Piano Teach For America

Today between my 6th and 7th period classes, while I was standing at the door waiting for my Pre-AP class to pile in, an 8th grader approached my room and was saying my name. Non-7th-graders knowing my name isn't incredibly uncommon, but it does still freak me out a little.

As far as I've been able to tell, somewhere in the distance between 7th and 8th grade the shoulders get broader, the voice gets deeper and quieter, the movements get somehow even slower, and the personalities get a little more defined/less ridiculous.

"Mr. Camann?"

Yeah.

"Can you give me piano lessons?"

What? Do you play piano?

"Yeah... a little."

You mean you play in music class? Or what do you play?

"Well, mostly classical. It helps me relax."

Hmm, nice. Do you have a piano at home?

"Yeah. Well... a keyboard. Sometimes I stay after school and play the piano in the library."

I shooed him off to class, but not before we decided to meet for a little while after school on Thursdays. After dismissal, I was cutting through the office to get back to my classroom to plan when I happened to glance through the window into the library. There he was, playing the piano.

I stopped in and asked him to keep playing whatever he had been playing. For Elise. Rough, but right away I could tell he had a great ear. Then he pulled some Japanese sheet music from some video game out of his backpack and described the way he had been trying to learn it. He had the right hand pretty solid, but the left hand rhythm was tricky enough on it's own, let alone putting the two together.

After watching him play and talking to him for a couple minutes, I could tell pretty much where he was at. But I spent a little time breaking down the rhythm of the left-hand in order to get a better idea of what kind of music theory knowledge he had. I found a scrap of paper and diagrammed a measure by splitting it into 16ths. Then we plotted when the notes hit and tried clapping the rhythm while counting.

I hesitated. I was beginning to get that little knot of guilt. Here was a kid who likes relaxing by playing some music. He has his own little method of discovery that has been working for him, but obviously has a ceiling. I instantly had ideas of how to guide him through that ceiling... but at what cost? In 5 minutes, I had reduced his relaxation tool to an exercise in clapping.

He must have sensed my hesitation because he nodded at the scrap of paper:

"This is going to make it so much easier."

Sweet. I began piecing together some of the next steps in my mind. I will find some music that is still challenging but that he'll be able to play through with both hands. We'll work on reading music using familiar songs at first because his ear seems pretty developed. Reading rhythms, dynamics, pedal control... eventually the finer parts of music theory and then I'll open up the world of songwriting. Booyah. I felt my mind racing, so I chuckled and asked him.

So, what do you want to learn?

"Everything you can teach me."

Good answer.