Three Techniques for Piano lessons

 Piano lessons can either be easy, fun, just okay, difficult; depending on how you approach them. I have a couple of techniques I use to make my piano lessons easier. I learned these techniques during my four-year piano Major Course at the Department of Music Education, University of Education, Winneba. I am writing this article right after teaching two children to play 'A Toy' - an ABRSM Classical Piano piece found in the 2021/2022 syllabus:

1. Small Achievable Tasks

Even though the overall aim is for my student to play an entire piece, we only learn a little at a time. My students enjoy a sense of achievement after playing two or three bars only. This good feeling, no matter how little, will prove helpful in sustaining the initial interest of my students.

2. One hand at a Time

One of the most challenging tasks at playing the piano is to play with both hands. It is even more challenging when one has to play different rhythms with both hands at the same time. One solution is to allow your learners to play with each hand separately. In this way, the learners will get the chance to familiarize themselves with the two rhythms written for each hand before putting them together.

3. Use Repetition

In today's lesson, I asked my students to make ten checkboxes and tick one box each time she played the first three bars of the last system with her right hand only. This activity enabled her to play repeatedly without feeling bad about it.

This lesson was done with real-time video conferencing via zoom, notwithstanding, these methods work for in-person lessons too. 

I am looking forward to your feedback for more in-depth conversations about teaching and learning piano music.