Education Revolution Leads to Revolutionary Piano Method
There’s been an educational revolution brewing especially since the mid 1990s in the USA. Changes in public attitudes towards “old-school” instruction have led to the creation of new types of education in various fields – even in music.
Perhaps it started earliest in the medical field with the use of “problem-based learning” models to teach doctors and specialists of all areas. In 1969, McMaster University’s School of Medicine in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada “pioneered problem-based learning, a method that brings real-world medical issues into the classroom, empowering students to find solutions with the guidance of a tutor.”
These PBL models set a problem scenario for the learner to solve under teacher guidance. Independent working/colleague collaboration, theory formulation/research, and critical thinking/analysis to forming solution trials were all utilized to create the answer. What a learning experience! Much beyond rote memorization. Call it an Educational Awakening ~ an Academic Revolution!
The experiences of these students enhanced their ability to solve problems themselves, without the answers being handed to them. This is an essential ability in our modern world, no matter in which industry one chooses to work.
For the past forty-plus years, there has been an awareness of the need for a much more effective educational system, from occupational professionals and parents themselves. This awareness contributed to an explosion of specialized schools in math and reading, private schools, and charter schools nationwide. The first US public charter school was formed in 1992, Minnesota’s City Academy Charter School in St. Paul.
Throughout the USA there were 7,547 charter schools in 2019, up from the 1,993 in 2000.
On-line schools and homeschooling is on the rise. During the 2021-2022 school year, there were about three million students homeschooled for grades K -12, up from over 2 million students in 2010.
What does this education revolution and its new approach have to do with piano instruction and learning?
It shows the difference between students who have the ability to solve problems by creating solutions and those students who have been taught rote memorization of information as the end-goal to acquiring knowledge.
The goal of any valid instruction method should be to supply the learner with the information and cognitive “tools” to accomplish the set task and be able to self-correct when necessary. In other words, to go way beyond the instruction process of:
Here is what X looks like.
Go copy X.
Therefore, X must have been learned.
The successful piano student is able to
self-correct and apply what is known
to future unknowns.
The piano student must have a cognitive method
(a thinking process) in order to fully succeed.
This is the opposite of showing isolated bits
on flash cards or showing illustrations to be mimicked.
This “thinking method” allows the student to
become the teacher . . . of himself!
Education Revolution: What’s the Difference?
Want to teach yourself or your child piano? Want to hit keys on a piano or actually read and play piano music that’s written? Be careful; there are hundreds of method books to choose from and some look very entertaining. Some have gorgeous illustrations; some have audio visual reinforcements; some are meant to use with a computer.
But they all can be distilled into two piles:
- play piano by hitting keys – or –
- actually read written music in order to play piano
For the details check this out!
What Would the First Lesson for a Young Student Look Like?
What Would the First Lesson for a 6 to Teen Look Like (video)?
View sample pages of all the books for students
ages 6 to teen:
View sample pages of all the books for students
4 to 5 years old:
View sample pages of all the books for older
teens and adults:
View the books on Amazon:
Leslie Young is the author/composer of the Revolutionary Piano Method. She co-founded a K-12th grade charter school in Texas and has been a piano teacher for about 40 years. She has had experience teaching a variety of students tackling piano for the first time or as returning students.
Leslie believes that “learning to play the piano is more about diligence and perseverance” – but would add that just as critical to success is the method that is used, the encouragement of critical thinking, and the instructional principles that promote immediate success.
She states: “In teaching piano to students of varying ages, what also varies is a commitment of time and the amount of dedication. Children of certain ages may do very well with a parent as teacher; others may need someone who is not family to instruct them. Some older children and adults prefer to make progress on their own, and this method is designed to act as a meticulous guide through new material. Some adults and teens insist on professional teachers, which also encourages continuity. Because these books are self-explanatory, a new or experienced professional teacher will have no trouble using the Revolutionary Piano Method with students. It is an easy way to learn piano.”
