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This next question will prove my naivety. When you show the flash card, are you asking for the letter name response or the key on the piano response? Both I assume?

I actually prefer to use those flash cards with two notes, and ask students to say the interval (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th) before they identify the letter names. For the sake of developing stronger reading abilities, intervallic reading (reading of shapes, direction, and distance) is extremely important.

And, yes, I'd ask the student to play the notes on the piano, too.

Consecutively? Like if a parent were using these flash cards at home, might it go something like this:
- show flash card
- child names the note(s) [and interval]
- child then plays this note / these notes/intervals on the piano?

With just these three things:

1) Reading
2) learning to use the ear
3) Developing really good fingering

ONE always seems to lag behind.

I read very fast from the start, and could play almost anything by ear.

My fingering was AWFUL.

The problem: if you have a "piano dad" who is really sharp, things just flow. I have one.

I usually discourage parents from sitting in lessons, and after age eight they usually do not WANT to be in them. Children split their attention between me and the "helpful parent", who usually does not understand what is going on.

However, in the case of the "sharp father", I not only let him attend all lessons, I ASK him to be here. He is a baseball coach, and he totally "gets" my strategies. Most likely he would have been a very fine player himself if he had taken lessons himself as a child.

BUT: Can you imagine how far parents can screw up things like flash cards if they use them incorrectly? <wince>

You can mix it up, in any order:
1) intervals,
2) letter names,
3) press down the correct keys.

And later on we can add finger numbers, just to reinforce the fact that each note can be played by any finger.

Hey, at least they try. I have a few parents who absolutely refuse to try, and their kids are "surviving" piano on their own.

Parents who won't help with flash cards??

I'd be happy if they helped their kids set TIMES to practice.

I hate flash cards and never use them for anything, yet somehow my kids are quite good at reading music. 8 year old son and 10 year old daughter can even read music on 3 clefs without ever using flash cards. There are other ways to learn than flash cards. My kids know their times tables without using them too.

The point here is that notes have to be learned. How we teach it (as teachers) or how *you* teach it, as a parent, does not matter IF the method being used is working.

For the record, I don't use flash cards, ever. But different strokes for different folks...

Indeed. And you managed to say it without dripping condescension.

Yes. I have students "play and say" the note on the card. I do this for two reasons - it gives me feedback on both naming notes and finding them on the keyboard, and I'm a firm believer in connecting the brain, hands, and mouth together.

A side benefit is that once students are used to saying something and playing at the same time, counting aloud becomes much easier, too.

Also, I believe that flash cards must be timed. I don't use them for recognition, I use them mostly for speed. Far too many people ignore this aspect of note learning. I've found that to be a good reader, a student should be able to go through 30 flash cards in 60 seconds. (Yes, my 10 year olds can do 30 flash cards in 60 seconds.)

Another reason why timed flash card drills work for some kids is that it becomes a game.

I understand some people use flash cards and some don't. "Whatever works..." After reading the interesting discussion above I believe I will add them to my son's practice. I am quite sure he will love competing with his mother in this arena. I'm also quite sure that in no time at all, he will happily defeat me on the timed drills (and-- ah yes-- learn the notes/intervals et cetera at the same time). Thank you to all.

Personally, I agree 100 percent.

I agree sight reading is important...but The most important skill in piano? I can think of several things that trump that, like learning how to play expressively so that what they feel can come through the piano, good technique so they are able to play whatever they want pain-free, exposure to all styles and different composers so that they can come to love classical music (which I feel is among the most beautiful music around, and which also is the most demanding technically).

Sight reading will help a student learn a piece faster and not get bogged down with reading through something note-by-note slowly. But true enjoyment from playing (IMO) doesn't come from being able to just sit down and play, but to work on a piece, really learn it well and be able to express your own feelings through it. One can sight read expressively, but it's always much more expressive when you don't have to really read it anymore and you can focus on how you want it to sound. I really don't know if it's what I would put at the top of the list.

I have a question for all of you who have remarked that 1-2 pieces assigned per week is not enough. I have always made it a point to go over each piece I assign to a student during the lesson, so that I am sure that they will practice it correctly and not come back to me next week having practiced using incorrect rhythm, bad fingering, etc., etc. -- all of which has to be corrected during the lesson and usually results in the student needing to spend additional time on the piece.

When you have the students working on four or more pieces at a time, how do you even get through all of them in a 1/2 hour lesson? Or don't you have them play all of them every week.

I had one student come to me recently whose former teacher had assigned several pieces each week. I told him that I usually stuck to one or two, and he breathed a sigh of relief because he said that he often had trouble practicing his pieces correctly with his old teacher because she hadn't taken the time to go over the piece with him before it was assigned.

I've been teaching for 13 years, and I think I am pretty good at running an "efficient" lesson, i.e., keeping the students focused on what we're working on,keeping chatting to a minimum, etc. but I would find it impossible to go over 3-4 pieces during a 1/2 hour lesson. So, I'm really curious as to how you guys do it.

Of course, it depends on the student! I have some students who can't do much more than ONE freakin' piece (8 bars) per week. I literally have to make sure they pressed down all the right notes before I let them go home and practice on their own (if they practice at all). These are students whose parents also don't take piano very seriously.

The assiduous students deserve more pieces. 7-8 short pieces for them will be just right for a week's worth of work. 3-4 pieces if they are intermediate and above, and obviously they will just work on parts of each piece, unless they're testing.

And then there's a wide range of students between the two extremes. I adjust their workload according to their practice habits and musical inclinations.

Well, the trick is teaching 45-minute lessons. Imo, 30 minutes just isn't enough time to do everything I need to do with a student.

I believe in 1 hour lessons past the first year. There's more to piano than just playing it. Ear training, theory, and composition are important too.