Simpedia

Rebecca S., Australia

I would be pushing accompaniment. There is so much that would be new for her. This will keep her challenged for a long time and help her with the harder songs when she gets them. When we understand the structure of chords, we can understand music so well as it is a big part of music.

Kasia H. , Washington

Hello, I had a similar experience with one of my student, so I gave her a composition assignment (no notation). I found that it was a challenge for her but kept her busy and she liked it.

Darla H., Kansas

I’ve had students in the past that whizzed through songs, finding them very easy to learn, and wanting to keep moving quickly, saying they’re bored with the easy songs. What I’ve learned over time is that I did not have sufficient set-up conversations for students and parents to understand that we’re not just learning songs, but learning a way to learn. It is through these easy pieces in the beginning that we learn very important learning strategies and tools.

My students who whizzed through didn’t learn the tools & strategies, and quickly broke down when we got further along, and I lost them as students. I now make sure that everyone understands, before they sign up for lessons, that we will go at a pace that I know will ensure success. We will stick to the foundation songs, arrangements, comp & improv, until we get into the accompaniment program. Then there will be some choices–in accompaniments. As we get started, I insist that students know the strategies for each song, are able to explain the diagrams, play the song out of order, etc. I give them comp & improv assignments and plenty of arrangements if they need extra. Once they’re ready for accompaniments, more choices begin to emerge.

I totally understand the desire to make students happy, and keep them motivated. What I’ve found, is I’m never successful with trying to please the student. As I’ve become more confident and gained a better understanding of Simply Music, I am better able to communicate the importance of sticking to the program. I have a larger studio, better retention rate, and more enjoyable classes now.

In answer to your questions, I recommend that you not teach her extra songs, but rather use more arrangements, comp & improv assignments and accompaniments, all of which are part of the SM program.

By the way, if you’re not already using the Playlist Management program, I would highly recommend getting it. The training itself is really helpful in giving insights & ideas into how to make sure that tools and strategies are being learned.

Kathy K., Texas

In a case like that I think that the most important thing is to have the “learning a new way of learning” conversation. The songs are really just a symptom. They are great, but the point to them is for her to be immersed in a playing-based approach. I tell my students that as they learn songs they are learning tools that are opening the doors not only to playing, but also composing and improvising, and later, to reading. She probably doesn’t realize it now but she is learning a tremendous amount of music theory and form as she learns these simple songs.

I have extensive traditional music experience, although primarily in flute.  But when I started learning the Simply Music way I learned to see music in an entirely different way. It opened up whole new musical worlds to me.

I would just encourage the student that the songs are not the goal. They are a lovely by-product of learning a new way of learning. I would ask her to trust the teacher and trust the process and Simply Music will deliver the promised results.

In the lessons you can continue to teach her arrangements, and I would hit comp and improv pretty hard with her. If she thinks a song is boring, challenge her to make up a more interesting arrangement of it. I did that with an adult student once and she made up this amazing song that she called, “An Arrangement of that Chester Song.” And you might want to start Accompaniment I if you feel that she is ready.

Stephen R., California

I would recommend giving a lot more arrangements if students find it too easy.  Experience has really been the best teacher and most of my students can handle a lot of arrangements in Level 1 and 2! Like Neil says on the arrangements CD, students are ready for an arrangement if they can get it down and remember it in one or two lessons.  Depending on how well and confidently they can play Dreams they might be ready for the first and/or second arrangement.

As teachers we have to become good at “reading” students and seeing the signs that they need more or less.  A student that says something is too easy or hard is a big clue to make some adjustments. There is an interesting topic on Simpedia titled “Students that play well” and Neil says with those students you should be “mining as much out of as little as possible”.  I would recommend reading it!

Jan D., Ohio

I have an adult student in his mid-twenties who has been playing by ear for 20 years. He only took lessons for a year or so when he was 4 or 5 years old. He can play some songs that sound very impressive, but when pushed, he didn’t know anything when he first started lessons with me. He said he knew things because he could only figure them out by ear, but take that ear away and he couldn’t play any major chord, any scale, etc. He didn’t know what an intro, a verse, a chorus, a bridge, or an outro are.

Because his ear is so good, I won’t play anything for him and I won’t let him touch the piano until he can tell me everything about a piece we are learning. When he learns a piece this way, he is astonished that he can play it correctly on the first try because he hadn’t heard it first. After learning a foundation song, I immediately teach him all of the arrangements. Then, I work with him to make his own arrangements. He is incredibly creative. In fact, he just began classes online with Full Sail University working towards a Bachelor degree in Music Production.

Here is a link to the beginning of his arrangement of Dreams. This is only one section – I made him add other sections and he doesn’t have anything else recorded yet. I used some of my Nashville connections to hook him up with someone who can help him with the specifics of electronic music because I am by no means an expert on electronic dance music.

http://soundcloud.com/jan-davis-1/02-track-02-4

I know that this isn’t your exact situation, but it is an example of how you can challenge a student right from the start no matter how much experience he or she has and keep them moving forward at the proper pace. I have yet to find a student who really knows as much as they think they do when they have had previous experience because they don’t know what they don’t know. But it is possible to keep a student on track with the SM curriculum and challenged at the same time. There have been times I have had students want to play other songs and I have taken about 30 seconds to challenge them to figure out the melody and/or chords on their own. Then I have had them use any of the LH patterns we have used in arrangements to make a solo arrangement, make up their own LH patterns, or figure out an accompaniment – there are many possibilities depending on their experience.

That said, I do find that students with prior musical experience of any kind can be the most psychologically challenging. Yes, we have to keep them on track, but we also have to understand their struggles with the process. Sometimes I have to push myself to be creative with the projects I assign so we can achieve the proper balance of learning the strategies, moving forward at a manageable pace, and keeping the student creatively challenged.

The other side of the coin, though, is that you just can’t keep some students happy no matter how much you talk and how many times you have had all of the right conversations. They will agree with you and smile and nod every step of the way but keep pushing you to stray from our path and goal. Some have thought that they are different or special because they have had prior experience or because they love music so much.

Beware of students who talk about the problems they have had with previous teachers not teaching them what they want to know. Be clear that Simply Music is not about learning songs but about learning how to learn.  I always tell them that I am trying to teach myself out of a job so that they can do anything that I can do. I joke that they don’t want to be taking lessons when they are 100 years old, unless they didn’t start until they were 95, just so they can learn the songs that they like and that if they will follow the program, they can play what they want to play without any help from me much sooner than that, and that from my experience, if they will follow the program, they will be playing what they want to play much faster than with traditional methods.

I’ve had many students able to read the popular songs they want to play, but they aren’t satisfied with the arrangements they are able to find sheet music for because they don’t sound like the recorded versions. Classical music is another story, but unless they are one of the few, like myself, who learn how to read quickly right from the start, it will take years to learn these pieces through traditional methods, and again, most aren’t happy with many of the simplified arrangements because they don’t all sound very good or they are missing their favorite part, etc.

Sometimes this is also the sign of an overachiever. Many younger students that I have had problems with in this area are also the ones who are overly involved in several activities and sports and are straight A students. And, I had one girl who equated struggle with learning – if she wasn’t struggling, she thought she wasn’t learning. Some don’t understand the bigger picture and they or their parents want them to be doing what their friends are doing. There can be several different reasons for the same reaction.

Hope that helps and gives you a few ideas of things to try and how to handle the situation. I know this is a long response, but these are the experiences I have had with several students. Most students have managed to work through this issue, but there have been a few who insisted on doing things their own way that I have had to let go. It’s always hard to let them go, but I’ve also learned from experience, that if you let them think this way without resolving the issue, they are going to quit anyways.

Gordon Harvey, Australia

I just thought I would mention Elizabeth Gaikwad’s Foundation Duets and Variations Program in this context. It could be helpful.  Elizabeth has the following description of her program:

Foundation Duets and Variations Book 1 & 2 were designed to cover students on all different levels.

The books have:

• 9 Pieces from Level 1 and 2 in book 1 ; 9 Pieces from Level 3 & 4 in Book 2
• Playing based clues – so non readers can find the clues, and readers are reinforced with pattern based concepts.
• Accompaniment chords to extend the accompaniment process
• Full written score, for readers, and also non readers to start seeing the patterns
• 4 CD’s of Step by step verbal explanations of patterns and notes to play…so teachers can assign small projects each week and have instructional support at home with the project.

I have used the arrangements and duets for some of my students that have had previous experience and just need some more material to plough through. The idea is that they are still playing the Simply Music curricular Pieces, but with pattern based extensions …and all the way they are developing skills that will help them create their own arrangements.