The Importance of the Method



		Introduction Foreword from the Teachers Manual Methods in Perspective The purpose of Music lessons How a Method can go wrong Comparison of Methods Description of the Curriculum The Importance of the Metronome				Methods in Perspective Almost all teachers use a method as a means to introduce students to the elements of music. A piano method serves three purposes: 1. To help the teacher structure the introduction of concepts and skills in a progressive order. 2. To provide studies on which to apply them. 3. To provide a written reference for students of what they have learned. Renewed Interest in Music Music is more accessible today than ever before. But at the same time, music has suffered a weakening in its educational value as compared to a century ago. This is due, in great part, to educators being influenced by popular trends instead of teaching music as an important subject of its own. Now we are seeing the pendulum swing back to an interest in music as a serious matter for study, and many teachers, parents, and students are looking for help. A renewed interest in music brings with it the opportunity for the restoration of the heritage of music education that has been lost since the classical methods of the past. Classical Methods Many great composers and performers have published methods for teaching music. Some of these are Leopold Mozart ( 1719-1787), Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), Louis Kolher (1820-1886), Cornelius Gurlitt (1820-1901), Bela Bartok (1881-1945), and Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987). The Methods from the 19th Century such as those by Clementi, Kohler, and Gurlitt show the basic elements of music in one book and are appropriate for all ages. More recently in the 20th Century, Bartok and Kabalevsky provided many educational teaching pieces for beginning study. Many teachers today are ready and eager to provide the depth of study as was commonplace a century ago in methods like these. Natural Order: Theoretically, there is no new or alternative way for introducing music that can rival what has been done for centuries. Whether music is as simple as a folk song or as complex as a symphony, the most basic element in music is the single note. When beginning lessons, students must first learn to read the staff alphabetically with melodies (single notes as opposed to interval or chordal harmony) in the key of C - first one melody, then two together. Once relationships are fluently developed in the natural key of C, students are ready to transpose their knowledge into other keys and understand the organization of notes into intervals and chords.