Mood:
a-okTopic: Music Moves for Piano
I have one class that's a bit of a mixed age class. Three boys, ages 5,6 and 7 (grades k, 1 and 2). Upon Marilyn's advice, I have started these boys in the Preparatory Book.
Two of the boys are brothers and the third a friend, so they have a tendancy to get a bit silly. But, I'm firm with them, and don't put up with any nonesense.
I was quite worried about working with such a mixed age class. Traditionally, I have only taught group classes that were rather homogenous in age groups. But, this class is working just fine. I think it's the fact that I'm using MMP!!
I noticed this the other day with my 10 year old class, too. There aren't any cutesy pictures, that scream "Hey! This piano course is for little kids only!!" Guess what? The kids don't seem to mind that there aren't any teddy bears or dancing music notes or kitty cats on the page. There are no distractions, and the utter lack of (annoying, cutesy) illustrations means that I can use these materials with each and every age group.
I asked a colleague if he had ever used MMP, and he responded, "No. I've looked at it, but as I don't teach very young kids, I don't use it." I'm discovering that these materials work with just about any age group!
Oh, those 3 boys? By the end of their lesson this week, they had learned the first two pieces in the Prep. book. And, rather surprisingly, it was the youngest one who caught on the quickest!
