美国专家谈【如何找到一位优秀的钢琴老师】

美国专家谈【如何找到一位优秀的钢琴老师】

我最近多次提到美国钢琴教学中提倡的 Well-Roundedness。这个词“有道”是这样翻译的：“全面发展 -- 但是，众所周知，美国人提出了一个"全面发展"的概念，它是美国人评价一个人是否卓越的决定性因素。”

中国家长自然对中国的教学方式更熟悉、更亲切，加上郎朗与李云迪等世界范围的成功，我们往往觉得中国的教学方式更适合我们的孩子。其实，东西方的钢琴教学是各有千秋的。但由于美国“放羊”文化，家长可能只注意到美国教学不够理想的结果，而忽略了它的长处。

我介绍下列文章的目的就是想让大家更多地了解美国的钢琴教学，或许这能帮助家长在寻找老师、帮助孩子练琴过程中、判断学生的学习进度方面有些实在的依据，而不是仅凭感觉。同时，或许能更好地帮助家长结合两种文化在教学上的长处，使孩子的音乐学习更有效率。

顺便提一下，Piano Pedagogy （钢琴教学法）在美国是一门发展得非常成熟的学科，为这科设博士学位的学校也不在少数。而在中国，此学科尚处于近乎空白的襁褓阶段。

下文的标题是How to Find a Good Piano Teacher，是作者Kevin M. Coan（钢琴教学专家）写给女儿的Email节选，后者咨询前者如何为孙女“小艾比”挑选钢琴老师。

不过，要提醒大家的是，在美国，钢琴教学是一个不受政府监管的行业，任何人都可以教钢琴。鱼目混珠是必然。何况，作者是这一行的佼佼者，能达到他文中要求的老师只能是凤毛麟角。

原文是英文，网上翻译，不够理想，将就着看。如有兴趣念英文版，请告知。中文版分段贴，并有空将对各段分别作简单的解释（仅限 Upbeat钢琴教学群，其他群则里欢迎提问与讨论）。

博主 Passerby

10-22-2019

 

英文原文已被贴在中文翻译之后，中文版中的分段也被取消。

Passerby

4-27-2021

 

【如何找到一位优秀的钢琴老师】（节录）

 by Kevin M. Coan

首先，你需要找到一位老师，他相信音乐世界是随着节奏起伏的。你还记得当你第一次加入新教堂的时候，你总是提到那个为唱诗班伴奏者的缺陷吗？他缺乏节奏训练，他不保持音符该有的长度，他会打乱节奏的进行来纠正错音。你要找一个老师，他会花很多时间培养学生稳定的节拍概念，他会教你如何保持节拍稳定与流动，即使你不得不“编造”几个音符才能回到正轨。问老师他认为什么是音乐中最重要的元素？如果你得到的回答是“正确的音符”，继续寻找吧。如果节奏被排在首位，你更有可能找到一个好老师。强调节奏的必要性是没有商量余地的！

你希望老师关注的第二件事是阅读技巧的的培养。一个好老师知道学习音乐本身远远超过学习音符。同时，一个好的老师要培养学生的乐谱的阅读能力，使学生成为一个优秀的视奏者（sight-reader）。想想你有多少次不得不为你的儿童合唱团视奏一些在最后一刻扔给你的东西。我们希望小艾比在25年后为她的合唱团演出时成为专家。

询问老师教读音符用是的什么方法。如果她谈到地标（landmarks）、音程（intervals）等，那是个好兆头。如果她所做的只是拿着卡片flash cards或是布置note spellers，你就要多问问题了。你需要一个老师强调阅读音程（intervals）、音组（figure or motive）与乐句（phrase）的老师，而不是一个认为读谱仅仅是把单独的音符越读越快的老师。如果老师说他或她强调模式（patterns），你中奖了！

不要排除以机械记忆方法 (rote)学曲子开头的老师。虽然我不鼓励找铃木（Suzuki）老师，但在学习如何读谱之前，先学弹一会儿是有价值的。如果你找到一个这样的老师，只需和他或她谈谈学生在学习读谱之前要进行多长时间的耳朵训练。只要在第一年的中间开始读谱，这种教学方式就可以是很好的。

我希望老师能专注的第三件事是奏法（articulation）：学习如何区分连音、断音、乐句提升、重音等等。当你问老师关注的是什么时，他们可能不会列出这一项，但你可、以直接问他或她是否认为奏法（articulation）很重要。如果奏法（articulation）不在他或她的清单上，你可能应该继续寻找了。

我要你问的第四件事是老师对多调性教学的看法。这在音乐教学界是一个争议很大的领域，因为很多老师并不认为这很重要。想一想你曾经为国歌合唱伴奏时不得不从降B转到再转到B 与 C调，或者类似的情况。因为我对你的训练很早就包括了所有的调性，所以弹奏B大调（五个升号）吓不倒你。去年夏天你曾提到过，有时你会被要求去为其他合唱团伴奏，因为他们的伴奏者不会弹两个升降号以上的调性。你想确保小艾比也能分享你在弹奏所有调性时的舒适感。

有很多老师会教你如何弹好乐曲，对很多学生来说，这仅是他们所关心的。但正如我们去年夏天谈到的那样，你将会需要忽略一些不错的老师，因为他们的教学仅仅限于弹奏技巧。这并不是说他们是差老师，而是因为他们不教我们希望专注的音乐修养与技能。所以虽然他们可能是好的弹奏老师，但他们不是你的正确选择。

我一直强调的一点是，技能（全面与平衡的独立学习的能力）的培养远比训练学习曲目更重要。如果一个老师专注于发展广泛的能力与技能，你将能够演奏你选择的任何乐曲。在培训这些技能的过程中，学生将学习到许多作品。希望其中许多乐曲会成为他或她曲目库中令人愉悦的附加物。但是，如果一个老师只是“指导”你的乐曲，当你上完课，你所拥有的只是一些乐曲。然而，如果他或她专注于培养可适用于所有作品的技能，那么你就拥有了众多的能力，使你能够快速学习任何你心仪的作品。

要分辨老师是专注于乐曲还是专注于技能，你可以问老师在他心目中钢琴课最重要的因素是什么。如果他或她说“作品的质量”，他或她可能只专注于发展曲目。如果他或她说“技能发展”或类似的话，那么你可能已经找到了一个你想要的“过程”导向型教师，而不是一个你不想要的“产品”导向型教师。

当然，这不一定是非此即彼的情况。有很多课程能很好地发展技能，并且有很好的乐曲。我记得你喜欢Noona “年轻钢琴家”（Young Pianist）书中许多曲子。但你同时也学到了使你成为一名称职钢琴家的技巧。（顺便说一句，亲爱的，“年轻钢琴家”系列即将绝版。嘘！）

有一些很好的老师不使用公开出版的钢琴教材。问题是你无法了解他们是否提供了全面的音乐教学计划。因此，你必须把忽略一些可能的好老师。我会问一下潜在的老师，他们用什么钢琴教材。我也会问他们是否使用教材、理论和技术书籍（lesson、theory and technic books），或者他们只使用 lesson book （原文为 method book） 。你应该只考虑那些至少使用教材、理论和技术书籍（lesson、theory and technic books）老师。虽然有些教师在教授理论和技术时没有使用特定的书籍，但他们经常会忽略那些教学内容。你应该从谨慎的角度出发，优先寻找那些使用理论和技术书籍与课程配套的老师。如果你找到一个使用理论和技术书籍的人，但不配套的课程的老师，可以谈谈。我有时也会这样做，他们可能有很好的理由做出这个决定。

你还想找一位老师教以下每个内容：

•作曲

•编曲

•和声

•即兴演奏

•移调

•听音练耳

尽管有些好老师不教这些内容，但他们不是我们家庭成员的正确选择，因为我们认为这些事情非常重要。

最后，看看你是否能参加他或她的学生音乐会或听他或她的学生表演。这并不总能得到你想要的答案，因为学生的练琴习惯与老师的教学技能一样重要。但是，如果所有的老师的学生在同一领域都有问题，那可能是因为老师没有适当地训练该部分的技能。

找一个好老师是一门艺术，而不是一门科学。按照我在这里列出的标准，你可能会错过镇上最好的老师。你也可能会发现一个貌似不错的老师，但上课时，你会发现他或她缺乏教好学的个人能力。他或她可能缺乏激励学生的能力，或者他或她可能缺乏帮助学生所需的耐心。如果那是真的，你需要另找一个老师。因此，找一个按月收费的老师。如果按学期或年的收费，而他或她证明不是一个好老师，那么当你决定改变的时候，你将在经济上损失很多。

（完）

 

原文：

How to Find a Good Piano Teacher

By Kevin M. Coan

I received an e-mail from my daughter. Her husband was interested in continuing the piano lessons he started in high school. They wanted to find a good teacher who would be available for their daughter (Abigail, born Dec 30, 2008) when she reached the appropriate age. She asked me what to look for in a good teacher. The following is an adaptation of my response to my daughter’s question.

Hi sweetie,

(personal stuff deleted)

I am glad that your husband is interested in taking up lessons again. I admired his willingness to continue to play on his own, but there is just no substitute for a good teacher. I am also tickled pink that you are already thinking about lessons for little Abby!

You will remember some of the things we talked about when I was teaching you. Now that you are a pianist for your church, I think more of what I emphasized makes more sense. When you were down for the July 4^th holiday, we talked about some of it, and you even mentioned that you were glad I put all that emphasis on sight reading, transposition, improvising, and multikey playing.

First off, you need to find a teacher who believes that the music world rises and falls on rhythm. Do you recall that when you first joined your new church, you always talked about the problem with that one fellow who played for the choir? His rhythmic training was lacking. He did not hold out notes for the proper length, and he would break the rhythmic flow to correct notes. You want to find a teacher who will spend a lot of time developing the concept of a steady beat, and one who will teach you to keep the beat going even if you had to “fake” a couple of notes to get back on track. Ask the teacher what he or she views is the single most important element of music. If you get a response of “right notes,” keep looking. If rhythm is at the top of their list, you are more likely to have found a good teacher. The need to emphasize rhythm is non-negotiable!

The second thing you want a teacher to focus on is the development of reading skills. A good teacher understands that there is much more to learning music than just learning to read notes. At the same time, a good teacher seeks to develop a students MUSIC reading ability to the extent that the student becomes an expert sight-reader. Think of how many times you have had to play something for your  children’s choir that the director throws at you last minute. We want little Abby to be an expert when she plays for her choir 25 years from now.

Ask the teacher what she teaches as a note reading STRATEGY. If she talks about landmarks, intervals, etc., that is a good sign. If all she does is hold up flash cards or assign note spellers, you need to ask some more questions. You want a teacher who emphasizes reading intervals, groups of notes, and phrases, not one that believes that note reading means reading individual notes faster and faster. If the potential teacher says that he or she emphasizes patterns, you’ve struck it rich in this area.

Do not rule out a teacher who begins with rote songs or pieces. While I would discourage seeking out a Suzuki teacher, there is something of value in learning to play for a while before learning how to read music. If you find a teacher who does this, simply talk to him or her about how long a student would be doing ear-based training before learning to read music. As long as reading begins by the middle of the first year, this type of teaching can be very good.

The third thing I would want a teacher to focus on would be articulation: learning to distinguish between legato, staccato, phrase lifts, accents, and the like. When you ask about what teachers focus on, they might not list this one, but you can ask directly whether he or she considers those things important. If they are not high on his or her list, you probably should keep looking.

The fourth thing I would want you to ask about would be the teacher’s opinion of multikey teaching. This is a huge area of controversy in the music teaching world, because quite a few teachers do not consider that to be important. Think about all the times you have had to play a choir anthem that modulated from Bb to B to C or some such thing. Because my training for you had included all of the keys very early in your training, playing in B major does not faze you in the least. You had mentioned last summer that sometimes you get asked to play for one of the other choirs, because their pianist could not handle keys with more than a couple of sharps or flats in the key signature. You want to make sure little Abby shares your comfort in playing in all keys.

There are a lot of teachers who will teach you how to play well, and for many students, that is all they care about. But as we talked about last summer, you are going to need to pass on some otherwise good piano teachers because their training stops at just the performing skills. It is not that they are poor teachers; it is just that they do not teach the musicianship skills that we agreed we want to focus on. So while they may be good performance teachers, they would not be the right choice for you.

Something that I have always emphasized is that the development of skills is far more important than developing a repertoire of pieces. If a teacher focuses on developing a wide range of skills, you will be able to play ANY piece you choose. In the process of developing those skills, a student will learn a number of pieces. Hopefully, a good number of those will be delightful additions to his or her performing repertoire. But if a teacher merely “coaches” pieces, when you are done with lessons, all you have is a repertoire of pieces. If, however, he or she focuses on developing the skills that can be applied to all pieces, you have an arsenal of abilities that enable to you quickly learn any piece you have your heart set on learning.

You can determine whether a teacher focuses on pieces or on skills by asking him or her what he or she believes is the most important element of a piano course. If he or she says “the quality of the pieces,” he or she may be focusing solely on developing repertoire. If he or she says “skill development” or something similar, then you probably have found a “process” oriented teacher, which you want, rather than a “product” oriented teacher, which you do not.

Of course, this does not have to be an either/or situation. There are plenty of courses out there that do a good job of skill development and that have great music. I recall you enjoying many of the pieces you learned in your Noona “Young Pianist” books. But you were learning the skills that have made you a competent pianist at the same time. (BTW sweetie, the “Young Pianist” series is going out of print. BOO!)

There are some very good teachers out there who do not use a published piano course. The problem is that you have no way of knowing whether they provide a comprehensive program of musicianship or not. You are going to have to pass on some possibly good teachers because of that. I would ask the potential teacher what piano courses (methods) they use. I would also ask whether they use the method, theory, and technic books, or whether they use the method book alone. You should consider only those who use the method, theory, and technic books at a minimum. While there are teachers who teach theory and technic without using a specific book, more often than not, they simply omit those elements of teaching. You should err on the side of caution and look first for ones that use the coordinated books for theory and technic. If you find one who uses theory and technic books, but not ones that “go” with the course they use, let’s talk. I do that myself sometimes, and they may have very good reasons for that decision.

You also want to find a teacher who teaches each of the following topics:

• Composing
• Arranging
• Harmony
• Improvising
• Transposing
• Ear training

While there are good teachers who do not teach those topics, they would not be the right choice for the members of our family, as we consider those things to be very important.

Finally, find out if you can attend a recital or hear his or her students perform. That does not always tell you what you want to know, because the practice habits of the student are just as important as the teacher’s skills. But if all of the teacher’s students have problems in the same area, it is probably because the teacher has not properly developed the skills in that area.

Finding a good teacher is an art, not a science. In using the criteria I have listed here, you might be passing up the best teacher in town. You also might find a teacher that looks good on the surface, but when you start lessons with that teacher, you find out that he or she lacks the personal skills that make for good teaching. He or she may lack the ability to motivate a student, or he or she may lack the patience needed to help a student who is struggling. If that is true, you need to find another teacher. Because of that, look for a teacher who will require no more than one month’s tuition at a time. If the teacher requires you to agree to a semester or a year of instruction, and he or she proves not to be a good teacher, you are out a lot of money when you decide to change.

One of the things you can do is to go to your local music store and ask the owner for a list of the teachers who regularly purchase multikey, skill-oriented piano courses. If you start with them, you can focus on the personality element in your interview process. The fact that they use those types of courses gives you a good indication that they believe in the comprehensive musicianship approach to teaching. Then it simply becomes a matter of finding someone with whom you feel comfortable.

Here is a list of courses that I consider to be of the type you should look for:

Albergo – Celebrate Piano

Bastien – Invitation to Music

Bastien – Very Young Pianist

Bastien – Music through the Piano

Bastien – Bastien Piano Library

Bastien – Bastien Piano Basics

Clark – Music Tree

George – Artistry at the Piano

Gillock – Piano All the Way

Glover – David Carr Glover Piano Library

Glover – David Carr Glover Method for Piano

Noona – The Young Pianist (doubt you’ll find one though!)

Noona – Noona Basic Piano

Noona – Noona Comprehensive Piano Library

Noona – Noona Clavier Method

Olson – Music Pathways

Oxford Piano Course (I doubt you’ll find one of those! But if you end up living near us, that is the course I will use, possibly after KinderKeyboard. I have a pristine set of the books set aside just in case!)

Pace – KinderKeyboard

Pace – The Way to Play

Pace – Music for Piano

Pace – Music for Keyboard

Snell – Piano Town

I am excited that you are already thinking of these things for Abby and for your husband. I will be interested in finding out what you come up with. Take your time; finding a good teacher is worth the wait.

©2008 by Kevin M Coan

This article may be copied and distributed freely without charge, but only if copied in its entirety with the copyright page.

 

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