Re-Discovered: The Lost Art of Learning to Play Music

This Ancient Style of Learning Helps Music Students

• Learn advanced pieces fast . . .

• Master difficult techniques quickly . . .

• Create music that is all their own . . .

What’s more, my students enjoy playing, they love to practice,
and their parents save a small fortune on music lessons . . .

Imagine sitting in a recital hall. There’s a huge grand piano on stage. A buzz fills the room as everyone anticipates the performance about to begin. The pianist walks on stage, and takes a seat on the leather padded bench.

Once the performer’s fingers begin to dance gracefully over the keys, a hush falls over the audience. The rich sound from the piano instantly grabbed everyone’s attention. It’s obvious she is relaxed and confident. Notes sparkle in the upper end of the keyboard. The bass delivers a rich sonority. This performer clearly has command of this instrument.

Suddenly, the sound drops as the pianist applies a different touch to the keys to make this concert grand display its capabilities. And the soft, velvet sound woos the audience with a rippling accompaniment that never overshadows the song-like melody. . . .

This may sound like the performance of an experienced concert pianist. But it wasn’t. This was the artistry of Michelle, my nine-year-old student who was giving her very first piano recital.

Now you may think that Michelle had to be a prodigy. Of course, her parents think so. Michelle, however, was very much like many of my other students. All of them learn to play the piano very quickly and at a very high level. That’s because, many years ago, I discovered a secret. That secret radically changed the way I taught piano.

For years, I taught piano like everyone else. My students would come in once a week for 30 minutes. We would go over their homework, work on scales, teach them something new, and send them home with new homework. It was like clockwork.

Unfortunately, clock work isn’t very exciting. It broke my heart when some of my best and brightest students would quit playing because they weren’t enjoying it anymore. Their parents were hounding them every day to practice. But it just wasn’t any fun.

So I decided to do some research and see if I could figure out a better way to teach. I’m a history buff, so I studied how some of our greatest piano players learned to play.

That’s when I made an incredible discovery…

You’ve undoubtedly heard of child prodigies, such as Mozart, who could read, write, and play astounding music at a very young age. It wasn’t that these children were just gifted; they were definitely that.

I soon realized that while Mozart was at the top of his class, it wasn’t unusual for many of his contemporaries to excel in their musical abilities as well. In fact, we would consider many of them to be prodigies in today’s world. Mozart simply overshadowed them in history.

My mind began to spin. How could it be that so many children in that era learned to play music at such a high level? Is it possible we could see this same phenomenon today if we used the same teaching methods they used back then?

Naturally, I had to find the answer. And I did!

The Discovery
That Forever Changed the Way I Teach Piano

Back in 1947, Dorothy Sayers gave a speech entitled “The Lost Tools of Learning.” Had I heard that speech back then, it would have saved me a lot of frustrating years of wrong-headed piano instruction.

When I finally did listen to the speech, I realized what I had been doing wrong all those years. More importantly, I realized why so many students in Mozart’s generation were so “gifted.” That’s because her speech was all about the classical approach to education.

You see, the classical approach is really simple to understand and implement. It recognizes how a child’s mind works and grows. Then it teaches according to how the child’s mind is best able to learn. The result is that children learn what they are capable of learning and ready to learn. Young children don’t learn abstractions. We save these for later years when the child’s mind is able to handle this kind of thinking.

When I applied the classical approach in music, it allowed me to teach music the way they used to teach it!

All of a sudden, my students were performing like Michelle!

Not just one or two of my students performed at an astounding level in a short amount of time. Almost all of them did!

One of my parents was astounded at the difference. I taught her two daughters during their middle and high school years. She said, “Amazingly, they progressed more in one year under your tutelage than they had in the previous nine years with other instructors!”

I was really on to something.

Not only were my students dancing around the keyboard like never before, but they were really enjoying it. They loved to play. Their parents didn’t have to tell them to practice. And, because they were excelling so rapidly, the parents felt like they were getting far more for their money.

Many of my students were learning so fast, I had a hard time keeping up with them. They were literally teaching themselves how to play.

It’s no wonder Mozart and his contemporaries were so advanced. After learning some very important lessons, they were able to take what they learned and build on it at their own pace (which was usually very fast).

That’s when it hit me: Anyone can learn how to play the piano – and they can do it on their own in the comfort of their own home. In fact, this used to be the way people learned to play. Not only was it normal, it was far more effective.

What’s more, these principles still work today. They work for my students. And they can work for your child. Once your child learns certain skills, they’re off to the races, running as fast as they want.

And I’ve seen them work just as successfully for students on other instruments.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. Every child still hits obstacles along the way. Some skills are difficult to learn. And that’s where a teacher can really help. A good teacher will step in, help them master the skill, and then send them on their way again.

Trouble is most teachers don’t want to work this way. It just doesn’t bring in enough money on a regular basis. It’s much easier – and lucrative – to have a set schedule and a set curriculum. But this is for the teacher’s benefit, not the students!

Your child can learn much faster, have more fun, and develop far better results for the money you spend. But you have to take the first steps.

If you’re ready to release your child from the doldrums of traditional music lessons and put them in the learning fast lane, I’ve made it easier – and cheaper – than you can ever imagine.

Click on this link and get your copy of Ian Hodge’s Read, Write & Play Music self-teaching creative music program and let your child explore the world of creative music. Thirty-six lessons — a whole year of learning, for about $1.11 a lesson. And a FREE Parent/Teacher Guide (eBook) that has answers to exercises. Order NOW!