Songs

Got this from Bradley:

Hi Ben,

I had a short conversation with my friend that had so much to do with the work we do as second language teachers that it blew me away:

My friend recently agreed to teach me to play the piano and we were listening to a few songs in the car when out of the blue he said, “You know, the thing most piano teachers don’t get is that when people say they want to learn to play the piano, what they really mean is they want to learn how to play songs.

But instead, the instructor bogs them down with scales and counting and finger placement and posture and memorization that they get discouraged. It takes forever for them to get around to even playing a song, much less a song they love and feel with their bodies.”

So I asked him, “You don’t learn to play songs by learning all those basics first?” And he said, “Well, yes, you can, but it will take forever.

“I plan to teach you to actually play songs, and by playing the songs you’ll learn how to count without even knowing that what you’re doing is counting. How? Because you’ll develop an ear for music and that will help you learn so much faster than working on ‘the basics.’”