The Pathways Series

Who really needs mnemonics?

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Long established as a memory tool for note reading, well-worn mnemonics such as All Cows Eat Grass and Every Good Boy Deserves Football seem to have fallen out of favour in piano teaching circles these days.

Some suggest mnemonics should be avoided altogether, claiming that they are detrimental because:

they add an extra step for the learner decoding notation
they mitigate against the development of intervallic reading, harmonic understanding, and pattern recognition
they don’t scale for reading ledger lines, different clefs, etc
they can create a level of dependency that makes the transition to fluent reading harder

These are certainly important points to consider.

But when we explore the research into the use of mnemonics, a very different picture emerges. And teachers may notice that they are often recommended for learners who are dyslexic or with neurodiversity such as ADHD.

So what is the truth of the matter: are mnemonics useful, and if so for whom? Perhaps a balanced reassessment of the topic, grounded in academic and scientific research, is overdue. So let’s begin with the science bit…

Practice Reflection

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Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Did your last practice session leave you feeling a bit like a corpse, or was your piano playing totally on fire?

Reflecting on our practice is not just a good idea, but an essential component of making the tangible progress that we all hope for whenever we sit down at the piano. Remember, it is the quality of our practice which makes the real difference, not just the quantity.

So what has your practice looked like in recent weeks?
How can you improve it, and develop a more effective approach?

Preventing Injury in Pianists

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Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

The problem of musicians developing injuries related to their playing has received much attention in recent years. Happily, we can learn from a growing body of performing arts medicine research, and the insights of respected pioneers who have devoted their expertise to the fields of piano technique and movement retraining.

A systematic review (2018) of existing research into the prevalence of injury makes sobering reading, suggesting that up to three quarters of all keyboard players report experiencing musculoskeletal pain. And sadly we will all most likely have encountered players who suffered injuries such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and dystonia.

Avoiding injury is clearly a key concern. However, increased awareness of this important issue has been accompanied by confusion and disagreement between pianists and educators both about the causes of injury, and what constitutes “good technique”.

Do Grade Exams Motivate?

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Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

What part do the Grade exams play in fostering positive motivation? Do they provide a necessary framework for musical advancement, or distract from more important goals? Are they signposts to success, or might they put some learners off playing a musical instrument altogether?

Most teachers will recognise that for some learners, entering for a grade exam seems to spur them towards progress, while for others they can prove less positive.

For more than three decades, I have helped prepare some (but not all) of my students for grade exams, so have had plenty of opportunity to reflect on the pros and cons. I have observed many good reasons for “taking the grades” as well as a few rather misguided ones, and have discovered why many (despite using graded music books and materials) prefer not to take exams.

In this post, I will explore this complex question from various angles and perspectives. I hope that my balanced conclusions will help readers pursue a well informed pathway of progress that suits their individual needs and goals, whether choosing to take the grades or not.

Grade Expectations

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Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

”What grade is this piece?”

Having been a syllabus consultant for three of the top exam boards, compiled several graded anthology publications, and reviewed the main UK grade exam offerings in depth, it’s probably no surprise that I am often asked to comment on the grade level of pieces.

By analysing current and previous repertoire choices set by the boards, we can draw a number of common conclusions about the Grade Expectations underpinning their past and current syllabus selections, but it must be emphasised that as we do so, we quickly discover that considerable variety exists between equally accredited boards, and that standards have notably shifted in recent years.

In this article I will begin by explaining why it is becoming so difficult to assign clear grade levels to pieces. I will then outline the common technical and musical content currently found in the syllabus pieces for each grade level, primarily based on recent ABRSM choices as these remain the widely known and respected, but having also referred to and reviewed the main alternatives.

I will also link to recommendations of suitable music for each grade level, so that those keen to expand their teaching and playing repertoire can explore the wide and wonderful variety of music that is available for today’s players at every level.

Beyond five-note hand positions

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Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

In a previous article, I considered the importance of establishing a stable five-note hand position in the early stages of piano playing. There are many important reasons for doing so, which you can read about in my post here:

The importance of five-note hand positions

Let’s remind ourselves that teaching beginners to play in a stable five-note position has several important technical and musical benefits, and isn’t simply the construct of a book-based approach.

As I also explained, it is wise to use a range of different five-note positions, rather than locking into just one. This allows the player to experience major and minor tonality, and explore a growing range of the piano.

In this follow-up, I will consider the three most basic ways that we can begin to move beyond the five-note position. These form the basis of an effective fingering technique at elementary level:

moving to a new position
connecting with the thumb
and stretching the hand.

These foundational techniques can be introduced as soon as the player is able to maintain a stable five-note hand position, and all appear in Piano Time 1, a method book I often use with children and have reviewed here.

I believe that learners should be encouraged to recognise, play around with, and understand these three strategies, which they can later use to create their own fingering alternatives as they progress.

Penelope Roskell’s Essential Piano Technique series covers these techniques in the Primer B and Level 1 books. This series provides wise insight and helpful material for developing the foundations of an efficient, healthy playing approach from beginner to late intermediate level.

The importance of five-note hand positions

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Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Many popular beginner methods and repertoire collections encourage young players to initially blossom at the piano and develop finger independence by learning simple tunes with a fixed, five-note, stable hand position.

Much can of course be taught away from the page, but when introducing reading there is a solid logic to beginning with the landmark note Middle C, and with the pinkies respectively playing the G of the “G clef”, and the F of the “F clef”. Happily, this also allows for melodies that range over an octave.

However, the problems with this approach are well observed. We find that learners who stay in this position for too long often find it difficult to move beyond it, developing a fixed but false association between certain finger numbers, specific pitches, and piano keys.

Sharing Middle C with both thumbs can certainly be awkward too, although undue panic about ulnar and radial deviation of the wrist seems to me overstated, and slightly absurd at this level.

Nevertheless, these drawbacks have fed the growing fashion for consciously avoiding the classic methods, dismissing established pedagogy and conventional piano teaching as old-fashioned and ill-informed. But this seems to me an overreaction which could itself prove to be more damaging…

ADHD • A Pianist’s Guide

ADHD • Insights for Pianists

Education Strategies • Andrew Eales
Clinical Expertise • Louise Eales RMN, NMP

ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, has become a hot topic of discussion in recent years, the apparent explosion of both child and adult diagnoses much commented on in the media and society at large.

This article has been cowritten with my wife Louise, who has three decades clinical experience working with children, and latterly adults, who have ADHD. She is now an advanced practitioner at ADHD 360, a leading private ADHD diagnosis and treatment clinic. We gratefully acknowledge that the Clinical Director has peer-reviewed this article prior to its publication here.

For my part, I have lived with this condition for a lifetime, only belatedly recognised and formally diagnosed in my fifties. ADHD has had a huge impact on my piano journey.

Our shared aim is to provide pianists and educators with a unique, relevant, and practical perspective which combines Louise’s clinical expertise with my personal experience, and which specifically addresses the challenges those with ADHD face in the practice room, piano lesson and at live events.

The article which follows addresses many common questions, explaining what ADHD is, its causes, history, the signs and symptoms. We then go on to apply this to piano practice, lessons and performance, offering strategies to help those with ADHD and their teachers. Finally, Louise outlines the process of diagnosis and available medications.

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