PIANO
PEDAGOGY
FORUM
v. 10, No. 1/January 1, 2007

Erica Minneman
Minneman Piano Studio
3716 N. Prospect St.
Tacoma, WA 98407
eminneman@wamail.net

Discussion Group: "Share Your Favorite Piano Pedagogy and Group Piano Projects that Relate to the Millennial Student"

The Millennial Piano Student differs from piano students of previous generations in many ways. As piano teachers, we are called to teach fundamental piano skills in a variety of ways so as to meet the needs of diverse students. These projects, discussed by teachers in breakout sessions, are examples of ways in which we can teach today's students essential skills in ways they find meaningful.

Craig Vickio, in the keynote address, outlined several unique characteristics of millennial generation students. He described students born since 1982 as comfortable with structure, team-oriented, techno-savvy, and sheltered. Vickio also suggested these students need to be challenged to take ownership of their education and to develop independence. The following projects discussed at the conference breakout session are organized according to the characteristics of the millennial student to which they apply.

Creating Structure, Inspiring Organization
Dr. Vickio pointed out that today's piano students are comfortable with structure. They enjoy knowing exactly what is expected and frequently feel uncomfortable in unstructured situations. Through these pedagogy projects, we can provide students with needed structure or challenge them to create their own structure within open-ended assignments.

• Syllabus and project structure. Several teachers emphasized the importance of providing students with syllabi that are highly structured. By carefully outlining project requirements and expectations, teachers can facilitate student work.
• Piano pedagogy notebook. Many piano pedagogy courses require that students develop a notebook of materials relating to music teaching. Course notes, handouts, projects, music reviews, etc. frequently form large parts of these notebooks. The notebook can be a valuable reference tool for the student long after the course is over. Often, millennial students are uncomfortable with the freedom involved in selecting materials to include in their notebooks. By providing students with notebook models or giving students lists of types of materials to include, teachers can help students develop their own structure with this project.
• Repertoire lists. Several teachers indicated that they ask students to compile repertoire lists of elementary, intermediate, and advanced level pieces. Some teachers give the projects to student groups, assigning one student to each style period. This type of highly structured project appeals to millennial students.
• Discovering resources. Making an annotated bibliography of library materials that relate to piano pedagogy helps students learn about pedagogical topics and provides awareness of valuable resources. At the same time, this project can help students develop organizational skills.
• Video self-evaluation of teaching. In this project, piano pedagogy students are required to record lessons or segments of lessons that they teach which they then review to provide a self-evaluation of their work. Students are instructed to include positive qualities that they demonstrate in teaching and areas that they feel need improvement. This open-ended project can be given a structure that appeals to millennial students by providing them with a checklist form to guide their self-evaluation process.
• Design a beginning piano method book. The name of this project says it all! Students develop the music, explanations of concepts, and exercises used to teach a beginning student. Moreover, they must develop organizational skills as they order materials in a logical teaching progression.

Fostering Teamwork, Independence and Creativity
All students benefit from being able to work well individually and in groups with their peers. Millennial students enjoy working in teams with other students, but frequently feel uncomfortable working independently. Some of the projects below can be used to capitalize on students' team building skills; others are specifically designed to help students achieve greater independence and creativity.

• Team method reviews. Teachers can foster teamwork by requiring each student to review method books or other materials with another classmate. Students tend to think more deeply about the materials being studied when they can discuss their ideas with a colleague than they do when they work alone. They also tend to develop their own ideas about materials, rather than merely adopting opinions found in books and internet articles.
• Jazz improvisation teams. A group piano teacher at one breakout session has had much success in team building through a project involving jazz improvisation. In this project, students are grouped as trios: one student plays a bass line, one comps jazz chords, and one improvises using the blues scale. Students develop skills in working together musically, communicating verbally about music, and helping one another learn to play better.
• Team composition project. Using WebCT or Blackboard, one group piano student posts a theme he has composed. Each student in the class downloads the student's melody and creates his own variation on the theme, which he then posts back to the group. Students then discuss the theme and the variations created by classmates over the internet.
• Developing a philosophy of teaching. In this project, students are asked to elucidate their personal philosophy of teaching. Teachers can stimulate students' thought processes by posing specific questions, such as: Who should you teach? What topics should piano students learn? What lesson format(s) should be used? What music should students learn? Why is music education important? This project challenges students to think independently about music learning and to present and defend their opinions concerning piano teaching.
• Composition for the piano studio. Several piano pedagogy teachers indicated that they emphasize student composition in projects. One teacher asks students to compose pieces of various levels of difficulty. This helps students more deeply understand the demands of different difficulty levels and fosters their creativity. Another teacher requires piano pedagogy students to compose scale accompaniments.

Encouraging Student Ownership
Today's piano students are often receptive to guidance from authority figures. However, they have little experience with forging their own paths. By developing projects that encourage students to take ownership of their education, we give students the opportunity to build confidence and self-reliance.

• Curricula that meet student interests. One teacher said that she has graduate piano pedagogy students fill out a survey on the first day of class to learn what the students hope to learn from the class. The teacher then uses this information to mold course content.
• Exploring your past. In this project, each piano pedagogy student is asked to recall a piece that he was successful in playing in the past and present it to his peers. In the presentation, the student discusses what he was able to accomplish through his study of the piece and how he did it. This project helps students develop ownership of their musical development.

Teaching through "Real World" Projects
Dr. Vickio described students of the current generation as sheltered. Because they grew up in protected environments, many millennial students lacked opportunities for developing problem solving skills. Piano teachers can facilitate the development of these vital skills through projects based on "real world" scenarios.

• Students interviewing students. Today's piano pedagogy students can learn about the needs of millennial piano students by interviewing pre-college and adult leisure piano students. Through asking open-ended questions, piano pedagogy students can learn about what piano students value about their current teacher and music study.
• Parent interviews. Piano teachers are part of a service industry, and parents of piano students are their clients. Piano pedagogy students gain valuable information about how to be successful business people and teachers by interviewing parents to discover what they value in a teacher, what they feel is important to their child's music study, and what they have found to be successful with their child.
• Group piano tutoring internship. At some schools, piano pedagogy students serve as tutors for group piano students who fail their piano proficiency examinations. The tutor is responsible for giving the group piano student individualized instruction on materials selected and provided by the group piano instructor. This provides piano pedagogy students the opportunity to work with intermediate level college-aged piano students.
• Master class series. To facilitate this project the piano pedagogy instructor invites local piano teachers to send elementary and intermediate piano students to perform in master classes taught by piano pedagogy students. Piano pedagogy students benefit not only from the opportunity to teach in a master class situation; they also have the opportunity to observe and analyze the teaching of their peers.
• Group class series. Through this project, piano pedagogy students provide group classes for local piano students. The piano pedagogy teacher contacts local piano instructors to recruit pre-college piano students to participate in the classes. Piano students are carefully assigned to groups of six based on the length of their piano study, their age, and the musical concepts that they have learned. Piano pedagogy students develop a curriculum, select materials for the classes, and teach all class segments. Each group class is organized around a theme (i.e. review of 4ths and 5ths), and class activities include sight-reading, theory, ear training, ensemble, technique, and creative activities. All class teaching is video taped, and class teachers review the tapes together to determine what activities worked well and which could be improved. The teaching team then plans the next class.
• Design a piano studio or a community music school. In each of these projects, students are required: to create studio policies, a sample budget, and marketing strategies for the business; to select equipment and materials used in the business; and to describe how physical space in the studio or school with be utilized. One teacher interviews each student about his or her studio plan, asking probing questions and generally playing devil's advocate.
• Networking for the future collegiate teacher. By having piano pedagogy students work as interns with local teachers or requiring student attendance at conference sessions and performances, the pedagogy teacher can help students learn to make the personal contacts that are necessary for success as a collegiate teacher.
• Adjudication preparation. Piano pedagogy students observe adjudicators at festivals and competitions and give written commentary on how the adjudicator interacts with the student, the types of comments made to the student, and the criteria used in judging.
• Professional development projects. Conference attendees mentioned several projects that help piano pedagogy students develop materials that will help them to secure employment. Some teachers have students prepare resumes. Others require that students develop teaching portfolios for MNTA certification. Additional professional materials that frequently are evaluated by piano pedagogy instructors include studio websites, online job portfolios, and online piano studio marketing materials.
• Teaching preparation exercises. To help student teachers learn how to plan lessons, one teacher has piano pedagogy students do research on several intermediate level pieces. Students research and report information concerning the piece's composer, level of difficulty, and technical demands. Finally, the student lists what he or she would address when teaching the piece.
• Intermediate repertoire study. In this project, piano pedagogy students learn to play various intermediate level piano pieces and then receive lessons on the music from both their pedagogy and applied piano instructors. After having lessons on the music, these student teachers are well prepared to teach the works to their own students.
• Piano technique scavenger hunt. One of the most important skills of a piano teacher is the ability to find music that will challenge or reinforce specific technical skills. In this project, students are given a list of technical problems. They must then find repertoire pieces that could be used to help a student overcome each technical challenge.
• Mix and match methods, or the Supplement game. In this project, the pedagogy instructor has students explore beginning piano methods while imagining how different materials could be used to supplement or complement one another.
• Modifying lesson plans. Piano teachers must be prepared to teach students with a variety of different strengths and weaknesses. To help pedagogy students become flexible in teaching essential skills to a variety of students, one teacher gives a project in which students develop a basic lesson plan for a beginning student and then modifies it to meet the needs of a dyslexic student. The same basic lesson plan could be modified again to be used with an ADD/ADHD student.

Challenging the Techno-Savvy Student
Millennial piano students are frequently very adept at using modern technology. The internet and computer technology have always been a part of most of their lives. Projects can help students learn how to use technology effectively to do anything from creating Power Point tutorials to advertising their private studio online.

• Creating student tutorials. One piano pedagogy teacher requires that students use Power Point to create three student tutorials, one for an elementary piano student, one for an intermediate student, and one for an advanced student. Tutorial slides include information used to introduce a new repertoire piece, review an old piece, or complete a creative activity.
• Creating a website. Several teachers give projects in which piano pedagogy students develop websites.
• Using the iPod for practice. One teacher designed a project in which students are challenged to find innovative ways to use the iPod in their practice.
• Dream Studio Grant Proposal. In this project, students are required to write a grant proposal to obtain financing for equipment used to enhance their teaching or studio operations. Equipment listed in the proposal can include hardware, software, and keyboards. Pedagogy students may choose to request equipment for use in studio marketing or operations, professional development, group teaching, or student performances. Pedagogy students research current technology and resources, list skills that they will need to develop in order to use the equipment, provide a time frame for gaining these skills, articulate how student-learning outcomes will be enhanced by the materials, and give the total cost of the equipment.
• Design a piano lab. A teacher requires that pedagogy students provide a plan for a complete piano lab, including all essential equipment. Students are required to keep all purchases within a specified budget.
• Student designed independent projects. Pedagogy students frequently have better ideas about how to incorporate technology into their teaching than their instructors do. Consequently, some pedagogy teachers let students design and execute their own technology projects.
• Putting Music Theory Software in Context. In this project, pedagogy students fully explore music theory software programs and then determine how concepts presented and tested in the software correspond to and align with concepts that appear in the state music teachers' theory syllabus.
• Evaluating websites. As preparation for this project, teachers lead class discussions in which students learn how evaluate the credibility of a variety of websites. Then students explore the internet, select a few websites, and evaluate them. The project culminates with in-class tours of selected websites and discussions of the credibility and value of the sites.

Interestingly, several teachers mentioned that they found their students to be too technology-savvy. To make sure that students explore a variety of resources when preparing papers and assignments, some teachers require that students cite at least two non-internet sources.

The many projects discussed in breakout sessions give specific ways in which piano pedagogy and group piano instructors can meet the needs of millennial piano students. By building on their characteristic strengths and bolstering their weaknesses, college teachers can prepare today's piano student to meet the needs of future generations.

© 2007 University of South Carolina School of Music