Christopher completed learning the five questions to answer the major question "Where do I put my hands", and rhythm values. Today he multitasked in that he had to play the correct notes, rhythm, and fingering (tempo comes later, at this point the student imitates the teacher in this area). Every student finds the first easy piece very challenging. They have never been challenged at this level. Christopher was not any different. He repeated it until he understood it. His attitude last week was that it was not difficult to understand each individual question, however, when he had to put it all together he did have a defeatist attitude. However, upon using several reassuring techniques, with a playful attitude, he found that he did understand it and was able to play it reasonably well. Next week he will master it easily. The second easy piece was much easier since we apply what we learned from the previous song to the next one. Again, this is typical and he did it quite well. He learned the C Scale and Triad. We will practice that again next week so that it begins to build knowledge of scales and triads. We also did the Blues Scale in the right hand. This is a big step because the Blues Scale lends itself to easy self-expression. Christopher is an excellent candidate for the Blues Scale. We are doing our best to show Christopher that challenges with practice become less challenging. Eventually he will begin to understand that practice is the way to master difficult ideas.

Christopher stated that he wasn't feeling well when it was time for his lesson. I encouraged him to take the lesson because it is considered an "easy" lesson - learning the five questions before playing any piece of music answers the main question - "Where do I put my hands?" On our last lesson we were only able to do two with an introduction to the third question. I mentioned to him that every student has a problem at this stage with focus and concentration, however, in order for him to be able to answer the "easy" questions, focus and concentration is the only method. He then focused and concentrated. By the end of our lesson he was able to answer every question correctly. He thought it was "kinda fun". We then approached learning rhythm values substituting people's names in syllables for the rhythm value. Chris - to - pher is the dotted half note which receives three beats. He seemed to focus and concentrate much more easily on this task. I hope he has seen the value of focus and concentration, it pays off. Piano instruction is valuable in correcting people's attention span. This lesson made him feel confident. We went slowly. We cheered him on when he answered correctly and encouraged him to get the right answer otherwise we would have to do more work until he was able to master the activity. Very proud of Christopher... He wasn't feeling well, doubted himself, and by the end of the lesson he felt empowered.

Zeta began her piano lesson with learning to memorize "Blue-bells of Scotland". She learned from her mistakes and eventually memorized the work. She stated that she wanted to play it in another key. As it turned out we learned what Transposition is. This is a lesson taught when we begin the new book. She actually played it an octave above. We went to the next piece which was a review of playing an entire piece in C Triad. This time it was effortless. As usual, Zeta was a genuine pleasure to teach. The next lesson does not have any pieces that will be memorized, so we will cover a great deal of territory.

We focused on what will be Zeta's third memorized piece of music. The music is complicated. That said, we learned how to analyze the form of the music - where it repeats. Zeta did very well and did not mind repeating the sections until she mastered them. By the end of the lesson, Zeta had almost memorized the piece. Caught her not looking a the music most of the time... Excellent lesson... Excellent student...

Christopher was given his new book. However, students are not allowed to play any of the easy pieces until they understand how to read the Grand Staff. The first question is which hand plays first. Christopher was given a very easy task of putting both hands on the piano and identifying which hand plays the high register (we did not use those terms to make things easy to understand and recall) and which hand plays the lower register. We then transferred the knowledge to reading that information on the Grand Staff. The high register is identified by the Treble Clef and the lower register is identified by the Bass Clef. Again, we did not use those terms. Instead we started with Top Treble and Bottom Bass. Then to make things even easier we reduced it to Top and Bottom. The result is still the same. Christopher identified which hand played the first note. Christopher did not get the right answer at first, however, after a few more attempts he was able to give the right answer each time. We later learned to identify fingering. Again, we uncomplicated the quizzing until Christopher was able to get the answers right each time. Next, we started to learn the difference between a line note and a space note - there are only two options - before we ran out of time. Basically, I always let the student lead the way and keep simplifying a topic until they feel comfortable. However, the goal is always the same. Music needs to become an outlet and not a source of stress. That said, it is stressful when a student performs before others - performance is an option. The thrill of playing for an audience is the applause, the recognition of the effort of doing something so well thought of. It is a socially acceptable method of getting attention.

Zeta had a rare opportunity today. She performed for a fellow student her two memorized pieces of music: "Chimes" and "Air by Haydn". She was nervous, however, she kept it under control and concentrated very well. She also learned to take a bow after each piece. We continued learning the next four pieces of music. This book is exceptional because it introduces new concepts in an easy, uncomplicated method and then progresses to a more challenging level. We asked questions which helped review what a key signature is, how do we identify the key signature and which keys are affected by the key signature. We learned the name of the other two Cs on the Grand Staff and their location. Now, Zeta knows the name and location of the three Cs that we learned in this book. Some teachers believe that if you know where the Cs and Gs are on the Grand Staff, you will be able to read quite well. We also approached a piece of music by stating that the entire piece was in C Root position, thus eliminating the note by note approach. Instead we compressed the information into both hands playing in the C Root position. In the last piece we played, Zeta learned "Form" or where does this piece repeat itself and where is it different. This lowers anxiety by knowing that if there are three A sections and one B section you will learn even a difficult piece very easily. Zeta had a great lesson today. We covered a great deal of new concepts and she had the experience of playing for someone else (grace under pressure).

Christopher went home sick. He left a few minutes before I arrived. Elise said we probably passed each other.

Christopher reviewed all that he had been introduced to and continued to learn the basics. The areas that Christopher has learned are the following: the musical alphabet, the octaves on the piano, being able to place the individual key at a specific octave. The Grand Staff was introduced last week and finished this week. The areas of the Grand Staff that we were able to focus on were the amount of lines and spaces, and the meaning of the Treble and Bass clefs.

Next week we will start the introduction of the easy piano book. We will bring out the need to be able to read which clef sign has the first note, which leads into which hand starts first, which finger plays the first note, is the note on the line or on space. Then and only then is the student able to place the hand in the proper place. We will also address rhythm values and add them to being able to read the music. This analysis will be repeated with each piece of music thus eliminating doubt and being overwhelmed with symbols. Building confidence is essential.

Zeta reviewed playing Chimes and Air by memory. We later reviewed the intervals she had mastered from a previous lesson. We reviewed the C and G scales and their triads. We learned two more scales, D and A with their major triads. We learned the major scale formula and then played the minor triads of all four keys. We learned the next new song in the book before it was time to finish for the day.

Christopher had a review of his past lesson. We were not able to meet for a couple of weeks so we reviewed areas covered. This time I allowed him to review the information as long as he wanted. Everything was done at his pace. Therefore, there were areas where he did not need as much time because he did remember certain things. We were able to continue to go further in learning the location of the keys, finish it and begin with another approach to learning the names of the keys. It's called "Deliver the Pizza". He did get a little mixed up so we decided to start again. We are not finished with this area as yet and will continue learning how to "Deliver the
Pizza" on our next lesson. Christopher is a very pleasant student and I look forward to our future lessons.