Sunday, July 31, 2011

Look Out Pokemon - Here Comes Piano Pedagogy

I have been playing the piano for over 40 years now and I recently came across the term, pedagogy. Watching my kids collect Pokemon cards when they were little, I immediately assumed this must be one of Pikachu's arch enemies. I could imagine Piano Pedagogy as a Fire Pokemon battling to the death with Pikachu. As if they actually battled to the death.

Anyway, thought I would share some information on the subject. Hope you enjoy and are inspired to continue your musical journey.

What Is Piano Pedagogy?

Piano pedagogy is the study of the teaching of playing piano. The focus of piano pedagogy is more geared towards instruction as it relates to individual students as opposed to music education in general which focuses more on a group or educational environment. In other words, piano lessons, which usually involve a one on one coaching or semi-private instruction. Therefore, the nice lady that I used to call my piano teacher, would correctly be referred to as a 'piano pedagogue'.

The range of disparity between available teachers associated with piano is extremely large. Unfortunately, competent education is not always guaranteed simply by the amount of years a person has undertaken lessons. It takes more than tenure.

The factors which affect the ability of any piano educator consist of one's education and learning level, understanding of musical performance, knowledge of musical genres, history, and piano repertoire, and most importantly, the ability to customize one's teaching method to sync with different personalities as well as learning styles.

Learning how to play a piano includes the teaching of artistic, problem-solving, motor and intellectual skills. There are several areas of study involved including ear training, rhythm, notation, technique, improvisation, sight reading, and memorization.

Education

Piano pedagogy may be studied through academic programs which often culminate to the achievement of a bachelors, master, or even doctoral degree at music universities or conservatories. The undergraduate degree may call for several years of previous piano studies and prior instructing knowledge as prerequisites for application. At the graduate level, numerous universities require applicants to have some training experience and a minimum of a bachelor of music or comparable experience in piano performance and pedagogy.

Even though most piano pedagogy programs include a wide range of past performance experience, the curriculum for the pedagogy degree varies from school to school. And although most do not, students associated with the latter group have the choice to be able to get training exclusively within the 'teaching of piano' category itself.

Check out our featured online courses or make use of the major search engines to find the piano pedagogy courses that may be of interest to you today by visiting PlayPianoDude.com where you will find this and much more, including how to play a piano with 12 fingers!


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