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 Elton Joel RW2   2'25
With apologies to them both. A rock piano solo without lyrics.

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Recording (mp3, 1.9MB)

 Elegy RW2   2'25
Many, many parts to weave and balance - needs ensemble skills, even though it's for solo piano.

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Recording (mp3, 1.6MB)

 Grumpy Trolls RW2   2'25
A contest piece with bite. Storms and stamps all over the piano before the jump-up-and-bow finish.

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Recording (mp3, 1.2MB)

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 Snowflakes RW2   2'25
A delicate picture piece - how many shades of quiet can you play?

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Recording (mp3, 0.9MB)

 MicroWaltz RW2   2'25
Less than a minute long. For early intermediate students.

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Recording (mp3, 0.8MB)

 Processional RW2   2'25
A concert opener that quickly breaks out of its initial stately reserve.

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Recording (mp3, 2.6MB)

The Art of the Interview          back to magazine homepage

by Philip Johnston

 

Introduction | Testing Creativity | Verbal Instructions | Swapping chairs
The Practice Snapshot | Concert in 10 minutes | Turnaround Time

 

Testing their ability to follow verbal instructions

Since so much of lessons is about giving directions, students who are can't follow where you lead can be particularly frustrating.

My favourite way to test for this is to chain together a length series of verbal-only instructions, and see how they fare. No demonstrations. No diagrams. Just words from me.

It doesn't have to be about music. I might give them a piece of paper and a set of colored pencils, and then tell them that they're going to do a drawing for me...in a minute. First of all, I'm going to tell them what to draw, and they're not allowed to start until I've finished my request.

At that point, I might ask for:

• A big yellow border around the page, with red spots in each corner
  
• Four circles in the top part of the page, each circle to be a different color from the other
• The student's name written in all capital letters under the circles. All vowels to be written in orange.
• In the space underneath their name, color it with red and yellow stripes.

I might run through the list a second time just quickly, but often I don't.

Now I'm not looking for the student who gets everything right—(I'm not sure that I would get everything right were the instructions given to me!) What I am looking for is how they interact with me as they try to piece anything missing together. Do they repeat things back to me? Ask questions? Start before I've finished explaining, despite the fact I asked them not to? Insist on me running through the list at least one more time? Sit there silently and do the best they can, even when it's obvious that they're lost?

Again, I'm not looking for a particular outcome. But I will learn a lot about my possible travel companion by watching how they handle all this.

By which time, it's on to the next test.

What's the next test?