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I would appreciate more thoughts and reflections on my situation with a talented young student.

Background: seven years old, did ABRSM grade 2 a year ago with distinction, moved to the UK, just started with me. Poor at reading. We have now had 4 lessons. My original plan was to teacher her Minuet in G by rote, and work on the reading separately.

What I have discovered:

It's a lot harder to teach by rote than I thought. She insists on playing from the beginning and seems unable to follow if we try to start from the 'c' (which is understandable given she can't read the C). Our progress is very slow.

She really truly can't read and we need to start from scratch. Four lessons in we still can't easily tell a middle C from a D, and B on the bass clef is quite a mystery. Putting her hands on the piano for the start of minuet in G is a bit of a guessing game. Progress is slow.

After I had agreed the Minuet with the family, the father piped up that she had started Fur Elise, but not finished it, and could I help her with it? I replied by email she could play the first page but not the rest, then conveniently forgot about it. Last lesson, she brought out the book with Fur Elise in it, and she's been playing from the full version, not an arrangement. There are markings to the end. By markings I mean, notes written in.

Now I have a major problem with writing in note names to the more advanced sections of Fur Elise, for a student to play. I just believe it is wrong. When they are playing from My First Piano Adventures, I understand the need to occasionally write in notes. But Beethoven is for those who can already read. Or can't read on account of being blind. (Student fully sighted and no indications of dyslexia).

Communication with the parents is difficult due to language problems. I plan to dedicate 10 minutes of the next lesson to discussing progress with them. In the back of my mind I have a couple of thoughts:
- A young student playing that well needs a more experienced teacher. I have taken a student through grade 1, but no further yet.
- There are Suzuki teachers in the area who are more accustomed to teaching by rote (in other words, closer to her first teacher) than I am.

Don't get me wrong - I can teach her, and I want to. I'm just not sure I'm doing absolutely the best thing for her by doing so. I consider myself competent to teach to grade 5, I've just not actually done it yet.

Alongside the difficult pieces, are you also working with some sort of piano primer book? Or theory workbook? I wouldn't abandon this student after just a few lessons. You can shape her learning as you wish, but it sounds as if you're doing fine.

I’m just a lowly little adult student – but reading over what you have written here my reaction is – Why are you beating yourself up over this?? Why are you doubting your abilities?? The problem here is not you – the problem is your student and possibly her parents, though I don’t think that’s very clear.

Let me tell you another true, related story. I have a friend who had the gift of being able to play anything after hearing it. Her Dad was a musician (not piano, trumpet I think). When she was fairly young her parents signed her up for piano lessons. After about a year her Dad became a little suspicious (he worked long hours therefore only saw her practice occasionally). She played very well – but something seemed wrong to him. So he brought home a brand new popular song that she had really never heard before, put it on the music rack, and asked her to play – and it quickly became evident that she could not read a note. His reaction and the Mom’s reaction was that this child had faked out her teacher for about a year – Dad was not amused by this – he was paying the teacher to teach his child. So the young lady was enrolled with another teacher who definitely could not be fooled – and this young student went on to have a career in music education, and professional playing with French horn (which she took up when she was 15).

This student obviously has great memorization skills – at least I would think so, having passed a level 2 exam – and possibly can unconsciously read intervals – you can judge, because you know the exams, what her strengths must be to fake her way through the two levels.

But neither you nor any other teacher will be doing her any favors by letting her continue to avoid learning to read – and I think you know that – which is one reason you are so stressed.

Her parents have to be told that their daughter needs to learn to actually read the music. You can stress her obvious abilities, which have gotten her this far, but if they truly want her to be a pianist – then she must learn to read music. I’m not sure from what you have written if they understand enough about music to see what is wrong – but somebody has to tell them. You can say she needs an intensive period of reading – you can develop some kind of a plan possibly incorporating many types of aids – computer programs, flash cards, games – I don’t know, but I bet you could figure it out. I would treat this as a short term problem involving an intensive short period of time to get her up to the reading level of someone preparing for the level 3 exams (whatever that is).

Both she and her parents don’t have to feel she is moving backwards – you can stress her talents and skills and how much better they will make her musical advancement once this other, critical skill is added. You may find they understand that once it is explained to them. And bringing her up to speed has to be a condition for continuing to teach her.

If the worst happens and the parents disagree then they will need to find another teacher. You could advise them to tell the new teacher that they want their daughter to be taught in a different manner than normal – without learning to read. I personally would not advise you to give them the name of another teacher – you may be saddling someone you respect with the same frustrations you are experiencing.

Peter, we're not working with a primer just now. I had suggested Helen Marlais grade 1 - now I see she would struggle even with that. But the dad was upset (or thought that the kid would be upset) to have a book marked grade 1 when she's already done grade 2. (Now, Marlais grade 1 is nowhere near ABRSM grade 1).

I have left them with a sight-reading book called 'pre-grade 1', and no one has protested yet.

And yes, I'm using a theory workbook.

The problem is precisely that they see anything other than Fur Elise as a backward step.

I appreciate what you say, Dina, but I have told them. For cultural reasons it's very hard to gauge what they understand of what I say. They are simply too polite to openly disagree or say 'no'. I have told them she needs to learn to read, but I think they either don't see it as a priority, or don't know how to help her.

And I do feel pressure, because she played real music, to get her playing something real and challenging.

Maybe I should insist on using a primer?

Why not pursue two parallel tracks? Give her some popular music to play by rote, while having her focus more heavily on reading music. Instead of asking her to play beethoven, give her some blues or jazz pieces where the sound & some level of improvisation is much more important than interpreting the notation. That will give her some fun music to hone her natural skills with. It will give you some breathing room to get her to develop her reading skills. Ask her to compose a line or two, and write it down.

BTW this is coming from a lowly rock and blues guitar player :-) The skill of playing what you hear, or improvising is also pretty important.

How about doing some parallel tracks like rlinkt suggests but instead of giving her a method book that announces its level on the cover and first page – how about making up your own book just for her – I took a look at the Etude book edited by Marlais and the Repertoire book edited by Faber and Faber, my current study materials, and the inside pages just have a meaningless code at the bottom of the pages.

My Walgreens has some really neat three hole white binders about one half inch thick that open flat and you can slide in anything you want under the plastic on the front cover. Then you could take Etudes and Pieces from any books and three hole punch them and put them in her special book. Maybe???

Oh, and how about special recognition for each stage of the learning to read process as you would structure it. A special page in her special book where the date of each achievement can be listed so she sees progress and her parents see progress. Or stickers to put next to each item – or something that motivates talented kids nowadays – You can really let your imagination run wild here and check your own inner child.

One more thought – from your title it seems we are talking about someone with an Asian cultural background?? Usually, there is a great deal of respect for teachers in that culture – perhaps because of the language barrier you are unable to tap into that – so … is there anyone else in your circle who could help get through the barrier and perhaps also give you some idea of what will motivate and please the parents and the child?? Or does someone in your circle know somebody??

Ok -

Only helping half the problem - but perhaps try giving something that can be done away from the piano. Have you tried suggested the child learns some theory?

I've found that daughters sight reading has dramatically improved with her theory (lots of practice of looking at a stave and writing out notes, thinking about which ones are which etc etc). Getting her thinking about music without the aural feedback from playing really helps build some mental pathways to the manuscript - skills that *do* help when she finally looks up from the keyboard and tries to decode the music!

For a bit of fun consider "Staff Wars" from here (kind of a 'note identification' tetris-like challenge): http://www.themusicinteractive.com/TMI/Downloads

Kids love it - and their natural competitive nature and desire for a 'high score' means they'll play it over and over again and really learn!

Of course - there's a huge gap between knowing a dot on the page is a "G" and knowing where and when to play in on the keyboard - but its a great step in the right direction.

rlinkt - There's lots we can learn from the guitar traditions, you are quite right. But this little girl's needs are much more basic. I am already working on two fronts (Bach/Petzold and reading) and I certainly don't want to open a 3rd one just now. I am even considering whether I should suspend the Minuet in G until such time as her reading is better. That would be one way of getting the family's attention.

Reading music is not essential for some guitar genres, but it is for classical piano, and that is what this kid is playing.

Dina, you are spot on, Asian background, and no I don't know anyone who can 'tap in' - neither do I especially want to involve someone else. I can provide her with some of my own materials, but somehow I don't feel like writing my own method book, just to spare them the effort of buying their own. That may sound harsh.

Ok, so what I'm wondering is, should I backtrack at this point at stop teaching the Minuet? Just teach reading. Get them to focus on this? I can easily say that when I agreed to teach her the Minuet I didn't realise the reading situation was as bad as it is (true) and that progress with both has been slow (also true). Then if they want to get a new teacher because they hate me, they can go ahead, but at least I'll have done what seemed reasonable.

I just hate the thought of that kid not learning new material. Anything she will be able to read will be so beginner-ish.

Dadagain, yes we do some of that stuff, but I think probably not nearly enough. I asked the dad to get her doing some online games (I couldn't get the staffwars to work, but there are others) but I haven't actually checked they are doing them.

Ok, here's the deal. Basically I've let myself be intimidated by the dad. Will make sure we have computer access for next lesson.

It is so frustrating. What is holding her back is note recognition.

This is exactly why I was suggesting giving her playing material where the ear is an important component, while focusing on learning to read. I completely agree with you that reading skills must precede learning classical piano.

FWIW - I'd be hugely surprised if Fur Elise wasnt far too advanced (Grade 2 a year ago means she'd be at best grade 4 now?).

There's no way someone playing grade 4 pieces (and not reading) can do a decent job of Fur Elise. Yes they can play the first page - but the middle section is tough. Better to work on something she can complete than play bits of something! (It'd be like playing the first 16 bars of Rach II concerto and then saying - "oh yeah - and then there's the bit I havent learnt yet").

That being said - sometimes its nice to have an ambitious 'target piece' that you have a go at from time to time. I tend to sit and hack away at 1st Movement of the Pathetique sonata quite regularly - but I do recognise it is beyond my current capabilities and always make sure there's something of a more appropriate level I'm working on too.

This is the real issue. I'd say you know exactly what this child needs to make progress. But you're questioning how much to let the tail wag the dog.

My suggestion is to plan an approach that you know will be suitable, and deal with parent complaints if/when they occur.

I've read numerous times in this forum about a particular kind of teaching. Here, the student is choreographed to the hilt for a number of pieces, doing all the actions the way the teacher drills into her, for a relatively small number of pieces. The student plays those pieces impressively, and may also have rather good technique. The students of such a teacher probably impress through their playing at recitals and maybe competitions and such, which makes the teacher looks good, and the parents proud. But while this is going on, the student isn't being taught other skills of musicianship: how to read music, note names, theory, how to basically approach even a simple piece on their own. You get a student who has to be spoon fed all the actions, and has no idea that other sides of making music exist.

If the student gets another teacher, then that teacher has to give what the first one neglected to give, and of course the work of learning to read and such is not glamorous. The ability to read is a hidden ability, so there is nothing to impress the parents who are used to these brilliant instant results. In fact, on the outside it looks like regression. Nor does the student see any reason for it, since what she did before "worked fine" and let her play so impressively.

Btw, this is one reason why the advice of attending recitals for choosing in teacher seems to have a bug in it. What if the students play brilliantly, but there is this kind of background behind it?

Thanks for this rec - I have some students who are going to loooove this. And I'm going to use it (and my own competitive nature) to improve my alto clef reading!

I'd rather send my kids to a teacher whose students all play brilliantly than a teacher whose students are all horrible players. That part is a given.

The overly-choreographed part of the problem will surface later down the road, and by then a teacher-change is in order.

Good. Thanks. I mean I knew it, but sometimes it helps to be told the obvious.

This is exactly what I feel has happened, and I am trying to pick up the pieces. One thing I realise now is I'm struggling not to be openly disrespectful of the previous teacher, in front of the family. But really, Fur Elise? With note names written in? OK, I'll go stick pins in a doll and get this off my chest.

Nice try. Anything she improvises will sound equally beginner-ish. No, really, anything that distracts her from the job of getting to grips with lines and spaces just now is just a distraction.

I do agree with you about aural skills, but right now it's just not a priority for her.

If you heard and saw her play tunes she knows, you'd understand. Just type 'precocious Asian child pianist' into youtube and you'll get the idea.