boy genius

Sometimes I talk about my piano students, but very rarely do I write about them.

Meet, Joshua.... He just learned to play Pachelbel's Canon in D. This video is from last Tuesday on his second run-through of the intro (page 1). I made him play it very slow so he would pay attention to his fingers and hand position on the keyboard. I'll record it again in a few weeks and show you how he's progressing...

This is the full version of Canon in D, 9 pages long, hovering around Level 4 or 5 Intermediate/Advanced piano. I was at a Level 8 in college, my senior year.

This child is a genius.

Joshua is 7 years old and has not only played some of the most popular Classics in the past two years, but also taught himself to read music in two weeks (at my stern insistence and coaching...ha) and has written a few songs of his own, one of which he named Falling Snowflakes and performed at a Christmas pageant.

Did I mention he memorizes every single piece he learns?

It's not only a privilege, but challenge to squeeze all I want to teach him in the 45 minutes I have with him each week. I'm threading in music theory, technic and all of the major/minor/melodic minor keys, scales and chords that he needs to know. But I've voiced concern to his mother that eventually, Joshua will surpass me in my own knowledge of piano. She doesn't seem too worried, though and insists that I am the only person they want teaching Joshua and he only wants to take piano from me.

Great.

I've called a few of my former classmates who have opened their own studios or are teaching privately in various states. They all have performance degrees, some Master's and others went back to school to get a major in education. All have said the same thing: if the child is learning, is excited, and I can keep pushing, teaching and challenging limits for what he is capable of learning, than I'm  doing exactly what I should be doing. ::whew::

I suppose my own insecurities as a pianist come out in my teaching... but I try not to let my student's sense that.

Lately, I've been playing a bit more and finding I'm not as bad as I think. I can't play from memory like many people do and really hate it when someone asks me to play something and I'm truly, honestly, not able to unless I have music (specifically, my music). I only memorized for recitals twice a year -it was tough and I hated it then... that's not going to change.

But, put a piece of music in front of me, and I'll do my best to play it with ease. That's something I'm teaching Joshua to do, even though he can play by ear and sight much better than reading notes. Each week, I spend a few minutes just note reading so that he will hopefully begin embracing the joy of reading music... because then, no matter what's next, he can teach himself for the rest of his life.

Ah, the joys of learning...