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Dear forum friends

I'm an interested reader of this forum, although I'm not contributing much myself because of lack of time. But now, I would be very grateful for your inputs concerning the following 'problem':

At my school (gymnasium, pre-university level), we are teaching instrumental lessons of 22 minutes (please, don't laugh, it's true). The lessons are part of the curriculum and the students get grades for their playing after each semester.
Now luckily, this is going to change and from the next summer on, the lessons will be 45 minutes.
I have been teaching long lessons before, but those were mostly kids - here, I'm teaching teenagers from age 15 to 20 who range from beginners to very advanced.

During the years, I've developed a teaching style which fits into the 22 minutes, which means that in every lesson, I can only point out and work on the most important problems. If there's any technique, I've mostly done this on the pieces, sight reading etc. had to be neglected.
22 minutes are definitely too short for a piano lesson, but it's been a good exercise in putting my fingers on the most pressing problems and keeping myself short and precise.
I must add that the students have extra class lessons of music theory and history, so in the piano lesson, theory is only needed in regard to piano playing, or if general understanding is missing.

Now, these are my questions:
What do you suggest must be part of a 45-minutes-lesson?
What can be optional according to the needs of a student?

I'm thinking that I want to prepare a catalogue of things (like parts of a puzzle) which I can personnally combine for every single student.

Thank you very much in advance for your ideas and inputs!

Nothing to laugh at, as it is extremely normal to have 22 minutes lessons given the scenario you describe!

For longer lessons...

Talk about practice strategies. Few teachers teach HOW TO PRACTICE!! Practice is all quality over quantity. Things learned from lots of time practicing happen over weeks, months, years, not from practicing an hour a day if the practice is bad, inefficient practice! I have students who have to cram 20 minutes of practice in, and they do a better job than those who "brag" about practicing an hour a day. The latter get discussions and practice sheets from me with strategies...

Talk about musicology, too. So many teachers teach Chopin but never talk about Chopin or the Romantic era and what that means surrounding the music! I can't tell you how many contest-winning students can't tell me a single thing about Chopin or the Romantic era. Same with Beethoven, Burgmuller, etc.

Theory, too. Again, contest-winning students who can't even name the key of their piece unless it's in the title. And I am not talking about 6yo students here...

For me the goal is to keep them playing piano recreationally as adults. So I would go light on the technique. One scale or two, one arpeggio or two, just one of each category so they know they could do the same in every key when they have time one day.

I wouldn't do much ear-training, and only occasional sight-reading, and concentrate on getting some pieces sounding beautiful. That would mean playing a phrase for them three times with the goal note in three different places. Then ask them which seems most effective. In other words, I'd try to show them the parameters by which music is changed, or judged. Show them three different interpretations of Fur Elise.

You can have them point out the challenge in a number of etudes whether it's hand crossing, or playing a lot of passage work, or voicing big chords nicely, whatever. Then when they choose the piece, they have a sense that different pieces can contribute to being a well-rounded player. I want to get them off the idea that you only play pieces you like.

In this age group, I think increasing their confidence is important because they need to identify with being a musical person in order to continue. They're really saying "no" to a lot of things because they realize it's better to invest time in things they're good at. The pressure is on for them to come up with a career path. So I'd point out how piano fits into an adult's life. For instance, I'd say when you land your first job, or have kids, you'll have evenings where you can't really go out. Piano is a good way to unwind and reflect on your day, and is easy to do, and doesn't cost much.

Hi pianomouse,

It could be that the longer lesson allows you to move from "fire fighting mode" to "supporting success mode". Rather than sending students home with pieces to learn on their own time and then have you point out the few problems, you can work on new pieces (or new sections) right there in the lesson and get them to the point where they've done each new phrase really well a few times. Then they're more likely to do it well in practice too, and be ready to move to a new section or new piece next lesson.

Work on longer pieces, such as a complete Classical sonata, or a set of Chopin Preludes/Mazurkas/Waltzes. But 45 minutes is hardly enough time to cover the details.

Thanks everyone very much for your replies. Sorry, I didn't get back to this thread earlier, but my daughter has been teething with high fever...


Yes, talking about practice strategies is essential. I always did it, but I'm thinking about exploring this more. I'm very interested in your practice sheets: what do you teach your students about practicing?
Concerning theory and musicology, I think I basically want them to understand that playing the piano is the place where they need to use practically what they learn in class music lessons theoretically.


You might be right about the need to identify with being a musical person. Some of these students consider piano playing just like another subject such as mathematics or a language. This is an interesting point.
Concerning etudes: Can you recommend some good etudes?


Ha, I love the 'fire fighting mode' .
You're absolutely right about this. With good students, it's not a problem: it's enough to point out what they need to work on and maybe to try it out a bit. But students for whom piano playing isn't easy will benefit from this new time.
Although I must say that some of the students are practicing extremely few during the week. And I doubt that they're going to change just because they're getting longer lessons. Some are actually intimidated, because they think it's going to overwhelm them.
This is actually the reason, why I want to work on more different topics in each lesson. I don't want to give them the idea that practicing is taking place in the lesson. The lesson is for inputs, learning and for solving problems, the actual practicing should be taking place at home.

Maybe, I'm just making myself too nervous about this. I've been teaching for nearly 30 years now - and I think this is a great opportunity to review what I've been doing for so long, to start and try out new things.

Pianommse,
I am an adult student, so my experience may not be valuable to you---- but I asked to extend my lesson time: not to practice what I didn't do during the week, but to get my questions answered from what I DID do. We have more time for show, tell, and I demonstrate. My lessons are now 1.5 hours, and it is a rare week where we could not have gone longer.

Maybe ask your students at the beginning of the lesson what questions they had from practice? Ask them to tell you what problems they had? Hopefully, this will help make them partially responsible and to recognize they need to practice to be prepared to talk.

YMMV