Successful Piano Teaching

Sometimes it seems to me that I am one of the most fortunate persons in the world. Throughout the years, it has been my privilege to do the things I enjoy most: play the organ in churches, teach piano, and train piano teachers. One of my hopes in assembling the material in this book is that teachers who are not always free to attend refresher courses may be able to get some new ideas from it, and that some of them will find renewed inspiration in it. In arranging the material, I have included in Part I the chapters that more directly relate to teaching methods and the handling of pupils, liberally illustrated with incidents drawn from my own experience. Part II discusses certain extracurricular activities, and a few things about music in general, that have some bearing on piano teaching yet are somewhat outside the instructional contact between teacher and pupil. Finally, in the Appendix, I have gathered a number of anecdotes, some autobiographical and some told me by friends, which, although largely concerned with the teaching of music, fall outside the scope of the formalized chapters. I have also included in this section a number of quotations from authoritative sources that teachers may find of use as "eyecatchers" in their printed recital programs. I hope readers of this book will experience some part of the satisfaction I have felt in writing it. After a long teaching career, I still find each lesson a thrilling and challenging affair. Surely, there can be as much "art" in teaching as in playing. Carlyle wrote: "Give me the man who sings at his work."