Sticky spot

Jordan is at a sticky spot in his piano learning. He can do all the major scales at about 152 beats per minute, which is awesome, but he is not perfectly consistent about which fingers he uses for which notes, and that is something that is supposed to become automated, the way it is in typing. He also uses a hand position that will not serve him well in the long run (flat fingers instead of tall, playing on the pads of his fingers instead of the tips). Lastly, he has been working on a particular Bach minuet for several weeks, which is not in itself a bad thing, but it's something that his teacher, Ben, thought he would blow through a lot faster. And here is where Ben really demonstrates his character as a teacher. My own temptation, much as I hate to admit it, is to think something along the lines of, "What's wrong with you? Shape up!" Not very constructive. Ben, on the other hand, at a moment when Jordan was doing something else out of the room, said to me: "Hm; this piece is not as easy as I was thinking it would be. What do you think is going on?" The assumption being that if the learning is not going smoothly, there is probably something that the teacher needs to learn, in order to better facilitate the student's progress.

Once Ben asked that question, I realized I actually think there is an answer to it, or part of an answer. Jordan has the following awesome musical skills, among others: He can hear intervals instantly and precisely, he can solfege anything either in writing or by ear (which is an extension of hearing intervals), and he can memorize music. All of these are strongly reinforced at boychoir. The Bach piece, however, has a lot of big, unpredictable intervals in it, so you are really better served by knowing that the next note is a D, instead of knowing that it is an octave-plus-a-third down from the last note; and reading music by the letters is not one of Jordan's strong suits. Jordan knows this; he has told me that he finds notes on the piano by intervals from a known note, instead of absolutely, and that naming the notes is harder for him. This is a solvable problem! I will hop down to our music store and get flash cards. This will be good for both him and Aaron.

About the fingering on the scales: I bet this is a similar issue to handwriting, which is also not automated for Jordan the way it is for many of us. Ben's action plan for this is to just really practice the scales with correct fingering, even though it means slowing down, until the correct fingering is reliable. It is hard for Jordan to slow down in order to use proper form... in anything. But he is trying.