Do I look like I play hip-hop?
I have a student that is driving me crazy and I have absolutely no idea what to do with her. She refuses to practice anything I assign and only heaven knows why. She claims to have forgotten but we all know she didn't. She does however manage to remember to practice her Alicia Keyes song. I'm not sure but I think she's a scholarship student from an IPS school. This semester, her mom decided she needed a 45 minute lesson. What in the world am I supposed to do with her for 45 very painful minutes?"Jasmine, how can I make you happy? What piece can I give you that you will actually go home and practice?"
"I wanna play R&B."
"Sweetheart, you aren't understanding me. I don't do R&B."
Tonight we compromised with "Circle of Life" from The Lion King. It's like banging my head against a brick wall.
4 Comments:
what is the world comin to?
Maybe you've already done this, and if so you can disregard this comment, but explain how knowing and understanding the concepts she learns from Mozart, Bach, Gershwin, ect. will better her for R&B.
You might be able to use Jay-Z as an example. He sampled "It's a Hard-knock life" from Little Orphan Annie to turn it into a Top 10 hit. Granted "Annie" isn't classical, but at least it's pulling from the past to make an impact on the present and future.
Aspire to make her better at what she wants to do while teaching yourself how to perform outside your comfort zone. It's what I do whenever my students want to learn how to play country music. (ugh!)
Not a sermon, just a thought.
Josh
I appreciate your comment and I agree. It's just that this girl still struggles with sight-reading and I can't get her to do basic things that would help her play R&B. But she wants to play the real thing without working at the background knowledge. That's the frustration.
Ahh yes. I used to be that kind of piano student. I wanted to play pop style music. Except it was more jazz type stuff, like Dave Grusin (that was a looooong time ago). I don't know how my teacher worked with me. Of course, I don't think she was classically trained either.
Even now it takes a while for me to sight read, but I can do that way better than playing by ear.
From one teacher to another, I hope it all works out for you.
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