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<DIV>Alan</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for all the work you've done on this. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I taught "Piano Parts and Their Function" this semester, using som=
e of
the outlines that were posted earlier. We're almost done with the semester, =
and
today I asked my students for feedback. For the most part they said the=
y
really enjoyed the class, but thought it was way too difficult for an electi=
ve.
I guess that could be taken two ways. Either I am teaching over th=
eir
heads, or the other classes they are taking are too easy. Personally I think=
it's the latter, but then I have not taken any other the other
classes. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Unfortunately, the faculty is only letting me teach this course once ev=
ery
other years, so it will be a while before I can make some changes. One =
of
the things the students recommended was to make this two separate class=
es.
One class dealing with the "academics," like history, taking care of an=
instrument, selecting new or used instruments, etc. The other to
teach the technical, identifying the parts of a piano, learning a littl=
e
about regulating, tuning, being able to identify problems, and how to correc=
t
them.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This might be worth considering for those of you who are trying to put =
a
program together. It might be easier to concentrate on one aspect, than tryi=
ng
to teach a little of everything, and skimming over some of the details. </DI=
V>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Just some thoughts at the end of the semester.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wim
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"=
>Willem Blees,
RPT<BR>Piano Technician<BR>School of Music<BR>University of
Alabama</FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>