A few days after my initial post on SATP (below) I received an email response from Nancy Bona-Baker, one of the editors at FJH music company. In her email she addressed my concerns with some of the elements and pacing of Succeeding at the Piano. I have to say her answers make perfect sense and I feel I have been swayed even farther toward this method. Ms Baker gave me permission to post her response here so other teachers may read and be enlightened as well.
The following is Ms Baker's response to the early introduction of intervals found in SATP.
I hope that you do try to teach students through intervallic reading. SATP combines the two reading approaches - conventional note reading and intervallic reading, so that students learn how to read easily by the end of the preparatory level! SATP teaches students to read music the same way they read language. It is much easier for students to learn how to read by grouping notes into patterns, and then remembering how these patterns feel underneath the fingers while playing. This corresponds with how they learn to read language - grouping individual letters of the alphabet into specific words. In SATP, students learn the note names individually, as well as in patterns, using intervallic reading throughout.
Pilot teachers and other teachers who are now using SATP have told us that students easily learn 2nds through 5ths during the preparatory level. In SATP, these intervals are all learned in pre-reading first, so that they become familiar with the sound and feel and look of the intervals, and then all of these are reinforced AGAIN on the grand staff, making the reinforcement very strong. Then when using the Flash cards and the Theory book as more reinforcement, students do not have any trouble with the intervals and are reading beautifully by the end of the preparatory level.
One thing about the terminology of "step" and "skip" - this is not difficult for students to understand at first, but then when they learn 4ths and 5ths, there is no connection between a step and a skip and a 4th and a 5th, making the intervals more confusing. So then what happens in conventional reading is this: the teacher is forced to change the terminology of a "step" and a "skip" to a "2nd" and a "3rd", thus giving students two names for the same concept! This becomes very confusing at this point for a child. It would be easier just to call 2nd and 3rd intervals by their correct names from the very beginning - It's like calling a train two names - a "choo-choo" and then a "train" when it's easy enough for a child to understand the word "train" from the very beginning! We should not underestimate our student's capacity for learning.
Also, when teaching intervallic reading, teachers use the word "skip" to explain how many notes are "passed over" or "skipped" in an interval, so if the word "skip" is only used for a "3rd" interval, then the student is confused when they are asked to "skip" keys in 4th and 5th intervals (and later 6ths, 7ths, and octaves) later.
The term, "2nds" followed by the term "step" that is found on page 37 of the Preparatory Lesson book and on page 26 of the correlating Theory book is completely intentional. In this way, teachers who have been accustomed to using the term, "step" can see that it means the same as "2nd" and from now on, the term of "2nd" will only be used. Using both terms on the initial introductory page for this interval helps to acclimate teachers to the correct term. This one time-use of the word "step" serves as a departure into the correct usage of the term for the interval.
So to sum it up, intervallic reading encourages students to read by recognizing shapes and patterns, rather than reading note by note. The process of reading note by note is called traditional note reading. Students first learn that specific distances on the keyboard mean specific intervals, and then they learn these specific distances as notes on the staff. Students have an easier time reading music when they understand that notes are related to each other by the distances between them, rather than trying to identify each note individually.
The following is Ms Baker's response to the early introduction to legato and phrasing.
Students are not expected to actually play smoothly at first. All new concepts in SATP serve as early exposure. When students have this early exposure, then they can make progress much more quickly. For example, students who listen to the sound of smooth legatto playing on the CD, or hear their teacher playing it for them know how a phrase is shaped early on, with a beautiful tapering at the end of each phrase! This early musicianship is priceless! Like the pedagogue Sinuchi Suzuki wrote, all students are born with the innate capacity to sing and to make a phrase. To force a student to wait to make music until several months or a year into piano study, is doing them a great disservice. Teachers will notice that some students will be able to play smoothly right away - good for them! For others it might take two or three months. Others will take longer. For some it might be at the very end of the prep level, or at the beginning of Grade 1.
Concerning when a student actually begins to play smoothly, what is important is that they listen to the concept of smoothness and understand the musicianship behind it first . In the technique exercises and the repertoire pieces throughout the method, students are always asked to listen to the sound they create. The symbiosis between playing and listening is the foundation of playing well and sounding great!
Scientific and musical research has proved that there is a "learning window" in the study of music and language. Constant reinforcement of musical concepts will help students play smoothly at their own pace. But teachers should not wait for students to learn to listen for these new musical concepts or else they will be behind musically.
Teachers will notice that there are many pieces in the preparatory level that are to be played non-legato, while others ask for legato playing. In this way, students can easily move back and forth from legato to non-legato playing or at least listen to the difference between the two! Then the teacher will be very interested in learning when each student begins to actually play smoothly!
Playing smoothly only causes tension when the teacher allows the student to be tight and to play too quickly without transferring their weight from one finger to the next.
As for the music, we are pleased to have received many nice comments from piano teachers! The great mix of composers only adds to a student's overall musicality.
