How to Explain the Importance of Fundamentals to an 11 Year Old

Author: admin

25 May

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One of my “gifted and terrifed of failure“ students told me he is getting very very bored. Knowing I could be setting myself up for an unpleasant response, I still decided to acknowledge his feelings and ask him why. He responded that all his pieces in the lesson books are too easy.

To be honest, they are too easy for him. He can sight read well beyond the level that he plays. But I don’t think it is wise to skip levels because he needs to understand all concepts. I fear that if we skip a level, he will miss something important that will hinder his ability to play a much more difficult piece. And because he tends to balk at challenges, I am not willing to let him skip concepts and fundamentals.

Since that is too difficult to explain to an 11 year old, I chose to liken piano to baseball, his favorite subject. Maybe you can find a way to use a similar comparison with a similar student.

I told him to imagine that he started baseball this year for the first time, and could “knock the ball out of the park” 9 times out of 10. At the mention of his favorite sport, I could practically see the baseball diamonds glittering in his eyes. I then told him to imagine that even though he could hit like a pro, he couldn’t catch for anything. He didn’t like that part of the analogy, and told me he could most definitely catch like a pro. So we had to change the character in this imaginary story to “a friend.”

I then explained that the friend would have to start from the beginning- from scratch- to learn all the fundamentals of baseball. I asked him if he agreed, and he did. He would never be a great ball player without the fundamentals.

It’s the same in piano. We have to move through the lesson books so that we can get the fundamentals. In the meantime, I will give him harder pieces that will challenge him. But he must get through the basic stuff before we can leave the lesson books in the dust.

He completely understood what I was saying, and completely agreed. (something that surprised me to no end- because he is NOT one to agree with me on ANYTHING!)

Filed under: Success!, Trial and Error Tips

One Response for "How to Explain the Importance of Fundamentals to an 11 Year Old"

Kim May 26th, 2009 at 10:59 am 1
Great story! Trying to explain “the fundamentals” and working toward long-term goals can be really difficult, especially if you’re working with one of those gifted students who has had everything so far come relatively easily.

I’ve had to have these types of conversations for two different reasons: 1) the student gets bored (as yours did), and 2) they come across the first concept/technique/repertoire that causes them a real issue – a day, or two, of practice doesn’t have it flowing easily. I find the conversation challenging every time, because students are so different. It may be the first time anything in the academic/hobby world hasn’t been simple.

You helped your student learn something really valuable about long-term goals and building a foundation for anything that he wants to excel at. Thanks for sharing this!