A plan for the first lesson with a transfer student
As summer is an ideal time to add new students to the roster, I have a number of first lessons coming up in June. The first lesson is a mix of my agenda with opportunities for the pianist to make choices, too.
After a recent interview with a potential student and hearing him play, I quickly assessed his strengths and weaknesses (that’s a topic for another post) and planned accordingly.
He is a capable early-to-mid intermediate player but his reading skills don’t match his playing skills. That’s never a surprise to me as reading sheet music is difficult and if the pianist is trained more by ear than by sight, skills will be unbalanced.
I’ve learned three things from many past mistakes when accepting a student with previous experience at the keys:
Don’t make assumptions. A pianist’s playing level does not indicate the pianist’s understanding of theoretical concepts and reading level.
Keep communication open. Show respect and be sensitive to the pianist and acknowledge the hard work it’s taken to reach his current level. Then assure him that we will take small steps back to close any gaps to quickly launch forward. At times this gap is not really a gap, it’s just that my “lingo” or way of explaining things may be different from what was experienced in the past.
Keep the momentum going. A step back to review does not mean we can’t continue with appealing repertoire at his current level of playing.
So here’s a run down of his first lesson.
1️⃣ Begin a trip around the circle of keys with major-five-finger patterns.
This is a three-for-one assignment as we can cover
Technique. As he plays through the 5-pitch scales by ear, I encourage using arm weight behind each finger and rotation as he finishes off the pattern with the tonic, up to the dominant, back to the tonic.
Ear skills. Once he establishes the major sound on C and G, I ask him to try the pattern on D and fix it when it doesn’t sound “major.” This gives me a chance to observe how quickly his ears and fingers adjust and find the required black key.
Theory concepts. Adding a black key to D Major strikes up another conversation—what would you name that black key? This question helps me know if he understands accidentals and also scale spelling. It naturally leads to the discussion of why it must be F# and not Gb. As we move forward through the patterns, they are played around the circle of key which opens the door to much more theory fun to come! BTW..I don’t assign them all, maybe 4 or 5 at a time.
Follow this link to learn more about how I introduce and GROOVE five-finger patterns with a favorite app.
2️⃣ Introduce landmark notes with the Grand Staff Map.
By tipping this map of the grand staff as shown below, the pianist can relate the location of landmark pitches to the topography and position of the keyboard in front of him.
Then we “visit the home” or play each landmark and review their names.
Next, I test his ears. I cover my hands at my piano and play a C—he has to match and name the C I played by playing it on his piano. Was it Deep Blue C? Cloud C? or Middle C? Here’s a two-for-one test—can he hear and find the correct pitch on the piano and can he point it out on the map?
3️⃣ Encourage the big-picture approach
Landmark reading requires close inspection of line and space notes but reading sheet music demands a big-picture perspective and so I teach by rote “Black Kite Level 1” from Samantha Coates Blitz Books Rote Repertoire.
After learning each section of the short black-key-only piece, I show him the sheet music. We discuss the direction and patterns and added in finger numbers. We don’t get hung up on pitch names or the scary key signature! We spend time discerning what’s the same and what’s different and planning hand shifts and playing from the “blueprint” instead of the “fine lines.”
4️⃣ Find repertoire that connects
I save the “best” for last as I want the pianist to go home excited about practicing. I play through a number of pieces around the pianist’s playing level. In this “shopping experience” I play the first page and I ask the pianist for a quick and honest reaction—do you like it? I assure him that he won’t hurt my feelings if he doesn’t. Through the process, the pianist ranked certain pieces higher than others and in the end had a hard time choosing between his top choices. He finally lands on “Cool Cats” by Melody Bober found in the Perfect 10 Book 2.
He then learns the first two lines by rote. After he’s got it, I show him the sheet music—the road map—and we write in reminders to help him remember the correct notes. I also add a video recording of the piece in his Practice Space assignment so he can listen if his ears need some help recalling the piece.
5️⃣ Reinforce off the bench
This was a 45-minute lesson followed by a 15-minute Off Bench Time. The pianist was assigned to work through the levels in the app called Note Quest which conveniently drills the landmarks highlighted in my Grand Staff Map landmark notes! By the end of the lesson, the pianist mastered the location of all landmark notes and was successfully reading intervals from them.
Update!
The Grand Staff Map is invaluable for transfer students. It’s been in my store for a while BUT I recently updated it with ADDITIONAL reading sheets!
Now it not only includes the map shown above and other more colorful maps but reading sheets that feature steps and skips from all landmarks. If you aren’t familiar with them, they don’t sound all that pretty. At first, all the answers (the pitch names) are given but they slowly fade away.
The goal behind the sheets levels upward:
Read each line and play the correct notes. Fingering doesn’t matter.
Read each line and play the correct notes with the correct rhythm.
Read each line and play the correct notes with the correct rhythm with a metronome or better yet, rhythm style.
Below you see the three variations available for each level of landmark reading.
If you don’t have the Grand Staff Map and want to learn more, watch a video that explains the entire process. Just click on the button below.
If you already have the Grand Staff Map, then get the bonus sheets.
The bonus sheets include drills for reading steps and skips up and down from all landmark notes.
Here’s a sample of the Level 1 variations.
Time ran out to add in creativity—that will come next time when I ask him to copy my pattern in a five-finger position and then I’ll ask him to create a pattern and I’ll copy his. Next, I’ll ask him to create a pattern in one hand and copy it in his other hand.
This is a quick way to sneak in creativity—-he will hardly notice that his creativity is showing. 🥰
Please share your favorite tips for welcoming new transfer students in the comments below!
