For the people who teach piano lessons?

Question

How do you try to impart that love for music that you have into other people by teaching to younger students?

Answer 1

You need to connect with the younger students and find out what they like.

For very young students, elementary aged or younger, if they can connect to you and express to you what they like, than they are very likely to adopt your love of music for their own.

It may seem "childish," but listen to them when they talk, no matter what it is about.

Answer 2

Forget about instilling an intense love of music in a preadolescent child. The child will not be moved to tears no matter how soulfully a violinist plays the Meditation from Thais.
Rather, it is the social activity which the child enjoys.
If they have to practice by themselves, they will hate it.
If they practice with someone else who is also having fun and not scolding them for mistakes, they will love it. (Pippi Von Trapp is right.)

Teach them some songs with words and ask the family members to hold singalongs. If other family members play musical instruments, write parts for them and ask them to join in.

Another fun idea is the dice game. Take 30 index cards. Number them "measure 1 roll 1" through "measure 1 roll 6," "measure 2 roll 1" through "measure 2 roll 6," and so on through "measure 5 roll 6."

For measure 1, put a clef, a time signature, and a tonic chord.
For measure 2, put a tonic chord.
For measure 3, put a dominant chord.
For measure 4, put a dominant chord, a repeat sign, and a first ending bracket.
For measure 5, put a tonic chord, a thick double bar, and a second ending bracket.

On the first lesson, have the child fill in the measures for all the "roll 1"'s.
On the second lesson, likewise for all the "roll 2"'s, and so on.
Anything taking up the requisite beats and using the notes of the marked chords is okay, but it is preferable to end on a long do in measure 5.
After the sixth lesson, the child can get sightreading practice from this composition. Someone else will roll the die 5 times, whereupon the child will play the measures determined by the roll of the die.
If my math is correct, there are 7,776 possible results.

There are a few good duets in which the student plays an ostinato while the teacher plays something more elaborate. "At the Piano" by Tcherepnin is good. It was published by Peters, but I can't find it on the Net. If you are interested, let me know and I'll make you a copy.

Also, Borodin once wrote a polka with an easy ostinato part and showed it to Rimsky-Korsakoff. Rimsky-Korsakoff took the idea seriously. He wrote some more short pieces on the same ostinato, asked Borodin to do likewise, and rounded up a few more Russian composers for the purpose. The first word of the title is "Paraphrases." It is available from sheetmusicplus.

There is a need for more such ostinato duets. If you have a gift for music composition, write some and publish them.

Bichordal songs are another source of musical merriment. It may seem tiresome for you to sing through all umpteen stanzas of "Found a Peanut" while the child fingers the two bass notes, but the child is having the time of his life.

When the child is confident enough in reading rhythm, quodlibets become another option. The dice game can fit with "Polly Wolly Doodle." "The Book of Rounds" by Taylor and Dyk has lots of rounds using only do, mi, so, and do. It is easy to make quodlibets out of them.

Answer 3

By showing your love and passion and enthusiasm for music, and by using good-natured humor.

Also, realize that someone may be enjoying something thoroughly without showing it on the outside. I've been told that I look utterly bored at classical concerts, when in fact I'm rapturously enjoying the music being played.

Finally, make the student a partner in the endeavor rather than just a follower. In other words, engage them as a colleague. This will create an atmosphere in which they are encouraged -- and expected -- to be a proactive participant rather than just be dragged along. You'll find that this will often elicit an excellent response, because they're used to just being taught by adults while at school, whereas you're interacting with them on a collaborative level.

Answer 4

It's hard, because most young people have never heard music that's in tune and played well. Popular music today is computer constructed, enhanced artificial crap - by the time most American kids are teenagers they're tone deaf and slightly hard of hearing. Kids develop a love of music first, by hearing it. Work on developing the desire to learn music and play well, by giving young people a chance to hear good, live performances and give them a lot of positive feedback.

Answer 5

They either love it or not....I know that I loved reading since I was very young...and read to my children all the time and tried to teach them to love books....but it didn't happen....none of them are readers...they just don't have the love for it that I do...so if it's not in a student to love piano the way that you do, nothing in this world is going to make them love it. I always say that you know what you like at a very young age...I teach classical guitar, and I've loved it since I first heard it at about age nine....but when I tried to get my children interested in it....no way was that going to happen...they just didn't feel it in their heart , one was very into art and the other was into boys, and hanging out with friends... you can't make someone like something if it's not in them !!!!!!!

Answer 6

By being very encouraging, connecting with them by telling them how you learned to play. Choosing music they like, making recitals a pleasant experience, celebrating their small and large successes. Telling their parents how proud you are of them and what great progress they are making.