Klavierschule in 6 Heften

This piano school, developed over decades, is very different from the schools I know.

Due to the extensive material and very easy beginning, even very young children (from 4) can work with it, but teenagers and adults also enjoy learning with it.

Limitation of the material:

· I start from c and g (well distinguishable: booklet 1)

· Restriction to five-note space (= good addressing of the fingers: booklet 3)

· Compressed note name learning part (beginning of book 4)

· Special simple pieces for practicing "problems" (booklet 4: Kreuzotter)

· Simply written music theory sections suitable for children

· Comprehensibility of pieces adapted to the child: Songs, character pieces of animals, etc.

· Nice pieces.

· Systematic low-threshold learning of song accompaniment (booklet 3+5) as well as introduction to blues and boogie playing (advantage: children are already used to playing freely!)

Here is a more detailed description of the individual booklets.

Booklet 1 "Erstes Tierliederbuch” (“First animal song book") and 2 ("Erstes Kinderliederbuch") ("First children's song book”) offer a very easy introduction and is also suitable for very young children because of the large notes. Here, the five-note space is developed in the treble clef starting from the most distant notes c and g. For small children, the use of animal names for the notes is a clear relief. For the teacher it has the advantage that he does not have to ask questions in case of unclear pronunciation. With older students I skip booklet 1, while I always (often within a week) do booklet 2 (simultaneous parallel playing of monophonic melodies).

As in these booklets, also in booklet 3: "Auf der Wiese" (“On the meadow”) the material is reduced to the (at the end extended) five-note space. The bass clef is introduced very carefully. Thus the children learn very quickly to play quite demanding pieces (Abendlied der Grillen), which in my experience is very motivating. The advantage of this method is that there is a strong "addressing" of the fingers: the student sees the note and automatically plays the correct finger. A disadvantage is that this unfortunately leads to the fact that it is not really necessary to learn the note names.

This problem is solved in booklet 4 "Im Zoo" (“In the Zoo”), where the children are forced to give up the note-finger relationship and learn the note names first only in treble clef, then only in bass clef. It is noticeable that the last piece of some sections is relatively challenging. It may be useful to omit it for very weak children. It is a special feature of this school that it starts with very easy pieces in each content section and the last somewhat more difficult songs are not necessary for further learning (in this booklet Der kleine freche Affe.) Particularly dreaded "problems", e.g. many accidentals ("Kreuzotter"), are taken away by practising them in very easy pieces ("Wasn't really that difficult").

The 5th booklet, "Durch das Jahr" (“Through the Year”), serves not only to expand theoretical knowledge, but also to practice thumb understatement and scale playing, as well as various technical problems such as fast runs within one hand (Gewitter). In this the children get the necessary security in playing to be able to find their way through the beginner's literature without any problems. Due to the thematic order, the pieces should not be played in the order in the book. A suggestion for this is given under the table of contents. I think this should not cause any difficulties.

The 6th booklet "Kleines Kinderliederbüchlein" ("Small children's song book”) offers on the one hand the possibility to play generally known children's songs besides the pieces of the piano school, on the other hand it offers additional practice material for weaker students. It is structured parallel to the booklets 3-5. In addition, there are some Christmas songs at the end that are especially suitable for younger children.

Even though some of the pieces are quite challenging in context, my experience with average students is that they enjoy playing sometimes something more difficult.

A special feature of the school is that the children learn free song accompaniment. Due to the material limitation in the 3rd booklet, this causes the children surprisingly little difficulty. Since they are already used to free accompaniment, the hurdles at the end of the 5th booklet are also manageable. I have added an introduction to blues and boogie playing.

Another peculiarity is that from the very beginning, attention is also consistently paid to strengthening the weak fingers.

I am always grateful for new ideas.