5 Key Elements of Foundational Piano Pedagogy

1. Teachers should use words that are relevant and efficient while considering other powerful ways to communicate. 

Teachers use words to teach concepts, praise students, and offer feedback. Words used to give praise and feedback should focus on the music–how it sounds, looks, and feels, rather than the student’s personal ability. Specific, sincere, and descriptive words are more memorable than a vague “good.” Change “should” statements into “could” statements and offer open-ended questions to help students explore and learn for themselves. In teaching concepts, the fewer and more specific words the better. Consider how you might teach without words–a demonstration, a light touch, or physical gestures. Always remember as Frances Clark taught, “Teaching is not telling.” 

2. Create your own comprehensive curriculum using method books and other resources only as tools.

Effective teaching in the elementary years requires establishing a strong foundational curriculum to ensure successful, lifelong music-making. While method books and graded repertoire collections provide materials, a teacher’s unique curriculum lies in their sequencing of fundamental objectives underneath the music. In creating a core curriculum, consider elements of music such as fluent and free technique, ease in reading notation, stable pulse and rhythmic vitality, personal creativity, effective practice methods, and love of music with commitment to growth. Later principles build upon earlier learning to build high levels of comprehension and retention. 

3. Provide opportunities for students to experience concepts

Students learn best when they encounter a concept through experience rather than being lectured. Teachers should prepare students for new concepts with activities to help them hear and feel them first. For example, students can hear/see a staccato performed then feel it in their own hands before learning its name and symbol. Consider activities away from the bench and using improvisation to naturally experience concepts. Remember this experiential approach with “Sound, Feel, Sign, Name.”  “Easy teaching”–flipping the method book page and telling students what it teaches–does not lead to lasting comprehension.

4. Students provide their own motivation; teachers carefully foster it.

Understanding student motivation is critical for music educators, as it drives a student’s desire, persistence, intensity, and self-evaluation while learning an instrument. Motivation is integral to helping students develop adaptive behaviors and achieve personal goals. To better understand student drive, consider these five motivational theories:

1. Expectancy Value Theory: Explores the alignment of student/teacher goals and the balance of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation.
2. Self-Efficacy Theory: Focuses on a student’s belief in their own abilities, which teachers can build through achievable opportunities.
3. Flow Theory: Suggests optimal motivation occurs when task difficulty and student skill are appropriately balanced.
4. Attribution Theory: Addresses the reasons students give for their success and failure.
5. Mastery Motivational Patterns: Explains a student’s persistence through difficulties due to setting achievable goals

5. Keep lessons focused on beauty and musical expression

As D.H. Lawrence said, “The human soul needs beauty more than bread.” Make musical expression the primary focus of every lesson. Teachers must passionately model this beauty, not forcing appreciation but sharing their own excitement. Consider the following ideas to keep lessons focused on beauty and avoid getting bogged down. 

• Model beautiful, powerful, and poignant sounds; expose the student to a new sound world they will desire to recreate. 
• Encourage composition to personalize the sound-expression link.
• Play duets to model rhythm and expression.
• Provide “Musical Rules of Thumb” such as, “The last note of the phrase is the quietest” to promote independent interpretation.
• Help students take the lesson home by summarizing or recording.
• Maintain a file of “Beautiful Pieces” to be shared from the first lesson.

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