Student Progress!

Now that we've completed two weeks of classes - eight days of lessons per students for those who showed up each day - I'd like to report our progress.

The first day was thrilling. Everyone was excited to learn, and we were excited to teach. We set the six small keyboards on small tables, the two full-size keyboards on a long folding table, and pulled the piano (which does not have wheels) out of its cubby hole (which I wish could be removed entirely). We placed the rolling dry-erase board in front of chairs set in a semi-circle. I taped on the board the visual aids I made Sunday afternoon, and Megan set up a place at the front of the chapel to check in participants and make name tags. Now students stop by the kitchen just inside the front door of the church to pick up name tags.

The first week we had three classes: 9:30 a.m. to noon, 2:00-3:30 p.m., and 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. (Except the first day when the afternoon class went from 2:00-5:15 p.m.)

Here's what students learned the first day, Monday, July 1, 2013:

1. Wanting to start on time, I taught our first arrivals some pointers on directing hymns.

2.  Letter names of keys using a laminated paper keyboard taped to the dry-erase board.

3. Sharps and flats for all letters. We tossed five colored large balls on which I had written every keyboard letter, every letter sharped, and every letter with a flat. A student would catch a ball and carry the ball to a keyboard labeled with the color of the ball (red, blue, yellow, purple, green) where an assistant helped them find the keys under their hands. For example, a student catches a ball with their left hand covering G# and their right hand covering Cb. The student finds those keys on a keyboard, then tosses the ball to another student.

4. Students danced and sang Hokey Pokey to learn left and right hands while I played the version in Alfred Lesson Book 4 as example of what they may play in four years with regular practicing.

5. Wiggled finger numbers for right hand.

6. Read Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in Spanish, then sang in English. Wiggled fingers for Twinkle while reading posters taped to dry-erase board. Taught sandwich concept: bread, ham, cheese, bread for Twinkle. Students played Twinkle on keyboards with right hand.  We repeated the process for left hand. We played Twinkle singing numbers (easiest task), then singing letters, then singing words. Some students played with both hands this first session!

7. Megan Moncrief played Fur Elise on the piano, and then I asked if the students would like to play Beethoven. Of course, they were surprised, and thrilled to do so.

8. Group performed Ode to Joy theme using same process as learning to play Twinkle.

9. Learned note values of quarter, half, and whole notes using flashcards.

10. Students read five four-measure rhythm strips taped to dry-erase board, clapped counting vocally in English. Used English because of the syllables in 1-2-3-4 in English. (Later in the week, we used the Dah Dah Dah-ah method.) Divided the group to start on different rows of the rhythm strips for clapping and counting.

11. At keyboards, students improvised as a group on clusters of three black keys reading and counting rhythm strips.

12.  Students learned letter names of notes for treble clef.

On Tuesday, July 2 we reviewed all of the above, and: 

1.  Names of notes for bass clef.

2.  Students practiced writing notes of treble and bass clefs on individual dry erase boards made from picture frames with copies of two staffs under the glass tops. We would have preferred plastic covers, but we bought what was available at Walmart when we arrived in Guatemala.

3. Learned Senior las gracias por tus dones using a poster I made. This song jumps from middle C up to the next C and has notes going down the C scale with the second finger of the right hand crossing over the thumb - a real challenge for a second day of class.

On Wednesday, July 3 added:

1.  Reading ledger-line notes above and below the staffs.

2.  Playing In Humility Our Savior reading finger numbers from a poster.

3.  Clapping rhythm and playing Mary Had a Little Lamb reading finger numbers from a poster.

4.  Clapping rhythm and playing Away in a Manger reading finger numbers from a poster.  Children sang all three verses in Spanish reading from posters.

5.  Improvisation with pentatonic cowboy bass on black keys. Students took turns playing the bass or improvising melodies.

6.  By Wednesday, most students were returning at the same time for classes. Previously, we didn't know which class students would attend, even though we thought it was clear which class they were to attend. Everyone introduced themselves and shared why they wanted to play the piano. Most said they wanted to learn so they could play in church. We also divided the classes on Tuesday so that half the students of each group went upstairs with Eugene and Megan for theory while I taught students at the keyboards, then the students switched places.

7.  We gave each student a paper keyboard with three octaves for them to practice on at home.

On Thursday, July 4 added:

1.  Spanish names of keys: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si.

2.  Spanish counting: Dah, Dah-ah, Dah-ah-ah-ah.

3.  Playing Give, Said the Little Stream using posters of finger numbers and rhythm.

4.  Introduced copies of American Popular Piano, Repertoire Primer by Christopher Norton, editor Scott McBride Smith. We have five copies, so they must remain at the church for the students to share.
Students enjoyed performing with the CD recordings.

5.  Introduced copies of Teaching Little Fingers to Play Jazz and Rock. Several students were excited to learn The Entertainer,  and want to play it with me playing the duet part at the final recitals.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday - our three-day weekend. 
I was thrilled with the progress all students had made in just four days, but was also exhausted. Creating posters for each day's lessons was time consuming.  Encouraging students to always practice in unison reading from the posters was frustrating for me and the students. We also had two students at every keyboard during the afternoon sessions. Attempting to keep 16 beginners playing in unison while practicing created more noise than music. Considering these challenges, I had three goals for the weekend:

1. Separate the young children (7 years and younger) from older children and adults in the afternoon classes. The morning class does not need division. Usually there is a keyboard for each person attending in the morning. The participants in the morning are adults, although a couple of toddlers sometimes attend with their mothers, and Megan has been an angel to play with them.

To separate students in the afternoon classes meant someone had to help with the young children. Megan cheerfully agreed to be responsible for activities for the youngest children to free me to teach the adults. Knowing she would work with the youngsters was a tremendous relief for me.

2. Print books for each student using copies of selected pages from Curso de Acompanamiento Musical. This book is available online in both English and Spanish for free downloading. I selected 52 pages for the students' books.

3. Buy headphones to be used with each keyboard. Some students had their own headphones, but the headphones did not have the adaptors for use with the small keyboards.

By Monday, July 8, we were refreshed and eager to teach another week.

I greeted students with the news that John Mann was working with a printer to get books by Tuesday and had copies of three pages as worksheets until the books were printed.

The headphones were an instant success - at least in my opinion. Finally, there were moments of peace in the classroom!

Megan, however, had a tremendous challenge dealing with 12 lively youngsters in the afternoon. Chris, our translator went upstairs to help her. Still, it was an ordeal that could not continue. Besides, I needed Chris to help translate.

With the students' unanimous agreement, we divided the afternoon class into two groups:
2:00-3:30 p.m. and 3:45 to 5:15 p.m.

On Tuesday, July 9, Eugene and Megan worked together with the youngsters. John Mann and Eugene went to the market in Antigua to buy speakers to play downloaded songs from my computer for the children's activities, but the speakers didn't work, so the next day the men returned for better speakers.

We divided the classes again on Tuesday so students could have individual keyboards: 2:00-2:45 p.m., 2:45-3:30 p.m., 3:45-4:30, and 4:30-5:15. This worked for Wednesday, but on Thursday the children scheduled for the 4:30 class showed up at 3:45. I stressed that for Monday, July 15 they need to come at their assigned time. Since none of them have watches or cell phones, it may be an impossible request for them to obey. Also, they love playing in the small parking lot to the side of the church. Small as it is, its probably the largest enclosed area in the city for them to get together to play safely.

Also on Tuesday, July 9 all students took Level One of the Texas Music Teachers Association Theory Test. Since the test is in English, I verbally translated the test in Spanish, and drew examples for each question on the dry-erase board. In addition to writing the letter name for notes, students also wrote the Spanish names: Do, Re, Mi, etc. We played ear-training games before doing the ear-training section of the tests. Most students did extremely well on the tests.

I think I was more excited than the students when John Mann delivered the printed books during the Tuesday morning class, though every student expressed appreciation. John was disappointed the books were bound on the long side instead of the short side the way they should have been, but by Thursday John solved the challenge of the books slipping off the music stands with small plastic clothes pins. I told the students the books are a gift from me for the course. I am receiving a lot of hugs and kisses at the end of each session; that is thanks enough. Also, it is a relief to not have to create new posters every night.

Students are enjoying the copies of American Popular Piano and Teaching Little Fingers to Play Jazz and Rock, but these copies must remain at the church to be shared.

For the next three weeks, the plan is to work with the printed books and review. All students are planning on recitals at the church on Saturday, August 3.

Because our morning class is all adults and has two-and-a-half hours for each class compared to the 45 minutes of each of the four afternoon classes, the morning students are advancing faster, but all students are progressing well.

I announced on Tuesday, July 9 that no more new students will be accepted this summer, but on Wednesday a new eight-year-old boy stood in the doorway looking wistfully into the classroom. An eighteen-year-old student, Pablo, who constantly radiates cheerfulness, volunteered to stay after his class and teach this new student. After the session, Pablo announced, "Sister Hadfield, I've discovered something! I LOVE teaching!"

After two more days of teaching, we will be halfway through this summer's program. This is not a complaint, just a comment: I cannot recall a greater challenge in my life than this. The greatest challenge is the language barrier, and I am trying to improve my Spanish each day. The second biggest challenge is working with so many students every day with just one assistant teacher. Megan has been a dedicated, tireless helper, and I couldn't have done this without her. My husband, and Chris, our translator, did not intend to teach, but they have both helped each day. In the mornings, we can survive without Eugene, but he has been a big help in the afternoons with the children. I'm sure Megan will meet the challenge of teaching them when Eugene leaves in a week, but right now, I don't want to think about that.

Even with the challenges, there is no place in the world right now I would rather be!