Question about Piano and Fine Arts for highschool...

[Guest kacifl]

I'm working on dd's 11th grade schedule for this fall. DD completed 6 years of piano from 1st-6th grade. She lost interest in playing, but now thinks she'd like to resume playing and take lessons again. How can I make this a Fine Arts credit? Instructors usually instruct for one hour, once a week. How can I work this into one credit? She is going to dual enroll also. Do colleges have classes in advanced Piano? Of course, I might as well forget about that, she gets performance anxiety.

 

Would love to hear how others worked this out.

 

PS: daughter is also interested in taking guitar, if not picking up on piano again.

[Storm Bay]

If you wanted to count this as a fine arts credit, you'd need to do theory along with it, and, I would think, some music history. At this stage I'm guessing it would be rudiments of theory, especially after a gap. I'd also add in some music appreciation. In fact, I'd correlate the music appreciation with the portion of music history I was studying.

 

I'm saying this from my music teaching and studying background, as we haven't decided if we're going to do a fine arts credit for music. Have you read Homeschooling Highschool?

[Guest kacifl]

I'll look into it, first I'll search for a teacher who may teach those things along with addional piano practice. K

[Storm Bay]

I'll look into it, first I'll search for a teacher who may teach those things along with addional piano practice. K

 

 

Or, you might wish to take theory and/or history with a senior or college music student. I took my first Harmony class (after Rudiments of Theory) with a music major. It's cheaper that way. Some places have group theory classes, etc, too. Or you could study the music history on your own; the text I had even had suggested listening, and on the exam I had to recognize pieces by a line of music with the theme, etc, along with things about composers, etc.

 

$40/hour is not bad at all, pricewise, although it depends on where you live. It's important to have someone who teaches well and good technique, musicality, etc., although you don't have to have a top name in teaching for that.

[Sharon in MD]

Our ds took piano all through high school for credit. His instruction did include theory, competitions and performances at ensembles and other recitals. We did not include specific music appreciation or history as part of the course.

 

He had a one hour lesson each week and practiced for usually 1 hour per day 4-6 days a week. Our oversight academy requires that we count hours of time spent in practice or lessons for this type of credit. The minimum for a credit is 120 hours....like the Carnegie unit that you sometimes hear about. We always had way more than that logged so it was not a problem:)

 

Oh, and we also did the National Piano Guild auditions each year. I would recommend looking for someone who does the guild....it gives a level of credence to the instruction IMO.

[Angel]

I'm planning on counting dd's piano as an Instrumental Music credit. She has a half credit for this year already. She does do some theory, but I don't think I would require that for a credit. In high school I had band all four years, we didn't do much in the way of theory and still earned our credit;)

[Halftime Hope]

I talked with the head of the piano instruction program at the university my 16 yo dd is using for dual credit, when the school offered to scholarship additional courses for her. She was interested in taking piano lessons, and I checked into seeing if we could get those covered by the school. He said that at the college credit level, students are expected to practice 4-6 hours daily on their instrument in order to do well (A or B) in their lessons. He said that he can definitely tell if a student is making progress or not, and he will grade harshly for students whom he believes are not working to their potential. Since I knew dd did not have 4-6 hours available, that would not work for us.

 

YMMV with the dual credit institutions available near you, but at least you'd know what to ask, re. their expectations before you signed her up. :)

 

ETA: sorry, I should have put this under the OP.

[K-FL]

I'm planning on counting dd's piano as an Instrumental Music credit. She has a half credit for this year already. She does do some theory, but I don't think I would require that for a credit. In high school I had band all four years, we didn't do much in the way of theory and still earned our credit;)

 

:iagree: I had choir, etc in hs & then went on the be a college voice major. Theory, history & sight singing/ear training were 3 separate courses. For hs, I've just counted the hours (including practice).

[Storm Bay]

I talked with the head of the piano instruction program at the university my 16 yo dd is using for dual credit, when the school offered to scholarship additional courses for her. She was interested in taking piano lessons, and I checked into seeing if we could get those covered by the school. He said that at the college credit level, students are expected to practice 4-6 hours daily on their instrument in order to do well (A or B) in their lessons. He said that he can definitely tell if a student is making progress or not, and he will grade harshly for students whom he believes are not working to their potential. Since I knew dd did not have 4-6 hours available, that would not work for us.

 

YMMV with the dual credit institutions available near you, but at least you'd know what to ask, re. their expectations before you signed her up. :)

 

ETA: sorry, I should have put this under the OP.

 

 

This sounds about right. Some college pianists practice more than this, as do some concert pianists. I've heard 5-8 hours a day, but have also heard of instances where some pianists practice even longer.

 

But, if you practice an hour a day and add theory, etc, you can make it a high school credit. I think we did get credit for band one year, but that was in grade 8 (my high school was 8-12); after that I don't remember it counting as a credit, but I can't be sure since we were on shifts (the school had been burnt down right after I finished gr 7) and that band was for grades 9-12, so we had to meet after the afternoon shift was done.