Simpedia

Sheri R., California

What I think I remember Neil saying is to start everyone from the beginning. I have been doing that with all my students, even with 6 or more years of experience. Maybe they will go faster (maybe not because they have more going on in their heads from traditional lessons). I find I have to be very careful not to go too fast with experienced students because, although they can pick it up quicker most of the time, they don’t necessarily remember it; and when you present too much, too fast, everything can fall apart. I’ve just started two experienced students on the Reading Rhythm program – they are at Level 4 – and they were ready in one week to start in with the writing because they know how to read already, and they clapped the rhythms fast and accurately. But because they don’t read real well, which is typical in a traditional environment, many holes will be filled when they are through with SM reading program.

So my understanding is that EVERYONE starts at the beginning. I give lots of arrangements to experienced students – they appreciate them more for obvious reasons – and can handle them fine.

Cathy H., California

I have had students with 1, 2, 5 and even 20 years experience take lessons from me and never had one be bored with SM. I currently have a student with 5 years experience who can’t read at all and is moving just slightly faster than my average student. It appears that one of the challenges for most of them is adjusting their thinking to a new way of learning and moving away from reading. They love every minute and are excited by the fact that they have such a large repertoire so quickly and understand so much more.

A danger is that many experienced students “think” they know an SM piece but in reality don’t or don’t know it as well as they should. This may be partly because their ears are trained somewhat better so they can “figure it out”. As a safeguard and to make a point, I move students completely away from the piano to a flat surface and have them play their pieces. This can truly be a wake up call to the student and shows both the student and me how well they know their sentences etc. I have also found that many parents believe their children know much more than they really do. Often, parents come in and say their child can read, in reality they can’t or can read very little, especially rhythmically. Because the pressure from the parent can be a problem at home for the student, I think a strong setup conversation is in order on this subject. If pressured, I do not advance the student to rhythms or note reading. However, I may bring in the accompaniment program earlier than suggested.

I never omit any pieces in SM. However I may add Level 2 Fur Elise during Level 1 or Amazing Grace from Level 2 and then add the variation. I usually concentrate on the Arrangements which have slowed down every experienced student I have. Learning this way is a totally new experience for many of them, lots of fun and greatly assists the student in Level 4 and beyond.

Helen P., Western Australia

From my own experience as a SM student who learned for 10 years traditionally as a child, I agree with Cathy and Sheri about starting students with prior, traditional experience at the beginning. Yes, I did find the pieces pretty easy, however, I also found the new approach very exciting and gained a great deal of satisfaction from learning the pieces and having a repertoire that I could play from memory.

Having also learned only classical music as a child, I loved the accompaniment and blues pieces – these were a real ‘find’ for me (and still are!!). When I began SM lessons, I was in a group of students with no or little prior experience and the slow pace was very frustrating in the early stages. The addition of the Variations and Arrangements helped with this quite a bit. In a private lesson where you can tailor the lesson to suit the student’s needs this shouldn’t be so much of a problem. Which brings me to the next point – I also agree with the comments about adding the variations and arrangements quite early, as it was these that gave me a bit more to work on and a greater sense of progress than if had been working with just the base pieces. As a relatively new teacher myself (12 months – nearly) I know how hard it is to keep up with all the material but, for newer teachers teaching students with prior experience, I suggest that you get up to speed with the Variations and Arrangements quite quickly.