The Success Factor: Making Practice Perfect

The Success Factor: Making Practice Perfect is a definitive, inspiring, and practical guide for piano teachers seeking extraordinary results in teaching, practicing, and performing. Written by Elvina Truman Pearce and edited by Craig Sale, this volume blends encyclopedic pedagogical insight with down-to-earth strategies that teachers can immediately apply in their studios. Jam-packed with actionable teaching tips, it also highlights the reflections and wisdom of one of the most influential piano pedagogues of the last fifty years.

Elvina Truman Pearce studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova and pedagogy with Frances Clark. She was a founding faculty member of The New School for Music Study, one of the founders of The Frances Clark Center, Editor-in-Chief of Keyboard Companion magazine from 2000–2006, and has been actively involved with NCKP since its inception. As pianist, pedagogue, composer, and clinician, she is internationally recognized for her rare combination of excellence, creativity, and practicality.

Praise for The Success Factor in Piano Teaching:

"The Success Factor is the best possible tool for both the professional pedagogy and independent piano teachers. An essential component for every teacher's library."

— Louise L. Goss
Co-founder, The New School for Music Study
Author-editor, The Music Tree and The Frances Clark Library for Piano Students

"This volume presents the nuts and bolts of piano teaching more thoroughly than any other I've seen. It will likely become required reading for university pedagogy interns. Even experienced teachers will pick up a thing or two (dozen!) from its rich stock of concrete examples. And for those young pianists who never had a pedagogy course but find themselves with a teaching studio full of eager learners, this book will be your lifeline."

— Burce Berr
Independent Music Teacher
Associate Editor, Clavier Companion

"It is to the good fortune of our profession that some of our colleagues, who over a lifetime of experience have developed a deep, expansive, and intuitive understanding of some dimension of human behavior, invest the time and effort necessary to write about what they've learned for the benefit of others who aspire to similar levels of accomplishment. This is such a book about music teaching. Elvina Pearce encapsulates the wisdom of a celebrated life in music pedagogy in a concise, well-organized, and accessible compendium. It's a pleasure to learn from her."

— Robert A. Duke
Meyerson Centennial Professor and Head of Music and Human Learning
The University of Texas at Austin

Elvina T. Pearce studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova and pedagogy with Frances Clark. She was a founding faculty member of The New School for Music Study, one of the founders of The Frances Clark Center, Editor-in-Chief of Keyboard Companion magazine from 2000-2006, and has been actively involved with NCKP since its inception. As pianist, pedagogue, composer, and clinician, Elvina is internationally recognized for a rare combination of excellence, creativity, and practicality.