Beginners' Piano: a couple of questions on piano teachers and Christmas music

[roisin]

1. What collection of Christmas carols is the easiest to play?

• John Thompsons, Chesters, Piano Time, or something else? (DS2 currently plays Piano Time 2, Upgrade (0-1), and Grade 1 pieces (aaarrgghh... see below. But I want some very simple carols that he can play easy-peasy just for fun.)

2. Does your child's piano teacher talk to you? DS's teacher hardly communicates with us at all, but occasionally gives us little handwritten notes!

3. What do you think of the new Grade 1 pieces? DS2 is really struggling with them, and I find them utterly uninspiring. I don't want him to be put off, and am happy for him to just enjoy playing what he wants from the fun anthologies about, do his scales, arps, dozen a day etc., and forget AB exams until they manage to come up with something better.

(Ds2 is 7 btw, and has only been learning for 9 months, but has made great progress and loves playing.)

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Hi roisin - as a piano teacher I tend to write carols out for the children, especially Jingle Bells which falls very easily under the fingers.

I always give pupils a notebook and write LOTS in it.

Grades - work for some people, not for others. Some need a big incentive to work, and others get more stressed than it's worth - I have pupils who wouldn't have got anywhere without the exams to push them, and others who would have given up if they had to do exams. Enjoyment is always the key!

If you don't like AB then try Trinity/Guildhall - not my cup of tea (dd did Grade 3 Trinity/Guildhall recently and I found them lacking in melody and all very samey) but we're all different. Haven't seen latest AB pieces. What are they? Why don't you like them?

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Yes, I think maybe he is quite shy; but ds2 is having a fabulous time and is clearly very inspired and motivated by him.

It's just that atm teacher always asks ds2 about his grade 1 pieces, and I want to say "look, can we just forget exams for the moment and just let him enjoy playing. If he wants to do exams later, fine, but right now he's been learning for less than a year and I don't want to put him off." But I don't really feel I have the forum to do so.

The exam pieces just seem quite dull, and also very tricky to completely master compared to the pieces from Upgrade, Piano Time 2, and Piano Time Jazz, which are just tremendous fun...

roisin - which pieces is he doing? A good choice of pieces can make all the difference ime. Also, you must ALWAYS feel you can ask the teacher to approach things differently - as a teacher, I'd much rather know if a child was finding something difficult, than find out later, or have them discouraged or give up. A good teacher will always want feedback from a parent!

DS2 is doing the Mozart piece in list A (his choice because he likes Mozart - like most 7 yr-olds), the Industrious Student (B1), and Mini Rag - which is almost fun, but very fast.

Tortoiseshell, do you choose the same pieces for all your pupils, or do you select them in some way? DS2 thinks he chose the pieces himself.

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I tend to let them choose themselves, but quite often what suits one person won't suit another. I think the rag one is hard for Grade 1 - the Old Cuckoo Clock is a more 'Grade 1 standard', because the rhythm is so tricky in the rag. Haven't looked at the Mozart yet, or the industrious student but will sneak a peek in the book tomorrow! Sometimes a change of piece can really help. I've got someone doing the B piece which is in d minor, and the RH begins D F E D C# E A G F, which they are getting on nicely with.

Could be! I definitely played those when I was a child, but ds2 wasn't playing piano this time last year ...

1. DS has Pauline Hall books, Ten tunes for Ten fingers. Lots of simple carols in both books 1 and 2. DS has only been playing 5 months and can do most of them (and I can sing along).

2. Sit and talk over a coffee with his piano teacher most weeks!

Can't comment on 3), am just glad that DS enjoys what he's doing.

hi,

Sorry to butt in here, but DS2 (5) has been asking for piano lessons for a while and I wondered how you go about finding a good teacher? Have asked other mums locally but tend to get the usual 'oh our piano teacher is wonderful but he/she doesn't have any vacancies EVER...' (yeah, right). An alternative is group Yamaha keyboard lessons (leading to Trinity exams - I'm more familiar with ABRSM due to DS1's trumpet playing).
Can anyone offer any help or advice here?

Thanks

Jura - I remember the book from your link as a child - Have just checked the piano stool and have found my mil's version from 1948

NiceCupofTea - I would start with your nearest music shop. They will probably have a list, and will probably be able to offer some advice as to who might be suitable for a younger child.

We wanted ds2 to learn at age 6 but spent almost a year looking for a teacher. In the end I'm pleased he had to wait, as he was keen when he started, and also older and mature enough to accept the responsibility to concentrate and practice regularly.

I think it helps a lot if they can read (a spoken language) before they attempt to learn to read music. So 5 is pretty young.

My piano teacher used to play the exam pieces over to us and let us choose. I think we liked to be involved in the choice process.
I think you can use the year before's pieces for one term of each year or something like that and carry over to next year so you may not have that long to wait before there are pieces he prefers.

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Thanks for that Snorkle - that's interesting.

I think I'll phone his teacher for a chat and see what he says.

I found an arrangement of Jingle Bells for ds at just the right sort of level, and he's really got stuck into that this week with the same enthusiasm he had up until a couple of months ago when the exam pieces raised their ugly heads!

The alternative C piece by Elissa Milne is worth a look - the book would be a nice one to have anyway.

Not much you can do about the B list, it is pretty dull this time, but apart from Das Echo wasn't brilliant last time.

The Mozart is nice (and easy).

I talk to parents all the time, but then they sit in the lessons. I detest notes and notebooks - I've only ever had one student who liked to write things down.

I use the Alfred Christmas books.

Thanks threebob that's helpful.

Well, I've bitten the bullet and phoned his piano teacher and asked if it's OK with him (and it is) for ds2 to just drop the exam pieces for now, and play the pieces he enjoys playing.

He says some students tend to not make progress if they're not working towards exams, but as ds2 has been consistently at the top of his "league table" for the past 6 months, there doesn't seem any danger of that at the moment.