In Search of More Piano Teachers
Charlie has been taking piano lessons from the same wonderful teacher (at Innovative Piano) since July of 2006. We’ve been working our way through “Frosty the Snowman” and “Auld Lang Syne” over the holidays, and just added “The Blue Danube” to Charlie’s repertoire. Charlie’s teacher used to teach at an ABA school here in New Jersey and he incorporates ABA into his piano teaching, especially when he first taught Charlie to learn the notes on the piano (using letters velcored to the keys) and also to read music (by slowly introducing Charlie to the notes, to the treble and bass clefs; by including only one line of music at a time per page and gradually adding more lines to a page; by carefully and minimally prompting Charlie). The teacher, Jeff Young, originally came to our house and we have been going to his studio since the spring and Charlie looks forward to Sundays at the piano.
A number of parents have contacted Jeff—-there are more families seeking piano lessons for special needs children than he can accommodate (Jeff also makes all of his own materials). Last week he told us that he will have to take a hiatus from teaching autistic kids himself: His goal has always been to teach as many special needs children piano as possible and he is taking time off to seek out teachers in the New Jersey area who he will train in his method. Please contact Jeff if you are interested!
Learning to play the piano has been a fabulous, and an important, part of Charlie’s education. He can now read music (Charlie has yet to read from a book); playing with both hands is helping a lot with Charlie’s coordination. Charlie and I practice the piano almost every day and, while it’s a structured activity, it is also simply fun. Fun to hear the songs being played under Charlie’s fingers; fun to (occasionally, on a break) pound the keyboard like some maestro; fun to make music. Jim has pointed out that Charlie learning to play the piano seems to have made him more interested in music—-from the radio, CDs, instruments—-in general. In the past few months, Charlie can sing back a good part of a song after hearing it just once.
We cannot thank Jeff enough for teaching Charlie piano and for bringing more music into his life, and ours.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Education, Music, New Jersey
18 opinions for In Search of More Piano Teachers
kyra
Jan 13, 2008 at 2:39 pm
it’s so wonderful that charlie’s had piano in his life all this time and with such a dedicated teacher!
it’s only been in the last couple months as i’ve taken the piano back up that fluffy’s expressed more and more of an interest. i’m going to start him this coming week, in fact, with a program called simply music. it sounds like a tremendous program; many of the teachers are reporting phenomenal success teaching their special needs students of all ages:
http://www.simplymusic.com
Tanya
Jan 13, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I’m hoping we find a teacher for my son someday. My girls have a teacher who comes to our house, but I’m guessing, despite the marvelous relationship she has with my son, that she may not be the best teacher for him. Just a hunch. ;-)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 13, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I’m going to be teaching Charlie it looks like—-and I’m not the best person. I’m sending the word out to all of his teachers and ABA therapists.
@kyra, thanks for the link!
@Tanya, I talked to a few other teachers before finding Jeff: Definitely concerns about, for lack of a better word, discipline and also about how to go about teaching a minimally verbal autistic boy who takes a while process what is said to him. I’m not sure that a teacher without an autism background might have taught Charlie how to actually read music.
Marla
Jan 13, 2008 at 5:10 pm
That is awesome that you have found such a great teacher. Too bad he has to take a break but it is awesome he is taking one to teach others how to teach with his method. I have used similar ways with Maizie. Taping the letters to the keys and putting only one line on a piece of paper. The less busy the better. We don’t practice every day just when the mood strikes Maizie and I never know when that will be.
Daisy
Jan 13, 2008 at 9:43 pm
It’s a mixed bag. It’s sad that he’ll stop teaching, even temporarily, but wonderful that he’s going to train more teachers in his method.
Misha
Jan 14, 2008 at 12:10 am
It’s great that Charlie plays piano and has had such a great teacher. I like the methods he uses to teach Charlie. Hopefully, he’ll be able to pick up with teaching your son in the future.
I’ve been trying to find a piano teacher for J with no luck. He loves to play around on it and always does when he gets a chance at school. The piano I have here is old and doesn’t stay in tune but J loves it.
Jen
Jan 14, 2008 at 11:46 am
Hmmm… I’ve looked at the website before when you’ve posted about Charlie taking piano lessons, and felt intimidated by my lack of musical skills. The only thing I know about pianos is that they lots of keys, and one of them is the middle c. I’m in the tri-state area right now, and not too far from Charlie’s teacher to make it out of the question, but I’m looking at a potential move right now. Perhaps if I don’t go now, this is something for me to look at.
The Christian Cynic
Jan 14, 2008 at 9:55 pm
That is a fascinating idea; I know a tiny bit of ABA from my schooling (I’m a secondary education major at present), and I’ve been playing the piano since before I can remember. I would love to learn this method to be able to offer such a service; the only dilemma is that I’m a bit far away from NJ (the middle of IL).
Thanks for making that link available; I might just consider looking into it for my son, who loves playing the piano at my parents’ house (actually, any instrument - he would jam on my new mandolin if given the chance).
Justthisguy
Jan 15, 2008 at 4:48 pm
As a wind-instrument guy (former clarinetist-bandsman and sometime recorderist) I admire and am amazed by Charlie’s skills. I don’t think I could do that (both hands on the piano) nor ever could, even when young. One note at a time is the best that I can do.
antoinette
Feb 3, 2008 at 12:06 am
My son also takes lessons with Jeff and he is amazing. I hope Jeff is able to bring in people under his wings and we look forward to working with him again.
Jeff’s ability to meet our son’s individual needs is one of the reasons our son has such success. My son plays for “chat time”. Pretty funny, my son is autistic but loves to chat.
I will miss him as will my son!!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 3, 2008 at 1:07 am
I can’t say how much we will miss Jeff—he is a great teacher of autistic kids more generally and I’ve learned a lot from each lesson, for sure.
Elyse Bruce
Feb 3, 2008 at 10:27 am
I think it’s wonderful that you found Jeff. I live in Ontario and teach vocals and piano to a number of special needs children, a segment of which are on the spectrum.
Does it require more effort? Yes because the teacher has to be passionate about experiencing music from the student’s perspective.
Is it worth it? You bet it is!!!! I can’t imagine teaching any other way.
And how, you might ask, did I find myself teaching these wonderful children that other teachers and music studios refused or dropped after a couple lessons? I had already built a reputation for being compassionate towards my students and studio musicians and built a reputation for getting the best out of people so that all would benefit.
Of course, having provided all the therapies on my own for my autistic child over the past 12 years helped as well. When no one was there to help me with my child (where I used to live I was offered a 6-week parenting course to ‘fix’ my child’s autism and there was no Autism Society in the entire province), I had to immerse myself in the many options out there for helping my child.
And I did — willingly, whole-heartedly, and with complete devotion and dedication to learning as much as I could.
And now I am reaping not only the rewards of seeing my son progress, but it helps me to teach music to other wonderful children.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 3, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I am going to be taking over the teaching for Charlie for awhile—-we had a great lesson today (the next to last) and it started with a series of tough behaviors. Jeff has a very good understanding of how to deal with these and in 5 minutes Charlie was at the piano and playing, and we left with Charlie calmed and with me having learned something more about how to deal with things.
Thanks, Elyce, for sharing those music samples! Vocals—have not yet considered that for Charlie, but thank you for mentioning it.
Elyse Bruce
Feb 4, 2008 at 9:55 am
Vocals seems to be a natural progression in teaching children on the spectrum. It provides them with the opportunity to “feel” the movement of music in a different way and the sensory input helps them to better understand parts of their bodies.
When they learn to hum and can feel the vibrations in different parts of their face, the reactions are many and varied. When the feel the difference between the rumble of a low note in their chest and the vibration of a higher not up by their eyes, again the reactions are many and varied.
And, of course, it is far easier to rock while singing than it is to rock while playing piano for those who rock back and forth.
There’s so much more to teaching vocals than what I’ve mentioned in this brief post but I think you can see that the reason I am successful in teaching music to special children is because I approach teaching in an entirely different way than most other teachers as Jeff obviously does as well.
I love teaching music to children and youth but I reap the greatest rewards from being able to help children and youth express their feelings in a way that feels comfortable for them. :-)
I would love to hear more about Charlie’s successful travels in music as he progresses and don’t doubt your own abilities, Kristina. Charlie succeeds because you provide him with the tools in order to succeed and that makes you an absolutely and totally awesome parent. Kudos to you!
High and Low
Feb 13, 2008 at 3:05 am
[…] struggles to read words—-learned to read music. Sadly, Charlie’s teacher is taking a hiatus for a few months and Sunday was Charlie’s last lesson. The piano teacher gave me a folder with several new […]
Awa Sall
Feb 16, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I came across Jeff 3 years ago through the specialized school that my son Karim used to attend. Jeff is a dedicated piano teacher who enjoys serving the special needs populations. He is very patient and passionate. karim has gained many skills thru Jeff’s lessons. To mention one enhanced skill, Karim’s fine motor skills has tremendously improved. Karim used to avoid pens and pencils for a while. Now, he enjoyed sitting and writing letters for 20 min. Thanks to Jeff
Thinking in Music
Mar 18, 2008 at 1:39 am
[…] of how Charlie learned to read music—notes on the treble and bass clefs—here. His piano teacher (who is currently taking a hiatus; he is missed!) velcroed the letter names for the notes on the […]
Music, Naturally!
Jun 29, 2008 at 1:33 pm
[…] (I need to find a program like this around here—we recently found out that Charlie’s piano teacher has moved; Charlie plays as well as ever as we keep practicing, but a good teacher makes a big […]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: