Middle C Approach

Most piano teachers or students would be familiar with John Thompsen, Easiest Piano Course (with dwalfs on the cover) or the Modern Piano Course (red book). John Thompsen is a classic case of teaching note recognition using the Middle C approach. Other piano tutor books using such an approach include: Edna Mae Piano Course, Leila Fletcher Course, John W. Schaum etc. Most of these books were published in the 60s and 70s. Books currently in the market using this teaching approach include: Lina Ng Piano Lesson Made Easy, Poco Piano for Young Children etc.

In the Middle C Approach, students are taught Middle C on the grand staff in the beginning lesson.

On subsequent new pieces, one note is added at a time. So, first week is Middle C; second week is Treble MC, D; third week is Bass clef MC, B; then Treble MC, D, E; and Bass MC, B, A etc.
On top of note recognition, rhythm, meter is taught simultaneously together with the note reading.

The pros of this approach is:

• It is systemetic teaching 1 note at a time.
• It utilizes the middle range of the piano, which fits nicely to the comfort zone of little children.
• It begins with the thumb and work its way outwards to all 5 fingers.

The cons of this approach is:

• This approach teaches note reading through 'note spelling'.
• The piano has 88 keys, but only 10 keys are explored by the end of the first book.
• While emphasis is built on note identification, not much foundation is laid on a steady pulse and rhythm.
• There might be an association of finger numbers to specific keys at the piano since children spend an excessive amount of time on the same keyboard area. Hence, children may think finger 1 is the equivalent to Middle C.
• Limited chord playing.

Concepts such as intervals, chords, transposition, major and minor keys are generally not explored or minimally touched upon. Creative exercises like improvisation or technique and sight reading are not explored sufficiently.

This method approach has had much success in the early years as it was the market leader in the 60s-70s. But much research into Piano Pedagogy has shown that the Middle C approach is old fashioned and outdated. Newer and updated ways of teaching music has evolved.

Are you still a teacher using the outdated Middle C Approach in your piano studio teaching?
What new methods are there?
Stay tuned to find out more.......


Dorothy Chia is a  piano teacher and author of 'Piano Pedagogy - The Questions', 'Piano Pedagogy - The Answers', Theory Explorer for the Young Musician, books 1 and 2, available at Kinokuniya, MPH, Yamaha, Gramercy, Renner, Music Bookroom and Chiu Piano. Dorothy holds a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and is the 1992 DH Baldwin Fellowship winner.