Teaching beginners

[FaintingGoat]

I have some beginners that are interested in learning piano.  They aren't necessarily looking to become concert pianists, many of them just want to play pop songs...

Is it worth it to teach them Taubman concepts such as rotation and balance and in-out motions for scales?

If you don't teach them Taubman, what do you show them instead? 

I've never taught before, so this is a dilemma for me, could use some advice.. thanks.

Goat

[SusanN]

 Teaching anything requires a depth of understanding which goes beyond knowing the information that applies to you yourself.

That having been said, there is nothing like teaching a subject to help us gain that deep understanding and clarity which will in turn inform your own playing. Even if you are not yet comfortable tackling rotation or in and out, you can encourage your students to find and be aware of their natural alignment, to balance lightly on the keys without pushing, to know the mechanics of the piano and how to use that to their advantage. If students start out well aligned, there is a better chance for the other pieces to fall in place.

Since you've never taught before, you may also want to be in touch with a someone whose teaching you respect, who can give you some advice on organizing the lesson, appropriate materials, sequence of introducing concepts, learning the topography of the keyboard. There is so much to teach at the beginning level - technic being one important part of the puzzle. There are lots of good ideas posted in other threads of this forum as well!

All the best!
Susan

[Terry]

Dear Goat,

It seems to me that the answer is embedded in your question, “If you don't teach them Taubman, what do you show them instead?”  If you replace “Taubman” with “coordinate movement,” the answer is even clearer.  One of the saddest sights in the piano world is adults who finally achieve their dream of learning how to play the piano, only to be in pain within 6 to 12 months of starting lessons.  I’ve had students who came to me through that route, and although I enjoy the time I spend with them, I wish that all their enthusiasm and anticipation and love of music hadn’t taken them that direction.  If teachers taught them a healthy technique from the beginning, they wouldn’t have to take the detour to get out of trouble.  They could happily enjoy exploring and expressing.

At some point I realized that people who wonder whether they should teach Taubman to their students are thinking that their students will have to learn the Taubman approach the same way they learned it.  Usually they came to Taubman because of an injury, and had to do some serious retraining.  Fortunately, most beginners can learn coordinate movement the fun way, along with the music they’re learning to play.

For people interested in learning to play popular music, a great starting point would be a healthy and free approach to chord playing, using the whole forearm with a gentle finger tap, and landing at a height that accommodates the opening of the hands.   And of course I agree with SusanN that teaching students to honor their own alignment from the beginning will help other pieces come together.  If their hand and forearm move them from place to place, then release into every note (pretty much) and their fingers drop so the arm doesn’t come crashing down on them (pretty much), they should do pretty well.  I would introduce other concepts as they pertain to pieces of music they are playing.

Some people are not interested in developing a subtle and precise technique.  That’s fine.  I make sure they move in a healthy enough way so I can sleep at night.  That’s good for them too! And the good news is that healthy movement leads to better playing.  Which is why they came to us!   So it’s a good approach for everyone.

I hope you’re enjoying your new teaching life.