Pianodao’s weekly series of reflective blog posts
Written by ANDREW EALES
In my article Putting the PLAY back into playing the piano, I set out what I described as a “radical manifesto for piano education”.
That article was a watershed moment that brought together many of the ideas previously proposed on Pianodao, and outlined a fresh, positive future for piano education. Concluding the article, I wrote,
“There will long be those who value a piano journey which ventures beyond a prescribed series of sequenced tasks, levels and achievements, who long to depart from the digital learning super-highway to explore lesser-travelled, but astonishingly beautiful and fascinating byways.”
Naturally, as readers have considered Dr. Stuart Brown’s seven properties of play and their application in piano education, many have asked what this looks like in practice.
A Fork in the Path
To answer this, I invite you to take another look at the image at the top of this article. Imagine you are walking in this sunny countryside scene, enjoying the fresh air, smelling the blossoms, sensing the warm sun on your skin, feeling wonderfully relaxed yet sensitively alert to your surroundings.
Ahead, the path forks in two directions. Both paths take you in the general direction you want to travel, but one might be quicker, the other might be more scenic. One might offer more challenging terrain but better views; the other might help you “arrive” on time.
You are mindful of other choices, too. You could ignore these pathways completely and wander across the grass. You could sit, unfurl a blanket, and enjoy a picnic right where you are. You could turn back, spending the remainder of the day’s energy revisiting the landmarks already enjoyed.
There’s one certainty: each of these choices offers the potential to learn something new and rewarding.
Both pathways ahead present a tantalising journey of discovery. Staying put opens the way to a more detailed exploration, while returning the way you came will likely reveal a fresh perspective.
This is what playful learning looks like.
In every moment of every piano lesson, we continually encounter forks in the path ahead. Where shall we go next?
- Should we stick to our method or lesson plan, enforce our learning goals, and take the quickest route to the next syllabus target?
- Or will we allow learners to satiate their curiosity, directing our teaching to help them develop their enthusiasm and potential?
PLAY is contingent on curiosity. The engaged player commits to their own, autonomous choices, becoming absorbed and fully invested in the outcome. In this context, learning becomes supercharged.
If the learner wants to explore one or more forks in the path, let’s go with them on that journey. If they are keen to simply enjoy the spot that they are presently sitting in, how about we pull up a chair with them and take in every detail. And we must never mistake Active Repertoire for a backwards step.
This isn’t to say learning should be entirely pupil led. Play can often (and in a lesson generally should) be guided. But let’s take a more responsive approach, underpinned by an understanding of the value of play, directing our expertise to best help students dig deep in the soil of learning, while never losing sight of the overall sense of direction.
The medium term goal may well be a performance, exam, or a bucket list of amazing repertoire. But an able, experienced teacher will have an overview of the map. They will know the terrain, and have an enthusiasm for vividly drawing a player’s full attention to the scenery along the way.
This is how we become truly immersed in the landscape of PLAY.
