Pacing of teaching songs starting in Foundation 4
Found in: Foundation Songs, Time Management
Rebecca G., Colorado
I’d like to hear people’s strategies for stretching out the teaching of Foundation songs starting in about Level 4 beyond the obvious tactic of taking 2-5 or so weeks to learn the entire songs. I’m accustomed to teaching songs at this level and beyond over a number of weeks, but I’m finding that some adult students still feel overwhelmed by having something new to learn each week from the Foundation program (even if it’s only hands separate for one section of a song). Do you let one section of a song sink in for several weeks before you move on to the next section, and/or do you leave some weeks of space between one Foundation song and the next to help alleviate this overwhelm?
It’s worth mentioning that I absolutely relate to this complaint by my students: as a teacher who barely played piano for SM, even after I learned songs like Squidgies and Fur Elise (A section original), I had to spend many, many weeks practicing them daily for more than just a few minutes before I could play them with ease…and as I was doing that, I didn’t give myself any new Foundation material to work on. I still adopt this strategy for myself, and now I’m wondering whether I need to somehow incorporate it into how I’m teaching my students, too.
Mark Meritt, New York
I do sometimes put time between Foundation songs and/or, if needed, in the midst of a Foundation piece. It does let things sink in while also making a bit more space for other streams, many of which are going on by this time in the program. It’s worth listening to the Foundation 4 Teacher Workshop Series program which talks about strategies such as starting a new song before a previous one is finished, so that each gets stretched out over more time – kind of like running parallel streams.
Stephen R., California
I try to do other streams (Accompaniment, Variations/Arrangements, blues) in between each Foundation in Level 4 and beyond. Once students complete the reading programs I really want them working on one or two reading projects in between the Foundation, but that’s just how I want to do things. I want students gaining lots of practice with reading at that point.
Around Level 4 or earlier, with multi-section pieces, one section or even one hand may be the Foundation portion of the lesson and we are still touching on other streams. I do that with Sleeping,k Light Blue, Tear for a Friend, etc.
Felicity E., Australia
Something I found I do a lot more of is staggering the songs. Teaching in a school, I don’t have the support of parents and also have long breaks for holidays. So for example, learning the bass line of Squidgies at the beginning of Level 4 if it suits the students. Some students learn the end of Sleeping and the beginning of Light Blue in one lesson, etc. I’ve found this seems to work well and stretches them out quite naturally. Similar to Neil’s suggestion of teaching the left hand fingering of the A in Fur Elise Level 7 towards the end of Level 6 so that it comes together well when they are ready to learn the next bit. The riff in Ballade takes a while too so I introduce that a week or two before.
I’ve naturally over time been teaching the program slower and seeing it come easier to students than I did when I first started. I also spend a lot more time than I would like during each lesson hearing them play their songs. Otherwise they just don’t stay on top of it and I can’t tell whether they are ready for the next part of the next song.
Rochelle G., California
I think review in class is key. They also expect that they will be asked to play songs they know for you. If I have not taken time in class to review for a while, when I do the parents are so glad!
Laurie Richards, Nebraska
Also, I have found I really need to manage expectations at this point in the curriculum, as it begins to feel a bit different, especially with addition of reading (I begin Reading Rhythm in Level 4). We talk about how the Level 4 songs will take a bit longer to complete and how I will continue to layer in new streams. We won’t get to every stream every week, and it can feel like progress is slowing down. (it is natural for students to gauge their progress by what level they are in, or how long they are in it).
However, progress is simply spread out over more streams; so there are more projects to attend to, and in order to manage them all we need to move forward slowly in each. But it is to their advantage, because all these streams enhance one another and overlap.
One more thought – every 4 or 6 or 8 weeks (whatever feels right), take an entire class period to do nothing but repertoire review. It gives you a bigger picture of the condition of their playlists, and your students get a short breather that week and the opportunity to feel more confident in their playing. Sometimes I will give just a little bit of new material at these lessons but not much.