Question about my piano teacher’s teaching method?
Diane asked:
I am a 36-year-old female who has been taking piano lessons for one year. My teacher is a wonderful human being and I like being under her tutelage; however, she teaches the Bastien counting/rhythm method on playing (1-2-3-4 or 1&2&3&4 or 1&-er, 2&-er), etc. I started on Primer and I’m now almost to Level 3, but I find myself doing better at many songs by sight-reading the music (which I find easy to read and follow) rather than counting the notes in each measure. For example, on the song “Have A Holly Jolly Christmas”, when I count, I feel like a little bit of the song’s soul is lost because I can’t really *hear* it, figuratively speaking, due to having to count aloud (per my teacher’s recommendation). I don’t want to drop my teacher, but at the same time I feel like I’m making very slow progress because of the method she teaches. Should I stick it out? (On days I don’t practice … notably, Sundays … I like to play songs on the piano by sight-reading / singing the lyrics only)
How to Sight Read Music
I am a 36-year-old female who has been taking piano lessons for one year. My teacher is a wonderful human being and I like being under her tutelage; however, she teaches the Bastien counting/rhythm method on playing (1-2-3-4 or 1&2&3&4 or 1&-er, 2&-er), etc. I started on Primer and I’m now almost to Level 3, but I find myself doing better at many songs by sight-reading the music (which I find easy to read and follow) rather than counting the notes in each measure. For example, on the song “Have A Holly Jolly Christmas”, when I count, I feel like a little bit of the song’s soul is lost because I can’t really *hear* it, figuratively speaking, due to having to count aloud (per my teacher’s recommendation). I don’t want to drop my teacher, but at the same time I feel like I’m making very slow progress because of the method she teaches. Should I stick it out? (On days I don’t practice … notably, Sundays … I like to play songs on the piano by sight-reading / singing the lyrics only)
How to Sight Read Music
