The purpose of this collective case study was to explore the best practices in beginning group-piano instruction. Four beginning and intermediate groups of piano students (N =20) were observed. Data were triangulated through in-class observation of students and teachers, teacher interviews and student questionnaires. The master teachers…

This case study compares the teaching strategies employed by a novice and an expert instructor of two beginning children's group-piano classes. In the United States, there is a century-long tradition of teaching piano to children in groups, and group teaching is championed in pedagogy texts and at professional educator conferences throughout…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of cognitive chunking techniques among first-semester group-piano music majors. The ability to group discrete pieces of information into larger, more meaningful chunks is essential for efficient cognitive processing. Since reading keyboard music and playing the piano is a cognitively complex…