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Not who, what - the industrial revolution. It ripped apart our communities. If you want to study English folk music you go to the Appalachian Mountains.

I don't think that 'took' anything. It just fell out of interest.

Same.

This still misses the point that the content of the books under discussion is no less appropriate than the content of any other book currently available for this 'method book' purpose. And since we can't undo the Industrial Revolution at this point what do you suggest we do (as piano teachers) to right this terrible wrong, keyboardklutz? I find this a particularly interesting question as there was no culture of teaching the piano prior to the Industrial Revolution, so there's a bit of an internal consistency issue with a piano teacher even wanting the Industrial Revolution undone......

Funny you should say that. The industrial revolution created a middleclass who demanded affordable pianos for their newly acquired pasttimes. One could easily write a book on the industrialization of piano pedagogy - it's not without scientific interest. But back to the point - do piano teachers have a responsibility to the culture they find themselves in? And yes, I am very much a Luddite.

Ah, now there already are books about exactly that (piano pedagogy as an outgrowth and reflection of industrialisation) as well as books about the social function (as compared to the musical function) of piano pedagogy..... (love that kind of stuff).

And I'm with you that piano teachers find themselves with a responsibility to the culture they find themselves in (as much as one can have a responsibility to an abstraction of lived experience), but one doesn't need to reduce the possible musical influences on a child to those of the child's ethnicity in order to do that: here in Australia ALL culture is grafted, so the culture I have a responsibility to is a culture of melange and blend and beyond that needs to be determined on a student by student basis, and there are no books in all the world that fit that bill. So one uses excellent material and builds a cultural experience relevant to the student/child from the resources at hand.

But taking this further: the rhythms, the pitch patterns in method books - any method books - creates a cultural divide between the piano student's pianistic music-making experience and the music they are immersed in throughout their 21st century days. And I believe even more firmly that unless piano teachers start addressing this immense cultural gap we will find ourselves marginalised in the creative process of our culture..... (As I said, probably now bordering on getting waay off-topic!).

Bartok did it for Hungary. Kabalevsky for USSR.

Is Christopher Norton doing it for America / modern popular music (American Popular Piano Series or Connections)?

No. Maybe for Birdland.

The kids I know whose parents are Morris dancers are pretty cool And I do know some. I know kids whose parents danced Scandinavian dances, as well as dances from all over the world, who went to college to study folk dance and music. All great kids.

But piano *is* a harder instrument to learn about it on in some ways. I have pointed out many times, as Elissa has, that music is much much broader than what can be reproduced on a piano, and, for me, it's pretty ignorant narrow to not at least acknowledge that in piano lessons, and to not acknowledge that piano isn't the be-all and end-all, much less the beginning-all , of music or music theory.

That said, I sure have nothing against Russian folk music - I've danced a lot to that, too. And I play old English tunes, both for old English dancing and as Appalachian music, often. But folk music isn't everyone's cup of tea. I might bemoan the fact that people have lost their sense of where their music has roots (and our modern music *is* rooted in traditional music) but I don't know the roots of every subject, either. Life seems to move on.

Cathy

I didn't say "screw other music- it's all about the piano". I said that piano teachers do not have any 'duty' to resuscitate folk music.

The thread, and my post, is not all about you I am not, however, inclined to pity kids whose parents are Morris dancers - just my point of view, of course.

Cathy

You specifically quoted my post and responded to it. However, whether it was directed at me or not, I have no idea why the idea of not involving folk music would lead you to state that some people are too 'ignorant' to involve things beyond the piano. Where do you draw the line between ignorance and realising that you are a piano teacher and cannot educate on every single form of music? To be complete do we have to teach minimalism, prepared piano music, Indian Ragas, whale song and William Shatner's unique stylings in the field of "sprechgesang", perhaps? Why should any of those very specific areas be any more or less important than folk music? I'm a classical teacher. I don't take a narrow view, but neither do I feel obliged to do my bit against the impact of the industrial revolution.

Elissa,

I wanted to respond about your 5 finger position comment of Book 1. I used "sheetmusicplus" here on the forum for my search and actually looked at Book 1, Part 1, then Book 1, Part 2, and Book 2 and I was using them in my mind as a complete method book series and that is why I called in intermediate but I I almost said late intermediate. This series moves ahead very, very quickly.

In Book 1 there is such a minor key influence, yes, it sound like Russian Music, what does one expect? It's better to start with a major scale sound for beginning students. But, there are no "instructions or explanations going on in the example of music given in any of the 3 books. So, I see it as supplemental and not a method for teaching.

These would be great books for serious students and for piano teachers to own and use, but I think they get difficult very quickly. There were a lot of "touches" required on that first page of "5 Finger" music. Legato playing comes before staccato (3 types) and accents so I "disqualified it in my mind as a beginning method and gave it an intermediate reading since it was so "diacritical", if that word applies here. Maybe "articulation" is a better word.

I also see that each can be purchased for less then full retail ($24) at around $14, so the price is much better for those who will buy it.

Betty

Could I suggest that anyone looking at the Russian book go to sheetmusicplus here on the forum on the left of this screen and do a search "russian music". You will find 3 books in this series there. They are labeled Book 1, part 1; Book 1, part 2, and then Book 2. I think it's important to look at all 3 to see where they will lead as a total.

Someone had asked a question about "are they sight reading material?" I would think an advanced adult at the late intermediate level who was an experienced and accurate sight reader would enjoy them - but that is one whole lot of Russian music and it's usually best to recommend variety in our music selections.

I think these 3 volumes apply to the lover of Russian culture from the small picture we have seen.

Elissa, having these on hand in her studio, is much more aware of the contents of composers these books contain. I didn't see anything that made me think it contained a mix of composers in different nationalities and eras from around the international world of music.

Single handedly it can't but utilizing the colloquial music language rather than Russian or another arbitrarily chosen culture just seems like good practice. Unless students are familiar with English, Russian isn't going to sound Russian anyway.

My country was under Russian influence for a long time, the beginner method book I'm studying from is just like the one you described.

And we all know why that is.

I think the OP main concern is about a position playing that most of the current American method books provide. For example, some student thinks that F is finger 4 and D is finger 2 of the right hand and later is hard for them to change it.
I took a glance on only one page of this Russian Method that provided by Amazon, I saw "plentiful" of finger numbers on the music notes. I think even provided this Russian Method to students, they will start to depend on the finger number provided.
What do you think?

Humbly,
Small Piano

Your English mums don't sing to their kids? Are you so sure?

And Sesame Street is real nice music ... or was.