’m so grateful for that! This might actually help me save this student and get her on the right track!
So here’s the question: What are some practical ways that we can help a child break through this perception of themselves? She’s already to that point of “it’s too hard” and I fear that she may quit in the near future unless I begin some kind of intervention. Input would be most appreciated!
On an occasion or two… I photocopied an upcoming piece and cut it into sections, which I doled out bit by bit., in random order This prevented the start to finish playing of the excellent sight reader and faciliated focus. We colour coded primary chord bars, circled dominant 7ths, analyzed, predicted next steps, etc etc. By the time we had done three or four sections, the rest of the piece was a walk in the park. After a couple of these puzzles, I found they didn’t need the bit by bit business, but could handle the process more easily.
Thanks for the suggestion, Jane! This is something similar that I have done with other students, so I may try it with this particular student as well. 🙂
I absolutely cringe when students tell me something is easy because as Heather said, they usually haven’t mastered the piece at all. Thank you for sharing this awesome Ted Talk as well! I think I will share this with all the parents in my studio as well as new ones when they first sign up. I already tell parents the exact same thing that the lady in the video is saying, but it usually helps parents when they hear your words from another source as well!
In the past, I’ve leaned toward challenging my students too much and not giving enough balance with easier pieces to master. I’ve since worked on correcting on that and my students confidence and abilities have grown so much more with this approach (I had teachers from K – 12th grade who challenged me all the time. I felt constantly under pressure to achieve what seemed just out of my reach. It prepared me very well for studying piano at the college level but I always thought piano was hard.) With a more balanced approach and seeing success with this method, I’ve found that if I prepare the student for what is going to be challenging in a piece and tell them that it will take time and patience to master the skill they don’t get as frustrated when they don’t see success as quickly. Walking through the process with them helps a lot. And when we persevere together and they realize they’ve come through something challenging successfully it makes it easier to know what to expect for the next challenge. Usually I make the next piece good for a skill they’ve already mastered as I know it will take less time and they can get a breather. Pacing is important for the long haul. 🙂
I agree that it is a problem when you have a student who thinks the piece was easy, and is ‘done’ when it is not finished at all.. But that is almost another topic.: What do you do with proficient sight readers who whiz through a piece in an untidy manner, and are convinced it is finished, and ‘good enough’. ….This tends to be an issue mostly confined to students who have transferred from another teacher. If the parent also thinks it is ‘good enough’ it is hard to get a student like that to do the deep work of attending to details. I can say that “this and this is working but let’s have a look at this passage here” — and have the kid (teenager) in tears because “everything is always negative”. ….I always start off with what is working well, but all this type will hear are the suggestions for improvement — which are perceived as ‘negative’ (no matter how kind and careful I am!)
If the parent has entered the student for an exam, I have no choice but to attend to the details — at least for exam repertoire!
For those students who whiz through pieces and think “good enough” is just fine try teaching them a slightly challenging (but patterned) piece by rote. You can control the pacing, and it can also be easier to have students focus on technical gestures, phrasing, etc when you remove the note-reading aspect.