I am a high school senior and am pursuing music in university in the fall. I play repetoire at the ARCT level and have taken conservatory exams in theory (gr.4). I agreed to take on two students from a piano teacher who hosts lessons at my highschool but has no room in her studio. The girls are ages 12 and 14, one is completely new to music, the other is new to piano, but is involved in our music program, and according to my school music teacher is an above-average flautist with decent reading skills.

I have never formally taught before, and I am quite excited about this opportunity. I am just trying to gather as much input as to how to approach this situation. I have not consulted my private teacher yet (she teaches at the college) but I will at my lesson next Thursday. However my first lessons will be on Tuesday. I have access to this teacher's collection of beginner material, and the local music store carries a few of the major introductory methods used today.

My goal for teaching these girls is to give them a good introduction to piano. They will not be long term students, as I will be moving away for university next fall. I want to make piano something that is enjoyable to them, but still have them learn properly. I have a good foundation with technique, and having to be retaught a lot of motion basics when I began with my current teacher has given me a good grasp of stuff that can go wrong.

My questions,.,
Is it wise to stick to a method for beginners? Should I include theory into the lessons? Is there a particular method that I should look for or specifically avoid? These girls are teenagers, I don't want them to feel patronized by colourful method books, but they also aren't full-fledged classical musicians, so I don't want to limit their piano exposure to classical repetoire.

Thanks in advanced.

Chelsey

definitely stay with the method books for beginner.

The Faber & Faber Piano Adventures is pretty good, suites ages from 7-15, if they are all new to music or piano, start them with premier level.
If the girls are teens...then use the series Piano Adventures Older Beginners by Faber & Faber, The method book series has a decent amount of theoy practice, and technic, a very good amount of duet playing experience for teacher and students.

The Alfred Basic Piano Library is pretty good, for younger age group start them with Prep course, for 7 and up, start with them level 1A
The method comes with a good amount of theory, ear training, and notespeller book, enough for them to get used to the new concept each week. Pieces in these books are concept specific.

Hope this helps, and for beginners, don't forget to suggest flash cards.


Good luck and enjoy