Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum How Many Books? Too Few? Too Many?

How many books do teachers in here use for the typical student?
In your experience, how many books are too many? How few are too few?
To work on at the same time, that is.

Here's an example...

High School Student - Intermediate Level:
• Thompson Piano Book - Level Three
• Hanon - Complete Book
• Schaum Note Speller - Book 3 (Harmony Lessons)
• Schumann Op. 68 - Album For The Young
• Adele For Piano - Hal Leonard

Concerns:
• cost of books
• time allotted for each book throughout the month

The student above is just an example. Not a real student.
There could be other book variations, depending on age and musical preferences.

Thanks.

Here in Canada we are using 3.8 books per piano student. I think it's a government ministry directive.

I have never, ever paid any attention to how many or how few books a student has. My focus is on their needs, progress, interests, etc. That's what drives their technical and repertoire studies.

We do theory studies in our monthly group lessons, and I usually print out what they need for that, and as for the Hanon, well, I've used it once in 35 years of teaching, and I deeply regret the needless pain and suffering I caused the student.

I agree with this both as a student, and as a trained teacher. I'd go further to say, John, that first you are starting with what you know about how the piano is played, what kinds of skills can be developed at different stages, and your knowledge of pedagogy for putting it all together. You know what you want to teach in general, you consider where that particular student is at, and then you pull in your tools (the books or pieces) to do the job. Am I right?

Even if you use that number of books for this theoretical student, keep in mind that most likely the student isn't *buying* them all at the same time, so it's not nearly the sudden expense that your list makes it appear.

Hi Florentin,

I think flexiblity is needed in this area. I use a range of 1 to 5, with an average of 3 or 4 books at a time.

I have found that when I suggest an additional book and the parent scowls, that I have a hint that the parent thinks it's too many books. I only had this happen once. In hindsight, I think they were just hanging on with me through the summer and planned to switch teachers in the fall and therefore did not want to go with my suggestions. So maybe it wasn't an issue of too many books.

I find that I have to slow down, and allow kids time to complete books because I am tempted to add more, and as you say they need time to get to all of the assignment.

+1

Hi Florentin. May I ask a couple of questions: this student, he has one lesson a week? How long? Has he been studying with you for some time. Is he a good student, that is is he well motivated and has he shown a sustained interest, does he practise well and intelligently, is he disciplined? Does he like Schumann? And does he have something of a musical ambition, I mean does he appreciate the usefullness of studying technique à la Hanon?

I am not a music teacher, and I know that you adressed your question to teachers like yourself. But having worked for a number of years with my kids in their musical studies and having watched quite a few others these questions present themselves to me. My impression is that there is a lot of material in this list, and a kid would have to be somewhat seriously seriously engaged in his studies with you.

By the way, a Romanian musician: as you surely know, here in Europe in many cities you encounter Romanians playing in the street, absolutely brillant musicians. I remember seeing a kid, a pre-teen, sitting on the sidewalk playing a little Casio toy keyboard, 32 keys maybe, accompanying his father who played the violin, the kid just belting out jazzy chords. There is clearly in Romania an important musical tradition. The little presentation of yourself that you gave in another thread about sight-reading, I suspect that it doesn't really let in on your level of musicianship.

My daughter started with 2 books and slowly more have been added in. She doesn't have every lesson with all the books (and I gave away her beginner lesson books). There was one - a Christmas book that they never used. The teacher offered to buy it back (it was a level one and she is finishing level 5) but my daughter said she wanted to keep it. She likes to be able to play all the songs well without practicing - they are festive.

In one lesson she uses no more than 3 books. She brings all her current books though (six?), just in case.

My exam students work on 3 to 5 pieces at a time, and since I don't like dumb anthologies, they most likely have 3 to 5 books.

But I like Peter's idea of 3.8 books. I think California has a minimum requirement of 4.17 books. The less responsible teachers here in California will also make their students buy a CM theory book, a CM theory book answer key (Hey, all the answers are there, go teach yourself!), and a written-out version of the CM technique (because we can't possibly "cover" all the required skills in 30-minute lessons).

But my child has an IEP so her 4.17 books would have to come with accommodations. :P

One of my piano students needs an IEP for piano!!! We don't hear that term IEP tossed around here very often.

0.0 funny
and you don't even need a "government directive" to figure that one out

And IEP jokes?
Really?
Have you ever taught a student with an IEP?

Maybe we can throw in a couple of jokes about disabled piano students as well.
That would fit right in.

100.00 % rude

whaat?

what is this place?

Uh, oh, back to the original serious question. I think 3-4 books at a time is plenty for most students, whether kids or adults. For beginning kids, maybe 2-3.

For those unfamiliar with special ed and the IEP reference, it simply means an "individualized education plan". In the situation of private lessons, one would hope each student is receiving an individualized plan.

I'm not a piano teacher.

My daughters have around 8-12 books in their bags. They definitely touch all of those books over a 3 month period. That sounds like about the same number of books when I was a piano student many years ago.

Breakdown:
1 anthology
1 etude
3-5 single composer books
2 theory (one serious and one fun)
3 tiny sight-singing (although they're so small, they could be one book)
2 repertoire books for sight-reading lent by teacher - changes every 3-4 weeks
1 sight-reading exercise book
1 binder

One of my girls wanted a cute piano tote for her birthday. I scoured the web for a nice piano tote. Piano tote bag makers don't seem to understand what needs to go into a piano bag. Most of these bags can fit maybe one or two piano books. They wouldn't even fit the 4.17 minimum mentioned here.

Nice definition change...

IEP students are students with special needs (physical, mental, emotional) for whom the educator has to alter the lesson and the assessment.

Not all students receive IEP instruction.
In fact, a small percentage do.

Saying that all students should be on an individual plan is a feeble attempt to redefine what IEP really stands for.

But I digress.
I realize a newcomer could never win this argument in here.
Not even trying to.

I wish people would just drop it and answer the original question.
Or perhaps find a different thread where you can show how witty you all are.
Thanks.