The intermediate piano stage: exploring teacher perspectives and insights

Abstract

While many piano students successfully progress beyond beginner status to reach what is commonly referred to as the intermediate stage, there is minimal research specific to this area of practice. This is despite the fact that there is a high drop-out rate at this stage. This research study therefore set out to develop an in-depth understanding of the key issues of relevance from the perspective of the teachers who work with intermediate piano students. In order to develop a substantial body of data and therefore increase the validity of the findings, a comprehensive e-survey was developed and distributed to practitioners in the UK, USA and Australia, with 583 practitioners participating in the research. The findings highlight some of the key challenges teachers face when working with intermediate students, one of which is the priority students place on their piano studies, with teachers arguing that external commitments have a negative impact on commitment and progression in piano lessons. The data also reveal that repertoire is a major factor of relevance, with teachers citing popular music styles as of more interest to most students than traditional Western art repertoire, yet it is the least studied area in lessons. Given the impact that these two issues have on teachers' experiences of working with piano students and relevant drop-out rates at this stage, it is clear that there is a significant need for further research by engaging other key stakeholders, in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in this area of music education. A n o v e r v i e w o f k e y i s s u e s r e l e v a n t t o t h e i n t e r m e d i a t e p i a n o s t a g e

Predictors of Piano Student Dropouts

“…It is recognized that many piano students quit lessons before even reaching a moderate mastery of the piano, and the pre-teen or early adolescent years seem to be the major point of dropout (Barry 2007;Seo 2010). Researchers Daniel and Bowden (2013) found more than half of the music teachers surveyed believe the early teenage stage of piano learning "involves a high drop-out rate" (255). Literature has demonstrated that as piano students grow older, they become fewer, such that "the percentage of boys taking lessons dropped from 33.6% when they were 9 years old, to 9.8% when they were 17" (Cremaschi et al 2015, 15).…”