1.

Create a chart or list of the advantages and disadvantages (in your opinion) of
teaching in an independent studio versus teaching as a faculty member of a
community music school.

Teaching in an independent studio VS Faculty member of a community music
school
You make your own rules, policy and
determine your own income. (+)
The school makes the rules, policies and
determines your income. (-)
YOU ARE BOSS! YOU ARE just an EMPLOYEE
No meetings involve Have to go for meetings
Work at a flexible time It maybe an 8-5 full time job
No Fixed and secured pay with benefits (-) Have a stable income (+)
A lonely job: You work alone You have colleagues that encourages and
share ideas with
Do not have a lot of exposure Have to be part of the schools events such as
festivals, performances, recitals etc.
Not a prestigious name There is a prestigious time that comes with
it. Parents think of you highly
You get paid even when the parents paid late

1. What concepts and activities are, in your opinion, most essential to cover in the
very first lesson? List the items you would plan to cover in a 30-minute lesson for a
seven-year-old beginner with no previous musical experience. This does not need to
be a lesson plan, simply a list of activities, although you should indicate
approximately how many minutes you would spend on each activity. You may
structure your plan around a specific piano method book, or use no book at all.

Concepts:
- Getting familiar with the piano (Posture)
o Hands position (using the three little pigs illustration/ ball/ put your hand
on your head)
- High sounds and low sounds (related to things that they relate)
- Learning by numbers
o Using a ring on the finger/keychain
o Play a role change
- Knowing the black and white keys
o Show me 2 black keys
- Learn Mary had a little lamb
- Compose a song with numbers
Activities:
- Playing on the black keys ( Mary had a little lamb)
- Putting your hands together and say thumb is always number one!
- Compose a number song ( on black keys and white keys)

FIRST LESSON:
RALUCA:
How sound is produced
- Look inside the piano (Hammers. Strings etc.)
- High and low sounds (identifying with animals. Bird- High, Gorilla Low
- Grouping black and white keys
- Identifying D first (it is the easier note to start from. D is between the 2 black
keys)
o D IN THE DOG HOUSE: The Dog live in the doghouse ( the note between
the 2 black keys)
- Method book: Alfred Piano Lesson Level 1A

BARBRA
- Like an interview
- Use Faber Primlinary book
- Posture ( to sit straight: put a soft toy on their head to balance)
- Make sure they know what is LH and RH
- How do you teach LH and RH
o LH ( closest to the Low sounds of the piano)
o RH (closest to the High sounds)


- ALPHABET SONG:
o ABCDEFG (from A of the lowest part of the piano)- work only on the PIANO
o Using the 2
nd
finger

EMILY
- Like an interview
- How the sound is made
- High and Slow sound
o Where do you think the low sounds are?
- Finger numbers
- Posture
o See them see before you make the adjustment
- Exchange role with the student. Student become the teacher
- Saying numbers as they play the black notes ( 23, 234)

ANN HART
o Spend time getting to know the students
o Take pictures (New student pictures)
o Sit down with parent and student
Going through the ground rules
o Faber adventure Prim book
o Up/down, High/low
o Hand positions
o Have a matchbox car going through the curves hand

JACOB F.
o Faber Adventures Prem. Book
o Sitting at the piano
o Crunch as tight as you can
o Think there is a line on the top of the head.
o Push your shoulder forward and backward
o Pancake hands (Flat hands)
o Apple hands (Round hands)
o Rounded hands (Curved hands)
o Showing middle C (show where all the C on the piano)
o Giving assignments to the student for the next week

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF TEACHING THE G CLEF AND F CLEF?
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN DOING THE NOTES ON THE STAFF FIRST, YOU CAN!
MUSIC FOR LITTLE MOZART mouse and bear (mouse is HIGH and bear is LOW)

IF YOU KNOW IF YOUR STUDENT CANT CLAP A STEADY BEAT, YOU MAY WANT TO DO
SOME MORE EMPHASIS ON RHYTHMS

1. List at least five activities that would help a beginner develop a sense of steady pulse.
Ear Training
o The teacher would clap and the student would clap back without looking at the
teacher
o The teacher would play a phrase and the student would imitate back
Teacher would play a few songs with different meters such as march, waltz, polka and the
student would walk the beat around the hall
o Ex: 1234
o 1: Touch your head
o 2: Touch the tip of your nose
o 3: Tap your shoulders
o 4: Clap hands
Game
o Rhythm drill
o Making the quarter, half and whole notes ( sticks and washers)
Sight-reading book: looking at the symbol) (short short long, 1 1 12)
o Rhythm duets
o Stomp/ Clap/ Snap

You may think that keeping a pulse comes naturally to you but some children need to be
emphasis
Playing the 5 finger pattern in a steady beat
Playing a march and the kid move around with a steady beat
Play the recording and MARCH with the student
o And then let the student do by themselves after that
Clap with the students and then let the student do it himself
Dotted Rhythm: Skipping
IS IT COORDINATION OR JUST CANNOT KEEP THE PULSE!
Waving your arms down for each beat
o Triangle/ Square
o 2 beats (Swing a boat)
Pull a robe (1-2)
Using the drawing or square/triangle (teaching meter?)
Passing the ball from beat to beat (Hard to control) use a beanbag
Using plastic bucket (so they can make nose with it)
Using sticks (Dollar store/Party city)

1. In your experience, what are the most common technical challenges for first-year
piano students? How do you address each challenge?
Keeping a constant beat
o I would ask my students to do walk with the beat
o Or would ask them to draw the Square/ Triangle while I play the song
o Head head cheek cheek and the student will follow and as they copy you,
do another action (That will allow the student to read/think ahead)
Pushing their fingers into the keys, instead of pressing the keys down
o Illustration of sitting on a bed, press down
Pan cake Hands
o Talk about 3 little pigs and the wolf
o Let them play with the pan cake hands for while and they would feel that it
gets tense and cramp.
o Talk to them about a hot air balloon floating above their hand
Knowing LH and RH/ Number system. (Confuse where the 2
nd
/4
th
is on the LH)
o Put your hands together and THUMB IS ALWAYS NUMBER ONE
o Play a number game
FLYING FINGERS
o Tense fingers
o Observe the arch
o You can use a puppet to work on your finger (The 2
nd
-5
th
finger) straight and
bend
RH: Legato and LH: Staccato
o Playing a 5 finger pattern (Legato and Staccato)
GAME: Play staccato/ Legato and interchange
o Legato: Sticky Caramel
Transferring weight
Putting weight from one leg to another (Tai Chi)- You can bend your
knees a little
Walking (you lift the other leg only after the other leg touch the
ground)
o Staccato: Popcorn
Teaching staccato from the arm, wrist, fingers etc.
Teaching use basketball/ bouncy ball (GAME)
o Slow practice and the action: Rub (Legato) / Tab on your head (Staccato)
Teaching Triads
o 5
th
and 3
rd

2 notes slur
o Bouncing ball
o Down and peel up
o Hand BREATH
Having the child to sit still on the bench
o Walk to the door and do it again
o Take a picture and send to the parents as how they are also to sit to play

3. Devise two easy technique exercises for a student to practice at home the week
after her first piano lesson. These may be on or off the keyboard.
Doing finger exercise: 12345 (From C and all the white keys, so that they can get use
to the 5 finger patterns)
Doing rhythm games: Saying the syllable to quarter note and half note.
o Quarter note: Short
o Half note: Hold it
o For example: Quarter Quarter Half Note: Short, Short, Half note
Have Frankenstein arms (Arms upwards and have them to drop their arms (to relax
their hand)
Have the student to do Finger Tippos. Have the thumb touch the other fingers. Play
in O on the 5 finger pattern DUNKING DONUTS
o Interlocking O so the teacher would interlock their O like a chain
Practice gravity / playing clusters on the keyboard
Playing finger pattern: 12345 + Curving your fingers together and do 1,1, 2,2,3,3,
etc. (Have your fingers tap to each other)

1. How were you taught proper posture and hand position as a child? As a teacher,
how do you now teach posture and hand position to a beginning student? What do
you do differently, if anything, and why?

I was taught with proper posture and hand position through a lot of physical abuse such
as hitting on the hand with a ruler and pulling of my hair. My teacher would always ask
me to sit up straight all the time.

POSTURE:
By imagining that is a line going from your head to your body and pulls you up on the
piano or just saying sit up straight.
Crunch yourself like a turtle in its shell and squeeze so hard for 10 seconds and I would
ask them how they felt
HAND POSITION
Three little pigs and the wolf
The hand over your knee
Using a small like squashy ball
Bridge over the water
Pancake hands
o Practicing the pancake hand and slowly come up like a curved hands
(illustration like a hot air balloon) or a string putting your finger up!
o
I will take the role of a student and they will correct me

KEEPING YOUR FINGER CURVES
Making 12345 glasses on your eyes
Using 12, 13, 14, 15 finger etc.

GREAT STUFF!!
Emphasis on the what part of the finger should be hitting the finger, and where the
finger touch the keys
Using the pen and draw the dot on the finger as to where the finger is suppose to hit the
piano
Putting dots on the piano as to where the finger is suppose to be


TEACHING LEGATO
- picking a pencil/ grasping a pencil

2. Now that you have reviewed a vast number of teaching methods, comment on the
strengths and weaknesses of the method you currently use, or use most frequently,
with students. Use Jacobsons excellent criteria (pp. 50-61) as a guide. Dont feel the
need to address every criterion, but do focus on the weaknesses you may not have
been aware of before this class.
We have to stay focus as what we are teaching. We can make our music lesson creative to
reach our goals in a music lesson, but do not let creativity overtake the lesson and forget the
goal of the lesson. For example such as : Beanstalks Basic on Piano. Stickers were given but
the method used was slow and ineffective. There were too much words that children would
automatically turned off their brain and may do music just to get the stickers.



David Carr Glover (Supplements) (Thinking outside the BOX!)
o A unique middle C position= ABCDE and adding one note at a time from
there (unlike the norm: CDEFG)
o Have books for many aspects of music learning
o Will only be supplements because it used a lot of Stewarts music rather than
introducing the student to other genres of music such as Classical that may
assist them in the future.
Music Tree (Supplements)
o I love the Exploration/ Treasure box aspect of the book. The student is
encouraged to improvise, compose etc.
o Allows the student to make them owe the music
Celebrated Series- Perspectives
o Very challenging
o Inspire future students who are disciplined and willing to push themselves
o Amazing repertoires (Some living composers =))
o Teachers guide
o Student workbook have: theory and music history
o Have etudes
Hal Leonard
o Series with supplemental materials
o Good music (Many different types of music)
o Have teachers guide
Practice games book
o Books with CD (that have instrumental accompaniment)
o (-) Music history is missing
Introducing the chords too late (happen at Level 5)
Faber Book
o (-) Stay in the landmark position for so long (The C position) so when they
explore to key signatures, they tend to freak out
o (+) The technique and artistry deliberately teach musicality.

. Most students respond very well to imagery and storytelling in the lesson. A few, however, do
not respond to creative stories, and some are unable to use visual imagery to imagine a story.
Choose one or two pieces which allow you the opportunity to come up with creative suggestions
for the following:

Scent
Physical texture (Velvet, rough, edgy, ripples)
Taste
Color
Shape or gesture


TEACHING STYLE: Using:
- Color
- Architect (Drawing on graph for dynamics)
- Physical gesture (Action)
- Story telling
EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT TEACHING STYLE, YOU HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO
ADAPT AND BE FLEXIBLE


2. What might be some of the benefits of teaching adult beginners in a group setting rather than
in private lessons?
Adults enjoy warm social atmosphere of group instruction
Adults are able to meet more people and learn from each other
Boost confidence
Adults like to meet adults at their level
You can meet up with other teachers who has adult students and have a group recital =)
Para-lessons Having 2 adults in one lesson

Group Piano Teaching (2 students or more)
It is a demand of group piano
In a group lessons, you cannot go with the flow. You have to be highly organized
with your time
Having quiz every 3 weeks
Piano Proficiency
o Technical Skill
o Functional Skill
You can use group lessons as make up class (ANYONE WHO WANTS A MAKE
UP LESSON- COME TO THE GROUP LESSONS)
What kind of activities do you plan for group lesson?
o Quieter activities
o High Energy activities
o Alternate quieter and high energy activities
Quieter activities
o Dictation (Intervals/ Ear- Training)
Play and ask them to write it down
o Master class
Have a student play and everyone observe and listen
Have the other students write down 3 things that you observe. (Image
in your head, ideas, colors, words that remind them of)
o Sitting in a circle and doing activities
Playing Simon Says
Rhythms
Tapping
o Having duets
o Shouting on the rest beats rather than silence on the rest beats
o Listening to a music recording and have the children draw something about
what they think about this.
o Listening for the repetition or imitation in the songs
o Conducting
o Making a puzzle
o Composing
High Energy activities
o Who can be the first person to tell me about this piece?
o Music Olympics
o Musical Chairs
Whoever did not get the chair will have to play
They can play whatever they want to, and maybe resume after that
o Twister
o Analyzing a piece (BLOW it beat!)
Finding the errors in the piece

WHAT IS SYSTEMATIC PRESENTATION? Jacobson- I DO THIS ALL THE TIME
- Lead students to find measures and section that are similar or different
- Let students try selected easier measures
- Guide students to find the more difficult parts
- Incorporate eurhythmic activities, including taping and counting to feel the
rhythm
- Teach practice procedures that reduce the difficulties to manageable tasks
- Examine the musical and interpretive aspects of the piece (dynamics, mood)
- Count aloud while playing
- Practice hands separately to check the notes and fingering
- Practice in sections, starting with the most difficult
- Practice specific partys

DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES:
- visual learners
- best by hearing
- learn by touch
- combination of learning styles

How do you learn?
1. Hear it
2. See and feel it on the keyboard
3. Feel it without looking at the keyboard
4. Play it several times
5. Listen to the teachers explanation about it
6. Describe it
7. Read it
8. Write it

TEACHING TECHNIQUE
- Good posture
- The role of the whole arm
o Use to play dynamics, articulation and two-note slur
- Appropriate hand and finger position
- Moving out of hand position
o Expand and contract
o Substitution
o Cross over
o Moving to other octaves (leaps)

TEACHING LITERATURE:
- Baroque Period
o March in D Major (Notebook for Anna Magdalene Bach)
o Menuet in G minor
o Menuet in G Major
o Musette in D Major
o Polanaise in F Major
- Other Composers:
o Scarlaati
o Henry Purcell
o Fracois Couperin
o William Duncombe

- Classical Period
o Czerny Carl
o Diabelli
o Leopold Mozart
o Turk
o James Hook
o Franz Joseph Haydn
o Muzio Clementi
o Ludwig van Beethoven

- Romantic Period
o Cornelius Gurlitt
o Robert Schumann
o Hermann Beren

- 20
th
- century
o Alexander Gretchaninoff
o Dmitri Shostakovich
o Dmitri Shostakovich

Pedagogical Literature:
- Catherine Rollin
- Dennis Alexander
- Margaret Goldston
- Kevin Olson
- Randall Hartsell
- Martha Mier
- Wynn-Ann Rossi
- Melody Bober
- David Carr Glover
- Robert Vandall

SELECTING AND EVALUATING TEACHING MATERIAL
1. Piece should sound appealing to students so that they will want to practice and
play them long after they have been learned
2. Piece should sound like its title
3. Pieces should be of the best quality, free of musical clichs,
4. The level of difficulty of the piece should be consistent throughout and
appropriate for the level intended
5. Each piece should have a clear and unique pedagogical purpose

DETERMINING THE DIFFICULTY OF PIECES
Teachers should choose pieces that use concepts and skips taught in beginning,
elementary and late-elementary methods

Technical Characteristics:
Hand positions
Play hangs together
Notes play together
Note Values
Simple pedaling

Musical Characteristics:
Dynamic marking
Articulation markings
Legato
Phrases
Melody and Accompaniment

Reading Characteristics:
Large intervals
Pitch and rhythm patterns
Sharps/flats
Accidentals
Any clef changes or reading on the same clef

A Good lesson is one in which learning takes place, not one in which students impress
teachers by how well they practiced or how well they can play the pieces


PRESENTING NEW PIECES:
- The teacer play the piece to give the student a sound image
- The student play and sing the tonic chord and five-finger pattern/scale
- Student look at the music and describing it
- The student marking patterns, sections, finding measures/sections that are the
same
- The students observing the relationship between the RH and LH

DIAGNOSING PROBLEMS in PIECES
- The students ask the teacher to help solve the problem spot
- The teacher asks the student to play the most difficult section of the piece
- The student demonstrates how he practice at home
- The student experience an exercise/ drill to prepare for the learning task
- The student summarizes what was learned in the previous weeks practice

WORKING ON PRACTICE PIECES
- When hearing practiced pieces, teachers may gather more information by hearing
selected sections, phrases/ measures, instead of hearing the entire piece ( I kinda
not agree)
- Short segments can show th teacher whether the student has grasped important
issues and whether the playing has improved during the previous week.

COACHING PIECES
- coaching involves the discovery process

TEACHING TECHNIQUE AND MUSICAL SOUND DEVELOPMENT
- The Nature way to play Good posture
- The Role of the Whole Arm
o Childreen develop large muscle coordination before small muscle control
o The use of the arm to play dynamics, articulations and 2 note slurs
- Appropriate hand and finger positions
- Oving out of hand positions
o Playing octaves
o Five-finger patterns that are not major or minor
o Moving fron 1 five-finger position to another
o Expand and contracting
o Playing smaller interval
o Crossing fingers
- The Role and development of the fingers
- Coordination and Independence of Fingers
o 5 finger patterns
o Selected scales
o Arpeggios
o Elementary etudes
o Broken chords
o Finger exercises such as Hanon
- Importance of Fingering
o Use longer fingers for BLACK keys
o Use shorter fingers on white keys
o Use 5 finger position fingering as much as possible
ELEMENTARY LITERATURE:
Baroque Period:
- Applicatio in C Major Notebook for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
- March in D Major (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach)
- Menuet in G Minor
- Musette in D Major
- Chorale Joy and Peace
- March in Eb Major
- Menet in G Major
- Polonise in F Major (ALL in Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach)

COMPOSER:
- JS Bach
- William Duncombe
- George Drideric Handel
- Domenico Scarlatti
- Georg Philipp Telemann

Classical Period
- Czerny First Instruction in Piano Playing
- Diabelli 10 Short pieces, Op. 125
- Leopold Mozart The London Notebook
- Turk A little dance

Romantic Period
- Cornelius Gurlitt: Little Flowers, Op. 205, Album for the young, Op. 140
- Robert Schumann: Album for the Young, Op. 68

Pedagogical Liter:
Catherine Rollin
Kevin Olson
Melody Bober
David Glover
Robert Vandall