Piano Lesson Method Books

 

Lesson method books are a great asset to students and teachers but it’s piano teachers who sometimes have hard time coming to grips with using them.
 
When a piano teacher comes into being they don’t always jump into using a piano method. The reason is easy to understand if you understand the person that is the teacher.
 
The new piano teacher is filled with enthusiasm and a real passion for what they love, piano! They’ve worked hard; practiced for hours, taken their own piano lessons for years, graduated with a degree in music and now, they take a student.
 

I Can’t Wait To Teach – How To Play Piano

 
So here we are, the new piano teacher is ready to teach, they have so many great ideas. Ideas like; I’m going to teach my student scales, and proper technique, and a great way to understand rhythms, and how cool the Beethoven Sonatas, and …….you get the point.
 

They Have Great Ideas, In Comes The Piano Lesson Student

 
So in comes the piano student, a smile on her face, a way. After a brief introduction the lesson begins and so does the first piano lesson for the new teacher, it’s going to take a lot of time for this bright young piano student to learn.
 
She has to learn how to place her hands on the piano, and even when she gets it, she sometimes doesn’t so she’s going to need patience. She also doesn’t know anything about her finger numbers, and note names, and the music staff, and the concept of high notes and low notes, etc.

The Need For A Method

 
And so it begins that the new or younger piano teacher needs a home base, a place to start if you will. The new teacher will seek out a piano lesson method book.

Piano Lesson Method Books Help Students And Teachers

 
There are three simple and easy to understand reasons why Method books work. The first is what we just mentioned; piano lesson method books supply us with a home base on what we are teaching, well-written lesson plans that move gradually through a proven path that leads to success.
 
The second reason piano method books work is it gives the student a gauge for where they are going. Students can see what’s ahead and curious students find great comfort in knowing what lies on the next page. For less interested students, it gives them clear expectations and helps them focus on the lesson at hand.
 
The last reason is Graduation, a level of achievement, and a goal! There becomes a joy of making it to the next book. Who doesn’t like new books right. Most piano methods have a built in certificate of achievement in the back. As a teacher, I always filled it out at the lesson, then cut it out of the book and had the student’s mother take a picture with her child and myself holding the certificate. Could be a potential FB post right….lol.
 
 

Don’t Give Up

 
If you’re a new piano lesson teacher and you are having a hard time accepting that you’ll be using piano lesson method books. Don’t give up on the reasons you don’t want to use them (didn’t think I’d say that did you). My favorite piano lessons are the ones where we are supplementing the method books and even moving out of using them.
 
Like you, I want to teach all the wonderful piano literature that inspires me. What we can’t forget is that we can teach with passion even in a piano lesson method book. Let’s not forget we all started somewhere and we may have not always been “CRAZY” about piano.