Over the summer I've had an opportunity to think about new approaches to helping my students practise more effectively. I have begun to develop a product which aims to improve upon the process of learning a piano piece and which I will be trialing over the next few weeks. Its purpose is to enable the student to take a more structured approach to practising and to overcome some of the difficulties inherent in the task of playing with both hands together. I have so far tested it with one adult student who also happens to be an experienced secondary school teacher. The key points I took from her feedback after using the product for a couple of days was that it did offer her a clear structure to follow during practice which could also be personalised and that it did make the process of playing with hands together more doable. However, she also felt it had helped with her sense of timing, with her assimilating of the rhythms correctly and that it increased her motivation to practise overall. Needless to say I find this initial response very pleasing and encouraging! I had also noted that her sense of pulse had improved and she was playing with a good deal more fluency with hands together, which she had not been able to achieve before, as many other students have found. Furthermore we both agreed that the product offers to instill a sense of discipline to the approach of practising, whilst at the same time making practice more enjoyable. I am looking forward to pursuing the development of my product over the next few days and giving more students the opportunity to try it out and comment upon any observations.
Without going into details of the central idea or a product outline at this stage, I would also like to note that the student giving the feedback above also commented that it made the practice time more similar to the experience of actually having a lesson and that her practice felt more musical and the in context of the piece she's learning. This piece is English Dance by James Hook from The Joy of First-Year Piano by Denis Agay.
Without going into details of the central idea or a product outline at this stage, I would also like to note that the student giving the feedback above also commented that it made the practice time more similar to the experience of actually having a lesson and that her practice felt more musical and the in context of the piece she's learning. This piece is English Dance by James Hook from The Joy of First-Year Piano by Denis Agay.
