The Music of Teaching: Learning to Trust Students' Natural Development

(Book). The Music of Teaching focuses on an ephemeral attribute all teachers need but few consider: perception. This includes the ability to trust both students' natural development and the learning process itself to guide developing pianists down music's path. Using stories from her 46-year teaching career plus research from the fields of education and psychology, Barbara Kreader Skalinder explores the ways teaching has evolved from the authoritative style of the 1950s to the collaborative design better suited to the students in today's digital world. The author also examines the ways independent teachers, free from the outside constraints often imposed on public school educators, can point the way toward educational methods that keep students' individual learning styles and natural rate of progress as a primary focus and guide them toward independent learning and success. "Throughout the book, the reader senses the teacher's willingness to listen, respect, adapt, and learn yes, learn from every student...This book is more than a collection of pedagogy tips: it is a philosophy of teaching and an examination of our perception of our role as teachers." Clavier Companion

Barbara Kreader Skalinder (Evanston, IL) has taught in her independent studio since 1974. One of the coauthors of the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library, she has given workshops in more than 200 cities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Asia. Formerly the editor of Clavier magazine, she is also a published poet. Kreader Skalinder received her M.M. degree from Northwestern University, where she studied with Laurence Davis and Frances Larimer.