The eight-some pieces in Bartók's For Children, based on Hungarian and Slovakian folk tunes and intended for young learners, cover a considerable range of difficulty. Because finding pieces of musical substance at the early levels is difficult, it is understandable that the simplest of these are the best known (the showy "Swineherd's Danc...

Whether they reach an elementary student using Piano Adventures, five- or six-year-old playing a composition from My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner, or a teacher gleaning information from one of their workshops, Randall and Nancy Faber influence piano students and teachers around the world.  Randall holds thre...

The importance of incorporating current music into piano lessons is immeasurable—you will be more desirable as a teacher, you will see a spark inside your students that hasn't come out since last Christmas, and you may even have some fun making music come to life with your students. By speaking the language of your students through music that is me...

We've all had the experience of having a lesson veer into high intensity, whether from an overstressed student, a grumpy teacher, or both. The result? As the tension mounts, the learning process gets stymied. This is particularly likely to happen when preparing a student for an upcoming evaluation, recital, or competition. We can try to plow throug...

A good musical introduction creates anticipation for the listener by suggesting the key and style of a tune about to be played. Ready? Go!  The easiest way to set up a tune is to play a V7 intro chord. This works because it takes advantage of our expectations about functional harmony. Since most tunes begin with the I chord, a V7 chord pl...

Occasionally I have a student who is reluctant to move past the first method book, or is easily discouraged when things get the least bit challenging. Some are unwilling even to explore past a C-major pentascale. Fortunately, I discovered "Pepperoni Pizza," a captivating little piece from Mona Rejino's elementary-level collection, Just for Kids (Ha...

Playing the piano is a marriage of sorts. Just like a traditional marriage, there are three phases. Phase One, "The Honeymoon Phase," is when we are excited about a new piece and can't wait to explore it. Phase Three, "The Silver Threads Among the Gold Phase," is the warm, cozy, and comfortable phase, when we know the music inside and out. Phase Tw...

Time's passage has been much on my mind of late. The winds of change blow on. We rush toward the future, the way paved by technologies that only get faster and more pervasive. I long for a leeward island, enough out of the wind to consider the things that don't change, or shouldn't. Should piano teachers perform? There is more than one answer. Teac...

​The timing was perfect. Friday night's student recital was a success, my ight early the next morning was on time, and we landed uneventfully in Boston's Logan Airport. Or so I thought. While my husband guarded my suitcase, I strolled off to the ladies' room before heading to the car rental agency. Then it happened—suddenly I was tumbling over a wo...

When hands are hanging loosely at the sides of the body, the fingers are in a "natural curve," which is a perfect hand position. The finger are not extended but in their natural, relaxed state (see Example 1). (Natural curve varies from person to person.) ​ Try This: Extend your fingers straight, and keep them there (see Example 2). Within a few se...

When David Tong was seven, a week before he was scheduled to make his professional debut as a pianist, a boy took his basketball during gym class and refused to return it. David regularly got into fights at school, often over nothing more than a stolen pencil; a stolen basketball was flagrant provocation. The pair started shoving and scuf...