Practical Piano Pedagogy: The Definitive Text for Piano Teachers and Pedagogy Students Author: Dr. Martha Baker-Jordan Publisher: Warner Bros. Publications, 2003.

As the title suggests, this is probably one of the most practical, useful pedagogy texts I've seen. The inclusion of a CD-ROM, a feature common in many technology-related how-to books, adds value to the publication.

I Really Like This Book...

Layout and Design - First of all, the book is easy to read and easy to skim, with large type, subject headings, and chapter titles. Every chapter is amply illustrated with diagrams, charts, photographs, lists, and example forms and handouts.

Content - The strongest chapters of the book are those that emphasize practical how-to-do-it suggestions drawn from the wealth of the author's experience.

• There are many forms - in the text itself, in the appendix for copying, and on the CD-ROM in both nicely-formatted PDF format and modifiable (but less pretty) text format.
  
  
• There are many practical, tried-and-true suggestions for many aspects of teaching, including how to conduct interviews, how to set fees, how to acquire and retain students, how to set up an efficient and attractive studio, and many more.
  
  
• The chapter on motivation is probably the single best chapter. You get the feeling from reading this chapter and looking at all the illustrations that the author is a master motivator, that she really loves teaching, that she understands her students, and that she is very creative. Of course, it helps to live in California, where it's not difficult to host a combination recital / backyard swim party in the month of May (something those of us who live in the upper midwest probably would not try, even if we had a pool in our backyard)!
  
  
• Other chapters are devoted to issues such as group teaching, learning theories, technique, functional skills, and methods and materials reviews.

Guest articles by Dr. Keith Golay (Staying in Tune With Learning Styles), Dr. Sam Holland (Technology In Your Studio), Dr. Keith Tombrink (Solving Difficult Problems), and Dr. Lee Evans (The Classical Teacher's Guide to Incorporating Jazz Techniques Into the Piano Lesson) round out the content of the book. The articles on technology and jazz are self-explanatory. The article by Dr. Tombrink (the author's husband) is an outstanding overview of problem solving techniques. He applies techniques from his years of experience as an Industrial Psychologist and corporate consultant to such piano-teaching problems as how to get a student to practice better. Dr. Golay's types are offshoots of David Kiersey's Please Understand Me, II, based on the Myers-Brigges Type Indicator, which is rooted in Jungian psychology. So, depending on your perspective and attitude toward type indicators, temperament analysis, and Jungian psychology, you may or may not find this chapter helpful.

But...

Practical Piano Pedagogy is very impressive. However, in this initial edition, there are a few problems which may make the use of the word "Definitive" in the subtitle a bit premature. Some of these problems could be easily fixed in a second edition - for example:

• Lack of an index. An index is a sine qua non for a book of this size and scope.
  
  
• Missing biographical info for Dr. Sam Holland - this must have been a simple oversight, since bios were included for the other three guest authors.
  
  
• Business information. While the business forms and suggestions are very good, and very helpful, I would like to see the textbook include information about legal issues (zoning, liability, etc.), tax issues (filling out the 1040 long form, taking deductions, reporting self-employment income), and insurance issues (health, life, liability, disability).
  
  
• Professional Certification. I would like to see more information about professional teachers' organizations, and programs like MTNA professional teacher certification.
  
  
• More up-to-date internet information. The chapter on technology barely mentions internet resources, and the single bibliographic resource listed is copyright 1996, ancient by internet standards. A few music technology website addresses would be helpful.
  
  
• Better learning theory chapter. The amount of space devoted to Herbartianism is not only puzzling, but inaccurate. Herbartianism as a movement did not have a significant influence on 20th century pedagogies, and in some respects exaggerated and misrepresented the actual theories of Johann Herbart. For more info, see Johann Friedrich Herbart by Norbert Hilgenheger. The book would probably be better without the chapter on learning theories, but barring its excision, the chapter should be expanded to give a better overview of learning theories in general.

Conclusion

I have already learned a lot from Practical Piano Pedagogy. I plan to use many of the ideas in my pedagogy classes, and will assign reading in the book for my pedagogy students. Although The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher is still the definitive pedagogy textbook as far as I'm concerned, Practical Piano Pedagogy provides many insights and resources for any piano teacher or pedagogy student.