Piano Lessons Ideas

Children enjoy music on many accounts. They enjoy the physical fun of moving their arms about in orderly patterns; they enjoy the praise of friends and parents; they enjoy getting a job of satisfactory practice done; they enjoy the teacher's commendation; and they may enjoy the music. Opposed to this enjoyment is their resistance to take piano lessons which resembles the intellectual drill they are required to practice in school. It is this that takes the fun out of practice and makes them hesitate to go to the piano. Anything else would be more fun—would take less con­centration.

The opposite of practicing music is playing by ear, where the child plays as naturally as he talks or tries to talk about some topic with which he is not very familiar. I am not suggesting that ear playing be substituted for note reading, necessarily, but that enough ear playing be encouraged to make the practice period seem fun—a mere dawdling. The curse of the traditional piano lessons is that one must not dawdle but must concentrate continuously.

The chief advantage of ear playing, however, is psycho­logical. Enjoyment of practice comes from various sources, but enjoyment of music comes only from actually hearing the music. This enjoyment persists through childhood and into adult life And this enjoyment is the main objective of practice on any instrument.

Some children listen keenly to their playing from the very first exercise; but most pupils give their chief attention to the reading of the notes, to accuracy, to correct fingering and technique; and the listening is incidental. They hear the music, but not vividly. They listen to tell whether the note is right or wrong, but they are interested only in accuracy.

Furthermore, the piano lessons which the teacher encourages the child to learn—chords, scales, melodic figures, etc.—can be learned most easily by ear; but the system of note reading encourages the child to learn them intellectually or visually. This is convenient for the teacher, since it makes it possible to discuss them and to point out the errors. But eventually the pupil reaches the limit of what he can accomplish by this intellectual recognition and memorization. We say he has come to the limit of his talent; but actually we have directed him up a blind alley.

The composer conceived these chords, scales, and melodic figures in his ear; the pupil must learn to do likewise, if he is to hear the music. The pupil's ability to use his ear is not as great as the composer's, but that is no reason why he should not hear and learn the music as the composer heard it, as far as possible. After that limit is reached it will be time to turn to memorization of notes and other nonmusical methods.

If a child is naturally musical and easily hears the phrases and harmony of the music as the composer heard them, good piano lessons should make the greatest possible use of this ability. The child should learn as much as possible by ear. He should learn to find quickly on the keyboard all the various tones and phrases which he hears so vividly in his inner ear. If, however, we spend our time in requiring him to find quickly on the keyboard all the notes and mechanical signs he sees on the page, he does not develop the habit of listening. By this system he becomes more and more clever with his mind and fingers, and in a few cases he incidentally listens keenly enough to develop his musical perception. In most cases, par­ticularly if he has a good mind, he uses that good mind inten­sively to learn his music; and his concentration is so great that he blots from his experience the real musical learning.

The child who is active intellectually needs ear playing more than any other, for he tends to learn by means of his strongest tool—his intellect. Thus he allows his natural musical curiosity to stagnate. Ear playing immediately develops musical curiosity and later may utilize all the power of intellectual acumen.

If, on the other hand, a child is not naturally musical and finds difficulty in remembering musical phrases, he is not likely to exercise this feeble ability unless he is required to do so. He can win the approbation of teacher and parent much easier by reasoning or remembering which key to punch, what the name of the note is, or which finger to use. Thus he does not develop any feeling for music and discontinues his piano lessons as soon as he is permitted. It is as if we were going through a famous art gallery and every time we approached a painting our guide demanded that we judge the dimensions of the frame, the exact name of each color, the number of brush strokes required to construct a figure, etc. After making such a trip once a week for ten weeks, we would rebel. So does the pupil!

The antipathy to ear playing is very widespread and is justified if by ear playing we mean the clumsy chording of popular tunes by some unrefined, overgrown adolescent; but we must not forget that ear playing can be refined under the guidance of a good teacher. Even if the process is slower, and I do not believe it is, the teacher will have more opportunity to build a solid appreciation of music, because the ear player enjoys his music and will not stop taking piano lessons so long as he is permitted to enjoy it.

The teacher does not need to be an expert in ear playing. Indeed, we have not done enough teaching of ear playing to know much about good procedure. A few observations may help, however.

During piano lessons, allow the pupil to attempt whatever he wants. It is impossible to tell what will catch his ear, or why one piece appeals to him and another does not. He certainly is not particularly attracted by simple pieces. The determining factor may be a melody or the particular instrument by which it is played; it may be an extraneous association—a climax in the movie, the school song, a comedian's antics. The frequency with which he has heard the piece is the most apparent cause of a desire to learn a particular number.

Regardless of the source, however, he will learn most easily the number that is vividly in his ear and that he is anxious to learn. He will not be able to play it all the way through; he may only learn the phrase; but, so far as he goes, it is sincere learning and will have its effect on later pieces.

The teacher's part during piano lessons is to listen interestedly and suggest one or two improvements. A chord that is being unsuccessfully sought may be provided; or a chord that appears to satisfy the pupil may be replaced by the correct chord, which the pupil will welcome as soon as he can find it. This puts the new chord into his repertoire and the next time he hears it he will be able to find it.

Help in fingering is always appreciated in piano lessons; and there is no better place to learn good fingering than right here, where the advantage is felt immediately and enthusiastically. But the greatest contribution the teacher can make is the sugges­tion of pieces within the capacity of the pupil. The first chapters of this book should be helpful here and will suggest many other compositions which the teacher knows are particularly well suited to the situation. The teacher's good judgment and enthusiasm are his best contributions.

Everyone has wanted to play by ear at some time in his life; music teachers are no exception. The raucous execution of some overambitious ear player may have killed his desire, but more frequently it dies of neglect. The player becomes so expert at performing from notes that he is unwilling to spend time with trifling ear pieces. He soon decides that he has no talent in that direction and is ashamed to attempt even the most simple tune by ear.

But lack of talent does not interfere; any music teacher can learn to play by ear and can learn much more rapidly than the casual student, since he already has a well-developed ear and a complete knowledge of harmony and technique. His only handicap is that he is accustomed to perfection, and in his earlier stages the ear player must not be a perfectionist.

If the teacher will go through the agony of the early phases of learning to play by ear—and it is indeed agony for one who enjoys a high type of performance—he will not only realize what should be taught the pupil in ear playing, but he will also learn much about his own musical talent, its limitation, and the means for extending it. The sophisticated music teacher finds in ear playing an extensive psychology of piano lessons. Practice in ear playing is profitable from many different angles, and, if he will persist, the music teacher may enjoy it as much as anyone else. In any case, he will listen more keenly to music than he has ever listened before. Try it.


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