The Piano Guide Review

Returning Adult Student and Burnt Out Competing Student by Georgia Zoe Schohl

Q. I am a returning adult piano student age 60, who has signed up with a new piano teacher. It has been about 7 years since my last lesson with my old piano teacher. The reason why I quit was that the music I was assigned was so boring and uninspiring and to be frank, I did not feel like practicing much. At the time I quit, I stopped close to the completion of Level 5 in the Alfred piano series. My new teacher may want to review some of the old material in the Alfred book, which is OK with me. I want to learn now to play a Mozart Sonata. Is this realistic? I don't want to get discouraged like I did 7 years ago.

Ross L., email

A. Did you discuss this with your new piano teacher? You might ask the new teacher to start you with some Clementi Sonatinas, as well as some early Mozart pieces in some supplementary books in addition with your Level 5 Alfred. The teacher may have a few ideas for you so that you will prepare yourself for playing a Mozart sonata. The Alfred method goes up to Level 6, and does include a well known Mozart sonata at the end of the Recital Book. You should be able to get through Book 5 after reviewing some of your old pieces. If you practiced piano during your "sabbatical", you may not have forgotten much. Tell your piano teacher your goal if you have not done so yet. Who knows---maybe after achieving your goal of learning a Mozart sonata you may want to learn another Mozart sonata or maybe a Beethoven sonata!

Q. My 11 year old son has been taking piano for 5 years and is very musical (his current teacher thinks so too!) He is an outstanding student in school and has straight A's so far this year.

For a couple of years now he participated in a national testing program for piano performance and music theory. His scores are always excellent every year and the evaluators loved his playing.

Now that he is in 6th grade now he wants to learn other kinds of music like jazz and ragtime like a couple of his friends are doing. The problem is that he says that he is tired of preparing difficult classical pieces, learning scales, and music theory every year for this test. I just don't want him to quit doing this test because he has done so well and we have had some battles over his practicing and preparing for this year's test. He wants to quit from his excellent classically trained teacher and just do jazz either on his own or with a jazz trained teacher. I am so very disappointed in him. How can I get him to change his mind?

D.R., email

A. I know that you are proud of your son's accomplishments in school and in piano but I'm not sure you can get him to change his mind at this stage of the game. Right now your son sounds like he is burnt out from training and studying for this piano test. I bet he spent a lot of time doing homework and preparing assignments for school so he does not have much time for fun. To his credit, he still wants to stick to his piano and experiment in a different venue. He wants to get away from the pressure to achieve and enjoy piano this time around.

Discuss this with his teacher to find out what he or she thinks. Teachers have heard this before so it is not uncommon to hear that a student wants to switch teachers to explore a different type of music with a new teacher that specializes in another type of music. I know that the main issue with you is that your son must participate in the annual test. Why not make a deal with him? Find out if he can take a break from the testing this year but he has to sign up for jazz lessons with a good teacher. It may be hard for you to let go of this testing for the time being, but wouldn't you rather see him happy learning piano and still continuing to learn another style of music? See what happens. The door will always be open to return to the piano testing another year, if you and he both agree to give it another try. But be prepared to see him achieve far more playing jazz and other types of music, especially if it turns into a real interest and a lot of fun.