In THE ESSENTIAL PIANO TEACHER'S GUIDE, teacher and musician Sheli Nan opens a magnificent path that leads a new generation to the joy of being through music. The Sheli Nan Method connects us with our creativity so we can live hopeful and fulfilled lives.
"Creating sound can add harmony to the world. We become part of a cosmic movement filled with beauty steeped in a rich spiritual, musical heritage." - -Sheli Nan

•TABLE OF CONTENTS
Read an Excerpt:
•IMPROVISATION
The Guide is about music education whether piano, harpsichord, voice, guitar, composition or percussion. It is the only book that teaches educators how to teach music.
The foundation of the Sheli Nan Method: evoking an attitude of respect for the student.

The Guide is a user-friendly reference book. It will help:

  • Studio teachers set up their studio, structure music lessons and create a teacher-parent contract and fee schedule.
  • Public and private school teachers incorporate music into the curriculum
  • Parents find quality music education

Steeped in the fundamentals of classical music training, Sheli Nan codifies teaching concepts that reflect the inner nature of learning, listening, and playing music. In THE ESSENTIAL PIANO TEACHER’S GUIDE, care of the student's soul is essential.

Sheli Nan believes learning music is a lifelong quest. The teacher provides the tools for the student's journey and is privy to moments of discovery and joy.

To make music, our common language, accessible to everyone, the Sheli Nan Method dissolves boundaries. This education method synthesizes influences from different cultures. It is a modern music teacher's handbook for a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic approach to teaching, learning, and performing music.

Nan's keyboard study method mixes elegant Baroque principles with exciting African-Cuban percussion rhythms.

The Guide weaves inspiration, stories, and concrete lesson plans into an accessible music education program.

Nan's Music Studio is her laboratory for the musical and educational ideas presented in The Guide. She has devoted her life to studying and teaching music and training others. Her dedication to teaching and her expertise in composition and performance have led to a well-integrated teaching perspective. She has refined her method with the San Francisco Symphony Adventures in Music program.

"The Guide presents a world that includes more than one keyboard."
--Laurette Goldberg, Professor, San Francisco Conservatory of Music

"(In) this book, ideas have been reframed in an accessible and cogent way."
---Gideon Waldrop, Former Dean, Juilliard School of Music

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWARD 1
INTRODUCTION 2
COMMUNITY 4
THE ART OF LEARNING MUSIC 6
TEACHING ESSENTIALS 9
Teacher’s Attitude 9
Reading the Student 11
Beginning with the Young Child 14
The Adult Student 17
PIANO PERFORMANCE 21
Introduction to Technique 21
Reading Music 22
Musical Dynamics 24
Time Signatures 27
Scales 29
Arpeggios 32
Key Signatures 33
Percussion 34
Improvisation 38
PRACTICE 42
The Art of Practice 42
Czerny 47
HOW TO BE HIP 49
TEACHER CONSIDERATIONS 55
Parents 55
Make-ups 57
Discipline 59
Fees 60
THE RHYTHMTWISTERS PROGRAM 61
An Application of The Sheli Nan Method for Public and Private Schools 61
Hands-on RHYTHMTWISTERS Classroom Application of the RHYTHMTWISTERS Program 64
APPENDIX 71
Introduction 71
Bach Minuet 72
Teacher Communiques 74
Sample Pages from Student Notebooks 85
Introduction to Percussion Patterns 90
Olatunji’s Percussion Chart 91
Group Lesson Plans 92
Student Photo Gallery 95
Story Ideas 98
Instrument List with Illustrations 100
Scale and Arpeggio Charts 102
The Major Scale Chart 102
The Harmonic Minor Scale Chart 103
The Melodic Minor Scale Chart 104
The Major and Minor Arpeggio Charts 106
The Dominant 7th and Diminished ArpeggioCharts 107
Circle of Fifths 108
Edition Recommendations 109
Glossary 112
Bibliography 117

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READ AN EXCERPT

"IMPROVISATION"

Next course on the menu is "MAKE SOMETHING UP". This is the moment of trust. How very exciting to place one’s fingers on the keys and create. There are structured improvisations and unstructured improvisations. In an unstructured improvisation I ask the student, regardless of age, to listen to himself and to give me a good ending. Once that has been accomplished I talk about mood. If the student has arrived at the studio feeling upset I ask him to make something up that uses that feeling.
"You seem kind of upset today. Make up something sad for me. You can use the pedal. Just put your fingers on the keys and let them choreograph themselves. [For kids say, "Just let your fingers dance around."] I don’t want you to think. I want you to listen. I’m not even going to look at you. I’m just going to listen. Use the pedal if you want."

This is a very powerful experience for the student. It can be a very powerful experience for the teacher as well. Here we have a non-judgmental moment at the keyboard. What a relief. The student tentatively plays. Teacher listens. Soon both are lost in an original world of sound. Adults are more self-conscious than children and still yearn for this experience. Teacher becomes the chronicler of the interior event. "I am moved," I say.

Sometimes the younger students want a story before they make something up. Sometimes a story goes on for a number of weeks. As the student becomes comfortable with the process, the amount of information expands.

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