Victoria Johnson is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Piano Pedagogy at Louisiana State University, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate piano pedagogy and supervises the group piano and piano preparatory programs. Dr. Johnson holds a Ph.D. in music education from the University of Oklahoma, an M.M. in performance from Bowling Green State University, and a B.A. in music and German from Luther College, with additional studies at the Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat, Munster, Germany. She has written articles for Keyboard Companion and AlfredŐs Piano Rendezvous and regularly gives presentations on repertoire by women composers, musician wellness, and teaching beginning piano students. Dr. Johnson previously served on the faculties of Luther College, Decorah, IA, and the Harper Music Academy and North Central College Piano Academy in suburban Chicago.
Victoria Johnson
School of Music
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
225.578.3270
vjohns7@lsu.edu
Panelists:
Jane Magrath, University of Oklahoma
Sam Holland, Southern Methodist University
Mary Craig Powell, Capital University
Jane Magrath, Sam Holland, and Mary Craig Powell are well known for their successful teaching of beginning technique. The following is a summary of the panel discussion in which they shared their strategies for developing this expertise in novice teachers.
Jane Magrath described the technical approach she teaches in pedagogy courses as eclectic, which allows it to be used with any beginning piano method. She groups technical work into four categories: warm-ups (examples are five-finger patterns for young students and double thirds exercises for advanced students); scales and arpeggios; miscellaneous exercises (such as octave studies, chord studies, and expansion/contraction exercises); and etudes. The majority of technical exercises are taught by rote, sometimes with the aid of a chart guideline. The goals of this technical work are dexterity, sound control, and development of the hand.
Magrath encourages pedagogy students to consider early level technical work as leading towards general pianism. To this end, the pedagogy class generates a list of the skills necessary for performing an advanced level piano piece. This list includes not only technical skills such as playing legato and staccato, executing octaves, and maneuvering leaps, but also musical demands such as inflection, voicing within the hand, and projection of character. Magrath believes that it is crucial that pedagogy students develop a step-by-step routine for teaching these skills to young pianists.
In the very first lessons with young beginners, Jane Magrath uses rote pieces such as "Billy Boy" (in Finger Starters) and "Engine, Engine Number Nine" (in Music Pathways Solos A) by Lynn Freeman Olson to promote freedom at the piano. Students play these pentatonic pieces with "hammer taps," large forearm gestures with the third finger supported by the thumb. Once this movement is secure, students use smaller gestures called "wrist knocks" (also with a supported third finger) to play pieces including "Ebenezer Sneezer" (in Olson's Songs for Our Small World).
Later in the first semester of piano study, Magrath introduces five-finger patterns using Olson's "Just Like Me" (in Songs for Our Small World). The goals of this five-finger work are legato and an even touch. The piece is played hands separately then hands together, eventually in all major keys. The focus gradually shifts to phrasing, hand position, and endurance, and five-finger pattern variants are introduced. In assigning five-finger variants and other technical studies, Magrath encourages pedagogy students to ask the following questions: "What technical exercise should I give the student?" and "What should I ask him/her to do with what I've assigned?" Student teachers should have strong pedagogical reasons for assigning five-finger pattern variants and exercises, rather than assigning them merely for the variety's sake. The early levels of Magrath's Technical Skills series provide many five-finger pattern variants. Additionally, pedagogy students can create their own combinations.
Jane Magrath introduces hand-over-hand arpeggios fairly soon in a young student's piano study, to promote coordination. She believes that they are motivational for the student, as they are physically fun to play and sound impressive. Chord progressions are also assigned rather early, blocked then broken. Students play these in many different keys, not just those found in the method book.
In closing, Magrath reiterated that she urges pedagogy students to ask themselves what their beginning students need to learn in order to eventually play the advanced repertoire, and then follow a step-by-step plan to move students towards that goal. This usually involves going beyond what is included in method books. Most importantly, when teaching beginning technique, Jane Magrath advises pedagogy students to "make it fun" and "make it sound good!"
In teaching beginning teachers to teach beginning technique, Sam Holland shares his wife's household rule: "Nothing stays that isn't known to be useful or believed to be beautiful." He believes that inexperienced teachers often clutter piano lessons with items that are neither useful nor beautiful, particularly in the area of technique. They teach as if shopping at a flea market, choosing a little of this and a little of that, without a clear vision of the desired result.
Holland believes that it is especially challenging for advanced pianists to teach early level technique because they are so far removed from the beginning. They often have difficulty cutting through to the fundamentals of technique that are important at both the beginning and end of piano study. Breaking these elements down so that young students can experience repeated success is a further challenge.
Holland pointed out that inexperienced teachers are frequently unaware of the psychology of teaching technique and do not realize that beginning technique can be taught very effectively in a group setting. He shared a video clip of Ted Cooper (of the New School for Music Study) teaching a group of seven year olds in their second year of lessons. In this particular lesson, the children were learning to cross the second finger over the thumb. According to Holland, the video excerpt showed the following characteristics of successful teaching of beginning technique:
1. It preserves what is natural.
2. It begins with sound and proceeds to feeling.
3. It includes lots of modeling, imitation, and rehearsal.
4. It finds the magic in something ordinary.
Holland concluded by saying that teaching technique cannot be experienced in the abstract. Instead, pedagogy students learn to teach technique by observing the pedagogy teacher and other experienced teachers. Most importantly, they learn to teach technique by doing it themselves, in supervised teaching situations and on their own.
Mary Craig Powell is a well-known Suzuki specialist, but teaches pedagogy through a variety of approaches. In her segment of the panel discussion, Powell focused on the Suzuki method of teaching technique, which is used by many traditional teachers.
According to Suzuki, the beginning is the most important time in musical study. The four variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" form the foundation of the Suzuki technical approach. The variations, all taught by rote, are played an average of three to six months by beginning students; the goals of this work are ear-training, technical development, and development of musicality. In her teacher training courses, Powell focuses on how to implement the Suzuki technical approach. She finds that although teachers know technique themselves, they need to learn how to communicate these ideas to the child. Therefore, she emphasizes a child-like approach to teaching technique, one that uses lots of imagery and creative ideas. She finds it important that teachers have several ways to reach the child, such as modeling, working on a closed keyboard cover, and having the child "take a ride on the teacherŐs wrist."
Powell addresses posture first, including bench height, foot support, distance from the keyboard, and sitting position. Next, hand position is discussed. Powell advises that the child should have a loose, natural hand that feels like a wet washrag or a stuffed animal; an arm resembling a straight road; and fingers that feel like rainbow arches or a bridge. The child first experiences these sensations away from the piano (on the closed keyboard cover, for example), since tension may creep in when the child approaches the piano.
Powell briefly described the technical focus of each of the four Twinkle variations. In Twinkle A, which begins with four sixteenth notes, students should move from the elbow; the speed with which this variation starts requires that students are loose and free. Twinkle B should be played with a wrist motion. For this variation, Powell uses the analogy of a "trampoline that gives a little and then springs back up." Twinkle C is played closer to the keys, with a bit of wrist and forearm movement. Finger legato is the focus of Twinkle D, with the wrist used for arm weight.
Additional topics that Powell addresses in teacher training courses are tone production, potential technical problems and possible solutions, teaching tools, balance, dynamics, and shaping phrases. She stresses that technical work is a "preview of coming attractions." In other words, concepts that will be found in the repertoire are covered much earlier in technique studies.
In summary, it is interesting to note that although the panel members come from different teaching systems and had not discussed their presentations before the conference, several common themes emerged. First of all, the advanced repertoire is used as a thoughtful guide to choosing what is taught as technique for beginners. Second, early technical work begins with large gestures and progresses to smaller motions. Third, there is a focus on musical aspects of technique, such as tone production, phrasing, and balance. Finally, when teaching beginning teachers to teach beginning technique, all three panel members address not only what to teach, but how to teach it.
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