The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher

by Marienne Uszler, Stewart L. Gordon, Scott McBride-Smith

This second edition of the best-selling piano pedagogy book provides future piano and keyboard teachers with the essential tools to meet the challenges the next century. Fundamental to every keyboard teacher, the text examines current learning theories, offers a historical overview of keyboard pedagogy, reviews educational materials, and describes specific teaching techniques. It also discusses specific repertoire and technique for beginning, intermediate, and adult students.

Genres: Music

408 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 1999

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Many things said about the piano-teaching profession twenty years ago are no longer true."

This is the opening line of chapter one in this textbook published in 1990, which now makes it over 35 years old, and oh my, is it ever true! At the time of publishing, this would have been an amazing resource, full of lists of method books for beginner students (now mostly out of print or out of date) and advice on how and where to teach (independent studio vs. at a music institution) at a time that couldn't conceive of teaching online. They also apparently considered everyone starting piano at the age of 10 or older as an adult student, which I think we've moved beyond. Most eyebrow-raising was the chapter called "Keyboard Teaching and New Technology" which was good for a laugh: does the music software you want to run on your computer need a black and white or a colour monitor? Look for a sequencer that uses computer-type memory like a 3.5" or a 5" disc.

What's left that's not amusingly out of date is a very good section on developing an intermediate student, including both functional skills and repertoire to achieve it. The lists of intermediate repertoire are still quite good, although obviously missing any composers from the last 30 years. There's a lovely chapter on "Great Pianists of Today: Thoughts and Viewpoints" of great quotes from Great Contemporary Pianists Speak for Themselves, although the "contemporary" performers are now largely nearing retirement. As a well-experienced piano teacher, what I found most interesting were the surveys of learning theories and a large section of a historical overview of keyboard pedagogy from C.P.E. Bach to the 1980's. It's interesting and informative, but while important, it's definitely not something you urgently need to know when getting started teaching piano.

In the end, while this book would have been 5 stars if I'd read it 30 years ago, time has not been kind to it. I would not recommend this to a young or aspiring piano teacher, who first of all, needs practical advice on how to set up a business and current resources available and secondly, needs practical advice on how to teach the skills and concepts that get a beginner student up to intermediate and beyond. I don't know of any one single book that solves the first need, but for practical pedagogy, these are what I'd recommend you should read (in order) instead of The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher:
1. Inspired Piano Teaching
2. Questions and Answers: Practical Advice for Piano Teachers (although also written a number of decades ago, focuses on playing the piano which hasn't dated as badly)
3. The Art of Teaching Piano Piano Pedagogy and Teacher Resource for Piano Teachers, Music Educators, and Instructors Comprehensive Piano Teaching Methods, Student Development, Group Lessons

I'd love to hear of other piano pedagogy reading recommendations!