Coaching Piano Students

By following these three Principles to Learn Piano, piano students will soon experience a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in their practice. Being satisfied, they will feel happy and encouraged in their pursuit of music and will want to learn more.

Readiness. Being tired, preoccupied or distracted are obstacles to a student being ready. Interest in playing is supremely important in motivating students. Teachers should encourage students toward piano playing, toward the music being studied, and all the other elements leading to success. Students need to feel successful. Today's success means tomorrow's readiness.

Satisfaction. Satisfaction strengthens; frustration weakens. Success means satisfaction, as does accomplishment as the result of creative practice. Each step forward brings its own feeling of accomplishment, with much praise and encouragement from the piano coach.

Finger Exercises. Drilling finger exercises is essential in fixing an idea in our mind, and in making fingering more accurate and rapid. But drills work only when a student is conscious of the need of them to achieve the music that the student desires. Scales, for example, should be drilled so that playing them becomes automatic, but only after the pianist has slowly built the scale and realizes that scale progressions are actually found in the music the student wants to play. The same is true of all the other elements of technique and theory. Finger exercises alone aren't enough - they must lead to satisfaction for the student.

For information about piano lessons NJ, contact Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio.