Did it actually work for you? · Musicate: Your First Song

Did it actually work for you?

"That's cheating. You're not teaching her properly." 🤯

A relative said that to me after seeing letter names I'd written above the notes on my student's sheet music.

Here's what she didn't see. 🙈

My student had picked a piece she loved, one that was a stretch for where she was at. Handing her the sheet music with zero help would have crushed her before she got through line one.

So I wrote the letter names. Just for that piece. Just for that week.

It wasn't a replacement for her lessons. It was a break from them. She was still doing the proper traditional work with me, the staff, the notation, all of it. The letter names were just a side door so she could enjoy a song instead of dreading it.

That relative saw a shortcut. I saw a kid falling in love with the piano instead of fighting it.

I've built my whole YouTube channel on that same idea. Sixty tutorials in, using falling keys before sheet music. And I still get comments that sound a lot like that relative did.

I just put up a new video on exactly this. Why I did it this way, on purpose.

If you've ever taken the "wrong" path with something that was actually working for you, tell me what your side door looked like. 🚪

I read every comment.

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Did it actually work for you?