Payam Method for piano lessons
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On 60 Minutes tonight.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/payam-method-piano-lessons-60-minutes/
@wtg thanks for posting that! There was a post about this in a FB piano group (some piano teachers were taking offense at the suggestion that their lessons aren’t fun!) but I couldn’t access the link there. I could read this one and there’s an additional one as well.
It’s interesting. Basically I’m happy about anything that creates buzz about piano, but I’m really curious about the details here. Also I think the idea of composing early and creativity etc. is not so unusual in contemporary piano lessons.
But one of the articles talked about how his students are sweeping some composition content, which is interesting and suggests it’s not total bull at least!
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@wtg thanks for posting that! There was a post about this in a FB piano group (some piano teachers were taking offense at the suggestion that their lessons aren’t fun!) but I couldn’t access the link there. I could read this one and there’s an additional one as well.
It’s interesting. Basically I’m happy about anything that creates buzz about piano, but I’m really curious about the details here. Also I think the idea of composing early and creativity etc. is not so unusual in contemporary piano lessons.
But one of the articles talked about how his students are sweeping some composition content, which is interesting and suggests it’s not total bull at least!
@ShiroKuro There is a video of the segment, along with extra video they call Overtime.
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@ShiroKuro There is a video of the segment, along with extra video they call Overtime.
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Ok I watched one video, apparently there’s another but I find their website and method of “presenting” videos to be all but impenetrable.
(Not sure why it should be that complicated, but at the end of the video it says there’s another video but for the life of me I can’t find it…. Whatever)Anyway, I would still love to know more details, the video sort of gives you an idea of how their method starts for beginners, and how it works for more advanced players, but what happens in between is not clear. Also, how/what students practice outside of their lessons is also not clear.
Learning the piano, or any instrument, is a very complex undertaking. You have to learn the mechanics of it, learn physically how to use your hands, you also have to learn the “music” of, and at the same time (hopefully) you also develop the literacy part, reading etc. Each of these elements can and absolutely should be made accessible to the learner. But one question I have for this method is, in their focus on making it “fun,” how do they avoid dumbing it down?
Also, the idea that learning should be fun comes up in all kinds of fields. When I taught English in Japan, that was all people talked about, that learning English should be fun and that the primary job of a teacher should be to ensure that students don’t end up hating English.
I don’t necessarily disagree with that, I mean I agree, a teacher or method that results in students hating the subject material is probably doing something wrong.
But learning is also hard work, and we shouldn’t shy away from that in any subject.
Sometimes after a lesson with my teacher, my brain is just done. We’ve worked so hard that I feel like I’ve given my brain a work out, the way you feel after a physical work out.
That is incredibly rewarding, and at this stage in my life, I do find it fun. But I don’t think I would have called that fun when I was a kid. But that is where learning happens, that is where growth happens.
So I’m a little conflicted. Because I do think that teaching should be set up in a way that makes the activity rewarding, and certainly that’s “fun.”
But whether it’s piano, a foreign language or some other subject, I feel like we’re doing children a disservice if we give them the message that something should be fun or else it’s ok for them to not want to do it. What will they do when they get stuck, when something is really hard? It’s no longer fun. How will the student get past that?
I guess that’s what’s missing from the 60 Minutes story — they only shared the successes, but they didn’t talk to any families where the children weren’t happy or didn’t continue lessons or quit piano.
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P.S. I don’t want to sound like a total naysayer. I hope this new method is successful and if it results in more kids/people continuing with piano lessons, then that’s great. And I agree that the world of “piano lessons” probably needs a significant overhaul.
One example is the community music school I attended here before entering the uni music program. As far as I could tell, it didn’t seem like they have a curriculum, they didn’t seem to have kids composing, they just seemed to do the “scale, pieces, recital,” rinse and repeat. Boring.
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I think most teachers do not instruct on how music is constructed - chord progressions, use of major and minor keys, etc. I'd be interested in taking a few of their lessons just to see what it was about. I surely need something to kick my butt back onto the bench.
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I watched one of their promo videos and it was a bit of a turn off (but that doesn't mean they don't have a good method... for some students). It put me off because they were lying within the first 20 minutes. Piano in almost every other form is taught the same way as it was in Mozart's time, they stated. Come on. Do they think we aren't not going to notice how ridiculous that statement is? There's the Taubman method, Suzuki method, Alfred method, etc., etc., etc.
I taught myself when I was around 6 with a book one of my Aunts gave us, via a diagram that mapped the keys of the keyboard to the grand staff. That was it until my mid 20s.
I maintain that no one method is going to work for every one and the best approach is tailor made.
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I watched one of their promo videos and it was a bit of a turn off (but that doesn't mean they don't have a good method... for some students). It put me off because they were lying within the first 20 minutes. Piano in almost every other form is taught the same way as it was in Mozart's time, they stated. Come on. Do they think we aren't not going to notice how ridiculous that statement is? There's the Taubman method, Suzuki method, Alfred method, etc., etc., etc.
I taught myself when I was around 6 with a book one of my Aunts gave us, via a diagram that mapped the keys of the keyboard to the grand staff. That was it until my mid 20s.
I maintain that no one method is going to work for every one and the best approach is tailor made.
@Bernard said:
Piano in almost every other form is taught the same way as it was in Mozart's time, they stated.This seemed to be the most common criticism from piano teachers that I found online. Most people said that there are all kinds of new approaches to piano teaching that aim to make lessons fun and accessible for students, and that the Payam arguments are dated.
Anyway, I wish him and his method the best of luck.
Sometimes I think that playing an instrument is possibly one of the only truly AI-proof activities left (along with sports, dance), and I just think the world needs more piano students. I know, I know, that’s my bias though.
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@ShiroKuro Thank you, ShiroKuro.
I am going to take my post down. It accomplishes nothing. -
Here come the rebuttals!!
This video is long (over 40 minutes) but I watched/listened to it while doing chores and it was quite interesting!
The TL;DR version: 60 Minutes failed at investigative journalism on this one, it was one big infomercial. The Payam Method is not just the Code.com guy backing it but also Mark Cuban, and the day after the segment aired, they announced their big product launch.
Gross.
Oh and that doesn’t even include all the piano-specific details that the video refutes. Nice!
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Here come the rebuttals!!
This video is long (over 40 minutes) but I watched/listened to it while doing chores and it was quite interesting!
The TL;DR version: 60 Minutes failed at investigative journalism on this one, it was one big infomercial. The Payam Method is not just the Code.com guy backing it but also Mark Cuban, and the day after the segment aired, they announced their big product launch.
Gross.
Oh and that doesn’t even include all the piano-specific details that the video refutes. Nice!
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