1 piano, 1 teacher, 22 new pianists

Out of some insane compulsion I decided to use the only keyboard in the entire Najile community to teach piano to my 22 8th graders. Maybe it was out of a desire to rid myself of the terrible piano playing I hear every week at church, which shouldn't be called piano playing, or maybe it's a sincere desire to teach a skill to people who really desire to learn. Either way, one piano, 1 teacher and 22 students is no easy task. I've been trying to find ways to engage the class in learning while I work with one person at a time at the piano, having them practice on their miniature paper keyboards, quiz each other on note names, play in the air, etc. Surprisingly they're making progress.

After 3 35-minute classes, all my students can find most notes on the keyboard, although middle C is still a mystery to them. Almost all with relative success have played a 5-note C-scale, C-major arpeggio and triad. Not bad considering each one gets about 1-minute on the piano each week. Next week we'll be starting F and G-chords...