Do you have a piece of carpet left over from your last carpet replacement? Or a small rug or sturdy placemat? Use it as your “station” for off-the-bench activities. My younger students love running to the “special spot” to play flashcard games or to do theory activities. It’s a silly thing, but it does make lessons a little more exciting for those with short attention spans!

This poem made me laugh out loud

Piano Tuner,
Untune Me That Tune

Ogden Nash

I regret that before people can be reformed they have to be
sinners,
And that before you have pianists in the family you have
to have beginners.
When it comes to beginners’ music
I am not enthusic.
When listening to something called “An Evening in My Doll
House,” or “Buzz, Buzz, Said the Bee to the Clover,”
Why I’d like just once to hear it played all the way through,
instead of that hard part near the end over and over.
Have you noticed about little fingers?
When they hit a sour note, they lingers.
and another thing about little fingers, they are always
strawberry-jammed or cranberry-jellied-y,
And “Chopsticks” is their favorite melody,
And if there is one man who I hope his dentist was a
sadist and all his teeth were brittle ones,
It is he who invented “Chopsticks” for the little ones.
My good wishes are less than frugal
For him who started the little ones going boogie-woogal,
But for him who started the little ones picking out
“Chopsticks” on the ivories,
Well I wish him a thousand harems of a thousand wives
apiece, and a thousand little ones by each wife, and each
little one playing “chopsticks” twenty-four hours a day
in all the nurseries of all his harems, or wiveries.

I’m always searching for new games to play with flashcards.  Flashcards by themselves are so helpful, but simply drilling can be boring and even ineffective with some students.

Susan at Piano Teacher’s Resources posted this great Tic-Tac-Toe flashcard game.  We’ve been playing it a lot this week, and it’s a hit with every student.

We have also been doing a simple matching game on my old flannel board.  Students match the note flashcard with the correct letter.  They love using the flannel board, but you could use magnets on a white board (or even your refrigerator if you teach at home!). 

Both games have been particularly helpful for one little girl I teach.  She lacks the ability or desire to sit still and answer questions.  So every time I try to drill with flashcards, she gets frustrated, stops trying, and eventually gets angry.  NOT a fun time!  But she really needs work on identifying notes.  These games are so fun for her, she’ll actually take the time to figure out the notes- something she absolutely won’t do at the piano bench.

What games do you play with flashcards?  If you would like to do a guest post about your fun flaschard game ideas, email me at pianoteacherblog{at}yahoo{dot}com.

I read a lot of parenting books, parenting tips, and parenting magazines.  Consequently, I have a lot of theories floating around in my head that I sometimes try to use with my piano students.  One of my favorites is the concept of positive talk. 

Positive talk is about avoiding negatives when you discipline.  For example, with a toddler, instead of saying, “Don’t hit,” you say something like, “Be soft.”  When you say, “Don’t hit,” the toddler doesn’t understand why she can’t hit.  In fact, she doesn’t even know what to do instead.  Saying “Be soft” helps her to learn an appropriate action in place of hitting.  And it’s done in a positive way.  Instead of saying, “Don’t walk down the stairs,” you say something like, “Remember, we crawl when we go down the stairs.” 

I’ve used both types of talk with my toddler.  Inevitably, if I say to her, “Don’t walk down the stairs,” she is going to take a giant step on those stairs.  She’s not being naughty.  She just thinks the idea of walking on the stairs is a great idea.  She didn’t register the “Don’t” part.  She just heard the “walk down the stairs” part.  I, in fact, GAVE her the idea to walk down the stairs by telling her not to.  Conversely, if I say, “Remember to crawl down the stairs,” she hears the good idea of crawling down the stairs and does it!

So, in piano lessons, I try very hard to avoid negative directions.  Instead of saying, “Don’t play soft where it says Forte,” I say, “Remember to play loud where it says Forte.”  Saying, “Don’t play soft where it says Forte” tells my student what NOT to do, but my student may not understand what TO do in it’s place.

I have one student who constantly looks at me WHILE playing.  I think he just wants assurance that he’s doing things right.  However, he makes many unnecessary mistakes simply because he isn’t looking at his music.  I used to say, “Don’t look at me while you play.”  But that just reinforced the negative behavior.  Even though I was saying “Don’t,” I was actually giving him the idea to continue to look at me, since I was using those words.  Now I say, “Keep your eyes on the music.”  He’s not perfect about it every time, but he’s getting better.

Instead of, “Don’t drop your wrist” or “Don’t play with flat fingers,” say, “Remember to keep your wrist up” or “Think about curved fingers.”

Instead of, “Don’t slouch,” say, “Sit up nice and straight.”

Instead of, “Don’t play too fast,” say, “Keep it slow” or “Think slow while you play.”

Can you think of negative behaviors you may actually be reinforcing with your language?

In Music
by, Czeslaw Milosz

Wailing of a flute, a little drum.
A small wedding cortege accompanies a couple
Going past clay houses in the street of a village.
In the dress of the bride much white satin.
How many renunciations to sew it, once in a lifetime.
The dress of the groom black, festively stiff.
The flute tells something of the hills, parched, the color of deer.
Hens scratch in dry mounds of manure.

I have not seen it, I summoned it listening to music.
The instruments play for themselves, in their own eternity.
Lips blow, agile fingers work, so short a time.
Soon afterward the pageant sinks into the earth.
But the sound endures, autonomous, triumphant,
Forever visited by, each time returning,
The warm touch of cheeks, interiors of houses,
And particular human lives
Of which the chronicles make no mention.

When was the last time you listened to music like this?  If you’re like me, it’s been a long time since you allowed yourself to sit down and be completely absorbed in listening to a beautiful piece of music.  I’m going to schedule some time today for a good listen.  What about you?

I am teaching a 5 year old who is still learning to read.  We use “My First Piano Adventures for the Young Beginner” by Nancy and Randall Faber.  It’s a great introduction to piano for that age group.  In the beginning, several characters are introduced as piano friends.  They then show up on each page to teach new concepts.  It’s very easy for my student to learn this way.  Plus, the pictures are fun and colorful.  And bonus: there’s a fun CD to go along with the book.  Each new concept has a fun (and sometimes silly) song to listen to on the CD.  The book also strongly encourages exploration and discovery of the piano, which I really like.  It helps my student be creative.

What books do you like to use for your young beginners?

Do you ever have those lessons where you feel you aren’t able to cover everything needed? For me, sight reading seems to always take a back seat on these types of days.

I have been using Schaum’s Fingerpower books for quick sight reading during lessons. Each piece is short and simple, so not only is it a good way to fit sight reading into an already full lesson, it also gives my students a much needed boost when they realize they can do a good job on sight reading!

This is Part 2 in a 2 part guest post from Laura Lowe.  You can read Part 1 here.

How To Help The GTOF (Gifted and Terrified of Failure) Piano Student

1. Praise effort more than praising an innate ability like talent or intelligence.  This is SO important. When you praise hard work and the courage to meet a challenge, then you get more of those things.  But, when you praise a child for being “smart” or “talented,” things he cannot personally control, this is what he actually hears: “My image of you is that of someone who gets everything right all the time. So don’t disappoint me.”  When faced with a challenge, he’d rather not try than to try and discover that he doesn’t measure up. It’s too risky.  For a great explanation of this, read “How Not To Praise Your Kids,”  an article from The New York Magazine about Dr. Carol Dweck’s research on the psychology of praise.  The insights there have changed the way I talk to my students and my daughter, and they have informed my understanding of my own fear of failure.

So, how does this translate in a piano lesson? It’s better to say “I like the way you embrace a new technique and keep working at it until you get it,” than to say “You’re such a talented piano player.”And it’s better to say, “I really appreciate how you’ve practiced hard to make your rhythm accurate” than to say “You’re really good with rhythm.”

2. Make practicing safe. The GTOF child is painfully embarrassed to be vulnerable in front of you. Show them your own “in progress” pieces in all their rough glory. Demonstrate the practice techniques you are using to overcome your weak places. Give him permission to sound bad sometimes. For instance, I might introduce a new piece and ask him to play the first line, concentrating on one single element and giving him permission to get everything else completely wrong.  For instance, I might ask him to aim for accurate rhythm, even if he hits every note wrong. I’ll then make a very comical display of playing with absurdly wrong notes (fistfuls of them all over the piano!), but accurate rhythm.  This usually gets a laugh and dispels some of the anxiety of being imperfect in front of me. (It might improve his rhythm, too!) You can even turn it into a fun game. “How horrible can you make the notes while still keeping the rhythm accurate?”

3. Teach the student how to learn something, not just know something. The GTOF student expects to be able to do something on the first try. When she can’t do something the first time, one of my young students wants to change to a different piece of music. With her, I might introduce a new piece by asking her to be the teacher and devise a plan for practicing it. This changes the focus from “Can you play this piece?” to “Can you show me how to practice this piece?” If you ask her to “find the troublesome spots so your student will know where he has to spot practice,” then making a mistake becomes a success! And since gifted students love to have autonomy in the learning process, this approach is highly motivating.

With a GTOF student, it’s very helpful to give her a realistic expectation about how much she will learn in a single practice session – 2 lines, one page, or whatever is realistic.  This gives her permission not to have to learn it all at once. Her own measure of success was to play the whole piece today, and she may well be trying to digest the whole thing in one bite when she practices.

4. Help him exercise control in a healthy way. The GTOF student takes control of the lesson by refusing to try. It’s important to shift his focus from trying to control me or the assignments to controlling himself and his own fears. When I assign a new piece or introduce a new technique, I might preempt the fear by saying, “When I was your age, I was sometimes afraid to try something new if I was worried I wouldn’t be able to catch on right away. But, I learned that most of the time I could get it if I gave it my best effort.” This makes you his ally. I’ll also reassure him that I don’t expect him to get it all at once. “I know this is brand new, and you will probably make lots of mistakes at first. We’re going to break it down and take one thing at a time.”

5. Don’t push too far too fast. This seems counterintuitive because we usually worry about making sure the gifted student isn’t bored by material that’s too simple. But remember, the GTOF child may be more sensitive about failing to achieve a goal you set for him than another student might. You need to earn his trust by not throwing him into the deep end of the pool before he’s ready. One way to do this is to be sure to introduce a new technique before he encounters it in his literature. It’s much easier to take on a new, scary-looking piece of music when you know that you have all the tools in your toolbox that you need to play it.

6. Seize on mistakes as a tool for learning. In a lesson, I like to say, “I’m so glad you made that mistake! It gives me a chance to talk about…” I also like to say (jokingly), “Thank goodness! Finally you made a mistake and I can teach you something! You know, if you got everything right the first time, I’d have no job to do, and I really LIKE to teach…” The GTOF student may not have much experience with learning from mistakes because he makes so few in school. He doesn’t go back and study the questions he missed on the test because he didn’t miss any! You have to teach these kids how to celebrate the value of a mistake.

You should also give the GTOF student realistic expectations about mistakes in performance. Before a performance, I like to say, “I’m proud of your hard work no matter how the performance turns out. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve already passed the test, and the performance is just the icing on the cake. Chances are that you will have an unlucky mistake or two.  I’m expecting that possibility, and you should be, too. Because we both know you are well-prepared, we know that those mistakes are just a bit of bad luck, and they’ll be opportunities for us to learn something new.” In other words, it’s all good.

If you’re interested in reading more about gifted children, you’ll find tons of articles and links at Hoagies’ Gifted Education page.  

Laura Lowe has a B.A. in English and secondary education, and a B. Mus. and M. Mus. in organ performance. She has been an independent piano instructor for 16 years and teaches her own gifted 6-year-old daughter.  She writes at lowepianostudio.blogspot.com.

Laura Lowe, of www.lowepianostudio.blogspot.com is doing a guest post here at Piano Teacher’s Retreat about gifted students who balk at challenges and how to help them. 

First, an introduction: Laura Lowe has a B.A. in English and secondary education, and a B. Mus. and M. Mus. in organ performance. She has been an independent piano instructor for 16 years and teaches her own gifted 6-year-old daughter. She writes at www.lowepianostudio.blogspot.com.

Part 1 in a 2 part series:

Recently, Rebecca posted a question about how to handle a student who was highly capable but refused to try when faced with a challenge. My guess was that the child was highly intelligent, and her response  confirmed that. Her student is what I call a GTOF student – Gifted and Terrified of Failure – the kid who shuts down when the going gets tough. My heart went out to both the child and Rebecca because I’ve been both the teacher and the student in this situation! And, I have a 6-year-old daughter who fits this profile perfectly, too. We commonly think of a gifted child as one who is eager to embrace a challenge, but gifted children are not all alike. Many end up underachieving out of a fear of failure that seems inexplicable to others, given the child’s potential. If you have an inkling of what’s going on in their minds, you can help them tremendously.

Things To Know About GTOF Students

1) They’ve been told for their entire lives how “smart” or “talented” they are, and this is their very identity. The need to work at something means that their natural gifts don’t measure up to the challenge, and this makes them feel like a failure from the start.

2) A gifted child’s definition of “unsuccessful” may be what the rest of us consider average achievement.  Gifted children often don’t compare themselves to their level-appropriate peers, but to their teachers or other highly accomplished figures. They have an unrealistic, inflated expectation of what they are supposed to achieve. 

3) The ease and speed with which they usually pick things up in school and elsewhere means they may not have learned how to patiently have faith in the practicing process. Faced with a challenge that will require many repetitions over a long stretch of time, they don’t feel confident that their effort is going to produce results.

For a student like this, it can be a great relief to discover that you know how he feels, and that you aren’t going to belittle his fears with comments like, “Why should YOU of all people be afraid to try! You’re so smart! You know you’ll get this!” His fears are very real to him, no matter how unrealistic they seem to be to others. You need to show him that you understand, and you can do this without lowering your expectations. In most cases, a well-placed comment or two and a slightly different strategy for presenting something new will do the trick.

Stay tuned for 6 excellent tips for helping these kinds of students!

Like I’ve talked about before, I teach from home.  So it really irks me when the first student of the day shows up for lessons early.  I feel like I have to answer the door because they know I’m home.  And then, I feel like I have to start teaching because, well, what else can I do?

In my studio policy, it states that students should remain in their cars if they arrive more than 5 minutes early.  Most of my students are pretty good about doing that, because they realize that when they come in any earlier, they are interrupting another student’s lesson.  But it’s those darn first lessons of the day that I just don’t know what to do about!

I am thinking of posting a note on my door that says something like this:

Piano Students: If you arrive for your lesson early, please remain in your car.  I will not open my door until your lesson time begins.

Is it too harsh?  Is it inappropriate?  What are your thoughts?  What have you done to fix similar situations?