John Thompson's series of piano methods, encompassing the Modern Piano Course for Piano, Easiest Piano Course and Teaching Little Fingers to Play, forms one of the best known series of piano books available. They have been used by many of the most famous and successful pianists, as well as many piano teachers today. Each of this series of method books focuses on a different group. The Modern Piano Course is for older or more capable beginners; The Easiest Piano Course for younger pianist, but who are of reading age and who can already understand and follow more complex explanations; and Teaching Little Fingers to Play is designed for the very youngest beginner, who needs more concrete and less abstract explanations of basic principles.
In this review, I will be concerned only with Teaching Little Fingers to Play. This tutor book, which is aimed at the youngest beginner, aims to reduce the need for abstract explanations. Instead of presenting the full compendium of note-values and note names straightaway, it focuses on inculcation through singing and repetition.
Overall assessment
John Thompson begins this book with instructions for the piano teacher. He explains that each of the beginner lessons should be taught, at first, through singing, and only later through playing (and singing). This pedagogical method helps to establish a secure connection in the mind of the student between the sounds of the notes and the keys on the keyboard.
In only three fundamental lessons, Teaching Little Fingers to Play establishes the basic skills of piano playing. It teaches the first notes, their written form on the stave, treble and bass clefs, and the idea of 'skipping' and 'stepping'. The last item shows the superiority of this book over the Piano Adventures series, which takes much longer to cover intervallic movements on the stave and their connection to moving up-and-down on the piano. In these first lessons, the method has already covered more than many other books are able to do in multiple volumes.
It is for this reason above all that I would highly recommend this book. Some might argue that three lessons are too few for the subject matter it covers. Yet the pieces following those lessons, of which there are many, serve to continue the unconscious establishment of good fundamental technique and to expand upon the fundamentals it has already covered.
A piano tutor that focuses on repetition and muscle memory.
The chief purpose of Teaching Little Fingers to Play is to inculcate the basic skills of piano playing in 'the earliest beginner'. To do this, there are three first lessons. The first outlines the method to be followed:
That the simple tunes should be sung first. There are words, too, emphasizing the nature of the movements on the keyboard.
Having been learned as a song, the tune should be played (following the teacher's example) while the words are sung.
The student should then repeat the tune singing the note-names.
Having learned the tune, the student should then repeat it in various octaves up and down the piano.
In these earliest lessons, the student discovers the notes of the right-hand and left-hand in the middle-C position. In lesson one, the learner finds out about C, D, and E. By singing these notes before ever playing them, and then continuing by singing and playing, they are beginning to associate the sounds of the notes with the keys of the piano. Then, by moving to other octaves, they begin to associate the geography of the keyboard with the sounds of those notes as they are repeated in each of the five octaves in an eighty-eight key piano.
The previous steps, one to four (above), are then carried into the succeeding two lessons. Lesson two focuses on A, B, and C of the left hand. Similar, the student is expected to sing, then play and sing the words, and finally, to play while singing the note-names. Furthermore, they also discover the grand-staff and the relative time-values of crotchets, minims, and semibreves.
Lesson three teaches notes F and G. In addition, this lesson also covers time signatures and how they determine the number of beats in each bar. Using singing, playing and note-naming exercises in practical form, the book allows the young student to learn unconsciously. Before they even realize it, they have learned all of the fundamental skills they need. Repetition and rote learning may have become unfashionable, but they work.
Reinforcing and expanding on the piano student's musical skills.
The pieces of music which follow the initial lessons of Teaching Little Fingers To Play reinforce and expand upon the musical skills the student has gained so far. Singable words accompany each simple piece, allowing the student to continue as they have begun, building muscle memory and an unconscious association with the pitches and their keys.
Gradually, other concepts are introduced, such as major and minor keys, strong and weak beats, phrase marks, quavers, and more. Over the course of a single volume (unlike the five volumes of Piano Adventures), this piano method covers most of the knowledge necessary for grade 1 study.
Conclusion
This tutor, Teaching Little Fingers to Play, without a doubt deserves its long-held reputation as one of the best piano methods available. It is also highly affordable. It takes the young beginner up to an approximate grade 1 level, and, in addition, is able to inculcate the skills it teaches through repetition, singing, and other such methods. The pedagogy is sound and the book is most certainly well-presented and understandable for the young beginner. I would highly recommend it.
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