The Beginning Student

In traditional methods of piano teaching, students will learn to read the music from the very beginning. In this method, students will learn the music by listening to it. This does not mean that reading is completely ignored. After the student can play well enough, reading is introduced.

Memorizing a piece by listening to it is a method very much like the way a child first learns language. A newborn baby is much like a computer with nothing stored in its memory. The child is like a blank slate. The only place to start is at the most fundamental level of learning. At that level, available sensory data is stored until it can be assimilated in a meaningful form. Sight and sound are both very basic, but sight requires prior knowledge and practice in terms of playing music. Sound requires no prior knowledge and practice in terms of playing music. Requiring no prior knowledge or skills, sound therefore qualifies as an easier path on which to begin the process of learning an instrument,

The reason why a child learns a language in a seemingly effortless manner is that she is born in an environment which facilitates this process. A child is not coerced into learning to speak. She learns naturally by listening to the speech of those in the environment and imitating it. Learning to play piano can be much the same. A child's own curiosity can be the initial spark and the gratification of approval from parents can be the fuel that feeds the fire. For the above reasons, I only teach those students whose parents agree to provide such an environment so that the students may learn in this "natural way."

The next step is to buy textbooks and recordings. You will need Book 1 of the Suzuki Piano Method textbook series along with the accompanying recording. The recording consists of Dr. Kataoka's performances of pieces in Book 1 with five repetitions of each piece. It is recommended to supplement the listening with the additional Book 2 and 3 recordings. This keeps the child always excited to learn more.

With beginners, it is recommended to schedule lessons together with two to three students to a group. While one student is taking a lesson, the others are required to observe. It is very important to observe lessons of other students as you may find something very important which you are not aware of in your own child's lesson. This group lesson is not for the purpose of competition but for developing an objective and analytical mind and attitude.