Frankly, beginner piano students don't want to stay beginners,
so
the feel of rapid progress is HAPI indeed!
Most HAPI learners keep playing after the lessons end.
The secret? Efficient short cuts to early mastery. Who really wants to learn slowly ! !
We PLAY TO LEARN !!
so
the feel of rapid progress is HAPI indeed!
Most HAPI learners keep playing after the lessons end.
The secret? Efficient short cuts to early mastery. Who really wants to learn slowly ! !
We PLAY TO LEARN !!
Brief History of the HAPI Book
Returning to private teaching in 2005, and utilizing Anne Vanko Liva's syllabus for developing technique, my students were able to technically play far beyond the demands of lower level lesson books. So I began to create a body of music that engaged their delightful dexterity, yet keeping the reading reachable. They seemed to race ahead. In a year or two many (not all) were ready to engage early intermediate repertoire. And they were perusing the marketplace to play music of their own choice.
I ask all students to take a very few minutes a day to zip through easy dexterity drills. For those that did, the profit was enormous. And the few that would not play the patterns seemed to crawl in comparison.
I wrote beginner songs using quarter and eighth notes because their rhythmic relationship is easy to see.
I taught a simple rhythm reading system whose syllables, while being pronounced, fit the rhythm accurately and the syllables identify the rhythm note name.
I wrote pieces of lovely simplicity and energy that are fun to play and hear. Kids would work at them, and families ask to hear them.
I wrote songs targeting common weaknesses. And somehow, many problems are avoided.
I wrote pieces that pushed simple reading skills. Some easy, some hard. The easy ones make students feel their progress. The hard ones make them grow suddenly in specific skills.
I composed pieces meant to be transposed into all twelve keys.
I wrote pieces around a single technical skill.
Pieces came from finger patterns, reach patterns and hold patterns.
There are easy pages that take on arpeggios, one octave, and soon many octaves.
There is a song "Fairmount Park" that happily drives in the coordination for playing scales. In two or three pages they are playing triplet rhythm scales in several keys.
There are pieces based on the principle chords. Then they are asked to transpose them.
And more. . . .
Then I began to notice that many students were able to skip years of lesson books and technically handle early intermediate music.
Hymn and block harmonies were seen read earlier. Chord reading grew. Harmony had meaning for them.
How did this happen? Frankly, beginner piano students don't want to stay beginners, so the feel of rapid progress is a very HAPI thing. Most HAPI learners keep playing after the lessons end.
The secret? Efficient short cuts to early mastery. Who really wants to learn slowly ! !
Returning to private teaching in 2005, and utilizing Anne Vanko Liva's syllabus for developing technique, my students were able to technically play far beyond the demands of lower level lesson books. So I began to create a body of music that engaged their delightful dexterity, yet keeping the reading reachable. They seemed to race ahead. In a year or two many (not all) were ready to engage early intermediate repertoire. And they were perusing the marketplace to play music of their own choice.
I ask all students to take a very few minutes a day to zip through easy dexterity drills. For those that did, the profit was enormous. And the few that would not play the patterns seemed to crawl in comparison.
I wrote beginner songs using quarter and eighth notes because their rhythmic relationship is easy to see.
I taught a simple rhythm reading system whose syllables, while being pronounced, fit the rhythm accurately and the syllables identify the rhythm note name.
I wrote pieces of lovely simplicity and energy that are fun to play and hear. Kids would work at them, and families ask to hear them.
I wrote songs targeting common weaknesses. And somehow, many problems are avoided.
I wrote pieces that pushed simple reading skills. Some easy, some hard. The easy ones make students feel their progress. The hard ones make them grow suddenly in specific skills.
I composed pieces meant to be transposed into all twelve keys.
I wrote pieces around a single technical skill.
Pieces came from finger patterns, reach patterns and hold patterns.
There are easy pages that take on arpeggios, one octave, and soon many octaves.
There is a song "Fairmount Park" that happily drives in the coordination for playing scales. In two or three pages they are playing triplet rhythm scales in several keys.
There are pieces based on the principle chords. Then they are asked to transpose them.
And more. . . .
Then I began to notice that many students were able to skip years of lesson books and technically handle early intermediate music.
Hymn and block harmonies were seen read earlier. Chord reading grew. Harmony had meaning for them.
How did this happen? Frankly, beginner piano students don't want to stay beginners, so the feel of rapid progress is a very HAPI thing. Most HAPI learners keep playing after the lessons end.
The secret? Efficient short cuts to early mastery. Who really wants to learn slowly ! !