I wonder how long does it take for an AVERAGE 7-year old beginner to be able to play the easy pieces in Schumann's Album for the Young, op.68?

Thanks, Lisa

-- Lisa (noname_poster@yahoo.com), January 10, 2002

Answers

Your question leaves me breathless! Perhaps you can define average in your view. How much musical background does this child have? How long has s/he been playing the piano. Where is s/he on the path of fluency? Has s/he heard these pieces before? I would definitely do a lot of prep work before assigning these treasures to a 7 year old beginner. Perhaps I may play them and analyze their form. Maybe I will play the pieces and talk about why they were written or what was the mood of the piece. Maybe I will take out a melody and create a duet for the child. Most important though I want the child to be left with the desire to explore more music like this. I definitely would check out pieces by Gillock perhaps that may be more attainable and have a better sucess rate. Again it depends on the standard you have for "average".

Ellen

-- Ellen Johansen (ellenjoh@yahoo.com), January 10, 2002.

Just off the top of my head, I'd say a student beginning at age 7 who practices well should be able to handle the Schumann after about 1.5- 2 years.

-- JS (jsifford@pianoped.com), January 11, 2002.