Music Moves for Piano Blog

Friday, 22 September 2006

10 year old boys & MMP
Mood:

lucky
Topic: Music Moves for Piano

Ok, I'll have to admit... I was a bit (just a teeny bit!) skeptical about using MMP with 10 year old boys. I can now lay all those fears aside.

I've got one class with 2 ten-year old boys (one is my son). They had their first 'real' lesson today. (Didn't have books for them last week, so we played games). WOW!!

By the end of the lesson today, not only had they played 'Popcorn' really well, but they were both able to play the student duet. They each took a turn playing the student duet while the other played the melody. I'm quite impressed.

And the other thing that struck me as wonderful: so many times in the past, my beginners played SO slow. Everything was at a snail's pace. I can see, now, that slow pace was due to the fact that they were trying to process way too much information.

Today, these two boys played Popcorn with such a lovely tempo, and with confidence! Can't wait to see what happens next week. As they both have the Pattern CD to listen to at home, they're getting a really good head start at more complex rhythm patterns.

Posted by creativekeys at 1:54 PM

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Saturday, 23 September 2006 - 4:28 AM

Name: "Alicia"

Hi, found your blog from the piano teachers yahoo group. I don't know much about MMP, but it is always a great feeling when our students are successful! :D

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Sunday, 24 September 2006 - 10:21 AM

Name: "Sid Norris"
Home Page: http://sidnorris.com

Piano teaching is traditionally a "female-centric" enterprise.

As a male teacher I salute Marilyn in her totally "gender non-specific" books.

I've often wondered why my male students respond with enthusiasm, perhaps after initial shyness.

One is that I MODEL all rhythm activities with a very male athletic grace to which they respond. But this applies to all students. Often the female students are shyer than the boys in MOVING, so I say, "Let's do this together! No one's looking! If I can do it you can do it!"

I always model with a combination of seriousness and fun. They know that I mean business because I MODEL with authority.

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Monday, 16 October 2006 - 10:21 AM

Name: "layne"

Hi Karen,

I've just read your blog entries and found several of my questions answered. I'm looking forward to more.

I am teaching a 5- yr old with this book at present. She is my "test case." Probably not the best choice since the mother has no time to get involved. I have ordered two more books and hope to use them with a couple of other student. Have you ever tried it with 4-year olds?

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