I’ve turned down a few students in my time as a teacher because the parents were requesting they kids to be classically trained. I don’t turn them down immediately, but after a few questions I usually have my answer. I usually find out that they don’t necessarily want their child to be able to play piano and appreciate and possibly perform all the different types of music (including classical) that the piano has to offer, but they want them to be able to play mozart in front of a crowd. Some have no interest in anything beyond that.
I suppose I was lucky enough that my piano teacher taught me classically up until the point that I almost quit because I was bored. She put some rock and pop in front of me and I was hooked. I should note that she was smart about how she went about this. She made deals with me, if I got to learn a modern composition, I learned a classical one as well. Not just learned, mastered and studied it as much as I ended up doing to the modern songs that I was playing.
[smartads]
This approach is what I hope to offer my students. Always the first point of learning is how to transfer what’s written in the staff to what’s played on the keys. From there I do go to more classical pieces, but after a grasp has been gained by the student in playing these songs, I’ll start introducing other pieces from a wide range of genres. Also, the idea of chords and playing a song purely written in chords (not unlike guitar tablature) is a very big gain for students. Many friends I’ve made at various choir and band festivals have learned these skills on their own, I did as well, which caused me to want to transfer this skill and knowledge to my students.
I guess the biggest question is what you hope to offer your students in terms of overall ability. I’ve heard from many friends that took piano as a child that the biggest reason they quit was because of the song selection. Sometimes I see this as a cop-out, but it does resonate.
What do you think?
–dez
