Teaching son

[Newton Hunt]

Larry,

Why your son wants to learn now is not nearly as important
as the fact that he wants to learn.  Leave it at that.

You have received good advice otherwise.

First be joyous he wants to learn, encourage him, support
him, praise him when he reaches a goal and love him as only
a dad can when teaching the lessons of a life time.

Goals are the key.

Set realistic, practical and small goals for him.  Teaching
him tuning for a couple of hours a day then have him work on
something different and mechanical.  You will know early on
if he has the ability to hear and tune unisons.  Probably in
five minutes.

First unisons, middle treble and bass.  Have him
intentionally break a couple of strings so he gets the feel
for that happening. This prevents future problems.  Use a
piano in for a restringing.

Ear fatigue sets in VERY early so when he reaches the point
he can no longer hear the beats move him to learning parts
names, screwing parts onto actions, cleaning, whatever as
long as it is simple and straight forward.

When he has mastered unison tuning (a basic understanding,
unisons are the first to learn and the last to master) then
go for pure fourths then pure fifths then have him adjust
thirds to equal beat rates to get the sense of equality and
speed.  If he can tune a series of contiguous major thirds
so they beat equally he is ready to learn to temper
intervals and octaves.

Do not be surprise when he learns one section of the piano
faster than the other, people hear things differently. 
People who have played clarinet or violin learn treble
quickly but have difficulty in the bass.

In the meantime sit down and prepare as detailed a course
outline as you can and organize them into grand, general and
vertical procedures.

A real good starting point is to get a copy of my "Guide"
from the home office and them fill in the details and left
out operations we all take for granted.

Two years is a realistic time frame.  Remember, you are
teaching a profession and it cannot be done in one year. 
Remember that you are not organized as a class room, you do
not have a lot of teaching aids and that you cannot be
teaching full time.  All these factors are likely to stretch
the time required.  Also remember you are not a trained
teacher so go back and remember how a favorite teacher
taught you and emulate them.  Patience, perservance,
tolerance, empathy and a real desire to impart your
knowledge are more important than having that knowledge. 
Know when you don't know, and say so, them find out.  Open
his eyes to music and the demands various disciplines of
music put on a piano and the technician.

My original course outline runs to some 20 pages of "How
to..."s.  Remember you are retraining his sense of touch,
hearing and muscle coordination in ways he has never used
them before so be patient, observe his strengths and build
on those and observe his weaknesses and find ways to
reinforce those so he maintains a basically equal footing
with his strengths and weaknesses.

You are embarked upon a great adventure with your son.  A
father could not hope for anything greater nor a better
compliment than a desire to learn what you spent a life time
learning.

Lots of good luck to you both.

		Newton