If were asked to name the most frequent mistake made by teachers, I would cite the belief that a method or set of materials is complete in and of itself. This belief inevitably leads to some frustration with the materials, and teachers may even abandon the materials to try something else. In reality, every method needs supplements provided by the t...

Whenever I visit the exhibit hall at MTNA and other music teacher conventions or browse through the advertisements in publications for teachers, I am always a bit overwhelmed at the number of teaching aids available. For me the bottom line is whether or not the product has pedagogical value, specifically in the teaching of music reading. I ask...

from the series: ​Independence Day: Music ReadingCraig Sale, Editor Group lessons are able to facilitate the learning of music reading concepts in an efficient, effective manner. A recent Keyboard Companion readership survey showed that roughly half of those responding utilize group instruction in some way - occasional group lessons, week...

The subject of fingering may be one of the most neglected aspects of reading. I suspect we might all be surprised if we really knew how much fingering affects the student's ability to read. And, we might all be surprised at how many things about fingering we take for granted, sort of in the same way that we assume everyone knows that to the right i...

​On the piano pedagogy lecture circuit and in all the places that pedagogy experts write about the subject of reading, one of the most often-heard statements is, "You learn to read by reading." When I hear those words, I always wait to hear something like, "But with most students there are time...

When children begin to learn to read word s, it is assumed that the goal is sight reading-the ability to say the word a split second after seeing it-and that this goal will be reached rather quickly. And furthermore, it is assumed that the ability to sightread a string of words which make a sentence will follow close behind. If this were not t...