For beginning students ages six to teen, I use the Alfred Premier Piano Course in the their 45 minute lessons. These books incorporate a varied repertoire with songs from a variety of styles. The selections are straightforward for both the student and the parent to follow along and are well-paced.
Here are the books we use and their purpose:
Here are the books we use and their purpose:
- Technique - short little exercises to help the student think about the way they are holding their hands and shaping their fingers; these are to be used as a warm-up when they sit down to practice.
- Lesson - the main book that teaches new concepts and has songs to practice them.
- Performance - supplemental pieces to support the lesson book, including ones that sound show-y or make for good recital selections.
- Theory - workbook I assign pages from during the week with fill-in pages, matching, crosswords, etc, to help the student practice rhythm, review vocab, and learn the notes.
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Class Structure
Classes at this level are 45 for levels 1A-2B and 60 minutes for level 3 and up. Here is the general breakdown of class:
- Theory: begin by going over assigned theory workbook pages
- Technique: warmup by playing through assigned technique exercises
- Lesson: play through the assignment lesson book selections
- Performance: play through any additionally assigned songs
- Activity/Game: do a review game or activity to reinforce upcoming concepts or those the student needs assistance with
- New Assignment: go over assignments for the student to practice the coming week
Companion App
To greatly improve the accuracy and efficacy of at-home practice, students with access to an iPad will set up a Piano Maestro app account.
Piano Maestro allows me to link to students' home accounts to assign songs and view their progress. It gives students real-time feedback about whether they are playing the correct notes and their rhythm. Students can earn stars and ranks as they master their songs.
It can listen to any piano, digital or acoustic, no connection needed!
Piano Maestro allows me to link to students' home accounts to assign songs and view their progress. It gives students real-time feedback about whether they are playing the correct notes and their rhythm. Students can earn stars and ranks as they master their songs.
It can listen to any piano, digital or acoustic, no connection needed!
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Improv and Composition
We use iPad software through a MIDI connection to my digital piano to compose. I guide students as young as 4 and 5 to make their own compositions on their level which when completed are printed out and assigned as songs to practice during the week.
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