Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum First lesson tips. Please share.

Okay, who has hacked into Gyro's account?

Just kidding, man, good post ;-)

You got some great great advice up here, I don't know if there's much left to add but I'm in total agreement with the idea that you must get a good method book, You will learn a lot from taking a student through a few levels of a method book. It will help you understand the logic of teaching piano and organize your ideas for future students, and create a structure in your lessons.

About your concern that you might have presented your student with a too challenging piece...I think that it is ok and necessary to make mistakes, and therefore it is ok to say to your student that you want to put aside this piece and get back to it at a later time (when you feel that he's ready for it). It is much better than pursuing it despite your instinct that he's not ready for it. Again, a good method book will help build it up correctly and would work better than random pieces at this point. I personally love the Alfred series...

With time it will become much easier, you will learn how to deal with different students, with different parents, you'll be familiar with more teaching materials, and you'll gain the needed experience and confident.



I couldn't agree with you more...you always have such a great perspective !

I agree with this as well. Definitely set aside the piece you gave to your student. Don't force him to play something that is obviously too hard for him, because that can frustrate a student and make them want to quit. We all have been a little over-ambitious at times, and a good teacher realizes their mistake and corrects it.

Just tell him that you'll be setting this aside for the time being, and give him something more along the lines of what his little fingers can manage.

I just thought I'd give you an idea of how I give my first lesson to complete beginners. Hopefully it will give you something to go on. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong but this method works for me and I never lose a pupil after 1 lesson. I'd be interested in any comments, ideas good or bad. I've kind of just written it as I see it so hopefully it's not too long winded:

As a teacher, I like new pupils to go away with a sense of achievement after their first lesson and most importantly, a big smile on their face. I think it’s important when you start learning, not to be given too many different things, as you won’t take it all in. I think from experience you learn better just having a few tasks to do, rather than trying to squeeze loads of different things in.

So to get absolute beginners started, I normally do the following in a first lesson: -

First off I will make sure the pupil is sitting correctly on the chair. It’s very important that you have good posture being a piano player.

Then I will get them just to play random notes, so I usually show them where middle C is and get them to do a small progression of C D E F G, and get them to repeat this a few times in both their right hand and their left hand.

Then I will show them how to place their hands correctly on the piano….So I usually say that your fingers need to be curled, and not flat. This helps you have better control over the keys. Your shoulders need to be relaxed, your wrist needs to be level with your knuckles and your elbow should be in line with both your wrist and knuckles.

I will then explain about the pattern of notes in music and show how it repeats up the piano, and we do a practical exercise on the piano, so pupils start learning where the notes are. The pattern being A B C D E F G… I will then explain about using MIDDLE C as a base note to always come back to for both TREBLE CLEF AND BASS CLEF.

Then I will explain the importance of CHORDS, and play a few examples on the keyboard. Then what I do is I show them how to work out MAJOR AND MINOR CHORDS using an easy to follow formula. We work out a few together, and put them on a worksheet. I then get them to work out the other half for homework.

I will show them the correct fingering to use for the chords, and get them to play through a few. Then when they come to me the following week, I will get them to play random chords from the ones we worked out, and check the ones that they did for homework are correct. I usually do this, so that I can see that they fully understand what we have done together in the lesson.

So moving on from basic chords, I then explain how to read music, so I will show them how to work out the notes, in the TREBLE CLEF & BASS CLEF. There are simple RHYMES to follow that help pupils remember the notes (TREBLE CLEF BEING – EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FOOTBALL, AND FACE. So the notes are E G B D F & F A C E. Starting from the bottom line working up to the top lines. You have five LINES on a STAVE, each line being a note, and the spaces in-between being notes aswell.

The lines are called LEGER LINES…You also have notes of the stave, and you work these out by counting up or down the leger lines.

The BASS CLEF Rhymes are GREAT BIG DOGS FRIGHTEN AUNTIE so the notes are G B D F A… the notes on the lines) and ALL COWS EAT GRASS for the notes in the spaces.

What we do after going through this is we normally play these notes on the piano. So I get pupils to read these notes of a worksheet that I have prepared.

Then I have a follow on worksheet that has notes in the TREBLE AND BASS. I will send this home for homework and get them to write the notes underneath. The following lesson I get them to play me these notes, so I can see that they are starting to understand the process.

I think this has covered quite a bit, so what we then do is put this into practice. I will show a new pupil a simple piece of music, and we will go through this slowly. So a note learning exercise really. Rhythm is another aspect to grasp, but I usually leave this until the second lesson.

I will get pupils to do this hands separately for the first week, and also explain to them about using the correct fingering. There is normally a guide on the music for them to follow, so I will highlight this and explain the importance of correct fingering when playing the piano.

So there you have it…an introduction to a first piano lesson with myself.

Regards
Samantha
wink

I'll chime in to echo a few things. My first lessons teach much less than samasap teaches, but perhaps my students are younger.

At the first lesson, I - like Gyro mentions - have the students discover the keyboard pattern. Finding patterns is a big deal here in the public school kindergarten, so even my youngest students can do this. I also explain that there is nothing magical about the black or white keys - they are only different to help us find our place. If it were 88 white keys that all looked alike, how would we ever know which was which? Then I show them the dog in the doghouse (as Kriesler mentions) and have them match the pattern to find all the Ds on the piano. They are often still standing at this point. Beginning students are eager to get their hands on the keyboard, so the sooner I get there, the happier everyone will be.

We discuss what it means to move "up" and "down" or "high and low". We might sing a few pitches to feel the difference. (That gives me a clue as to the natural ability to match pitches, too.)

I introduce them to my metronome, "Shirley Tempo", and we discover what a beat is, and how it is notated with quarter notes and half notes. I have basket of rhythm instruments, or sometimes we just clap in time.

I introduce the Piano Adventures method. Many of my students are involved in athletics, so I introduce the books with an analogy with "their" sport. For example, "Lesson" book is like baseball practice - where the coach teaches you how to play the game. "Technique" book is like batting practice, or playing catch - working on individual skills. "Theory" is the rule book. And "Performance" is game time. (I return to on this analogy later on if a student decides, for instance, to not practice technique because "they can already do it.")

We go over sitting position, distance from keyboard, and hand position. They go home with the first couple of pieces in PA to practice. I make sure they understand really basic things, like reading left to right, and noticing that the music notes go up as the keys go up. As you can see, I don't rush the beginning stuff. I learned that the hard way over the years.

I also assign them to "learn the alphabet to G" which, of course, they gleefully announce that they already know. So then, after expressing surprise, I assign them to learn it backwards, which they think is great fun.

I do not introduce any staff reading for the first few lessons, unless the student is a teen or adult.

How much I cover depends on the individual student, of course. If they seem to be getting it quickly, I'll keep going. If not, I slow down and repeat myself a lot.

In later lessons I frequently pull out harder music to illustrate a concept I am teaching. We hunt for middle Cs, or quarter notes, or dynamics, or intervals - whatever. The students really like knowing that what they are learning is "real" and they get a thrill being able to look at something very difficult and understand part of the "code."