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How many of you have pieces that you teach that either consistently sound horrible, when students play them UNTIL these pieces become so simple for them that they are WAY below the level they are currently on?

This is one of a number of "gems" that I'm about to put on my "never gonna teach THIS again" list.

*I* enjoy playing it for my young students, and they seem to enjoy it when I play it for them. But when they play it themselves, the struggle with the passing dissonances (major 7ths). I always think, "OK, I'm going to come back to this later, when they are playing much more advanced music." But when they do become more advanced, I never seem to GET back to such pieces.

<grrrr>

I change things up {for my own sanity!} too often to let that happen lol.

Gary, what I especially love about that Mozart is telling them that he wrote it when he was 5. The expressions on their faces are priceless.

John, I tell kids the same thing, but unfortunately it does not make it sound any better in THEIR hands!

I tell my students that I only teach Fur Elise every 7 or 8 years, and then it has to be one very special, committed student. Some of them really work hard to be the student that gets to play it!

I let anyone play the main theme of Für Elise who is good enough to play it. Even if at times hearing it one more time makes me feel like jumping head first off the nearest tall building.

I'm with you, Gary. Many Advanced Beginners are thrilled to play a "real" Beethoven piece, even if it's only the main theme. Very often it prompts them to work harder to play more difficult pieces.

And besides being such a recognizable classical piece that their family and friends are very impressed when they play, Fur Elise can be a great example of patterns, fingering, etc.

Love that Fur Elise!

Joan

Listening to and teaching pieces like Fur Elise (and all the others Moonlight Sonata/The Entertainer, etc...)comes with the territory of teaching. There are some kids who start playing piano just because they want to reach those sort of "milestone" pieces. Denying them that is almost cruel just because you're tired of hearing it.

I think what our job entails is to show students not only the recognizable tunes that they are familiar with but all of the OTHER great stuff that they don't know. Often students fall in love with pieces they've never heard of and realize that Fur Elise isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread.

~Jennifer Eklund

I didn't say I never teach it, or that I don't let students play the easier arrangements of it.

But truth be told, I've heard so many poor renditions of the true version of this piece that I will only allow students who can learn the entire piece work on the real McCoy.

It's a dangling carrot approach, it's not cruelty, and I'm rather offended that you would suggest such.

Students know that when I give them the green light for such a piece (and it's not the only one in my carrot bag), they are really accomplishing something wonderful. I make a pretty big deal out of it when I assign it and it is incredibly motivating.

Fur Elise is a beautiful piece of music, when played properly, when students have the technique mastered, when they have the emotional maturity to put something into it.

When my younger ladies approach me about learning it, I tell them, of course, but it's quite difficult, actually, and you need to learn a bit more piano before tackling it.

"But my friends all play it."

"No they don't. Here, listen."

"Whoa, I didn't know it sounded like that!"

"Don't worry, you're doing great as a student, and you'll be able to play it like that before you know it. And then your friends will be quite jealous as well."

That usually solves the problem, and sure enough, in a couple of years, they are ready and do learn it.

It's fine you can be offended, but you are the one who said you only teach it once every 7-8 years and that's what I reacted to. Once every 7-8 years means there's not many of your students learning that piece.

~Jennifer

I said that's why I tell my students, not necessarily what I actually do!

A little white lie, perhaps, but it gets them to realize what a serious undertaking that piece is.

Ah, a little "white lying" is part of it.

There is no reason to get offended. I also assumed you barely ever teach it to anyone (Für Elise), and if you made that decision, I could certainly understand it.

Perhaps what Jennifer is saying, and if so I agree, is that allowing students to play things that are VERY famous and well-known, although cliches to us, is often a way of opening them up to more sophisticated, less frequently heard, even more challenging music.

I also don't teach Fur Elise. Everybody who plays it at competitions makes it SO ROMANTIC. Good heavens! It's Beethoven. Get over it. That's why I like Brendel's dry interpretation of Fur Elise. It's a "piano piece." Don't make anything out of it. Don't ooze it out, please.

Another piece I don't teach is Mozart K. 545, first movement. That piece has death traps all over the scale passages. If the kid's fingering is messed up, don't bother.

"Piano piece" does not mean boring. I think Brendel's reading is boring. There has to be something between over-romanticized and dull.

I teach the Mozart. Kids like it. But I would NEVER have a student use it for competition of an audition. I love "death trap".

Playing something like that for judges is like asking to be hanged by the neck, with an audience!!!

What do you mean by making it "so romantic?" Adding rubato? That's uncalled for and doesn't really work. Voicing? Absolutely, but how many teachers voice this appropriately? How many have even thought about it?

Let's take a moment to remember why 'Fur Elise' was written originally, ( although opinions may vary).

Played well, this is a beautiful, ( if often overdone, and badly performed) piece of music.

I have yet to meet a nine year old girl, who doesn't want to learn this piece, or a parent, who does not beam at their offspring's rendition, however it is played.

I was offended because Jennifer suggested that I was cruel(her word) for not teaching it. That is hardly the case.

However, I will not teach it to a student who is not ready for the demands of the piece. When I've judged this piece in competitions, the most common afflictions are overpedaling, lack of unified phrase, inconsistent tempo between sections, lack of balance between melody and accompaniment and insufficient technique to handle the arpeggios. Let's not even talk about how many students lose track of the E-D# figure!

Again this is just a knee-jerk reaction on your part -- I didn't say *you* were cruel -- I said *it* is almost cruel to not allow students to explore this piece. For some students it is a familiar piece like this that sparks motivation and a sense of pride about their piano studies. If they're not ready for the original let them tackle an easier arrangement instead that features just the first section.

Maybe the word "cruel" was harsh, but saying you only teach this piece once every 7-8 yrs--even if it's a lie--was pretty drastic.

Tired of the hostility here and people reading into every word that is typed.

~Jennifer Eklund

PS: to the person who sent me the nasty e-mail off-board about posting under my real name: I don't feel the need to hide under an alias and stand behind everything I post here.