Piano Teacher’s Guidebook to the Extra-Ordinary Student

Research-based pedagogical tools and practical information for piano educators teaching neurodiverse, gifted, and twice-exceptional students.Extraordinary minds have always existed in the studio music setting, and these are, in many instances, minds which have produced important music: from Mozart and Satie to Billie Eilish and Florence Welch. This book illustrates the stark duality between the current, accepted piano pedagogical methods and the researched neurological, physiological, and developmental needs of the increasingly growing neurodiverse, gifted, and twice-exceptional student populations. The initial section explores the historically rich world of keyboard pedagogy and where and why that world falls short for a large sector of the population that seeks training in the modern day. The middle section is divided by neurodiverse, gifted, and twice-exceptional learners. Each chapter contains examples of poignant student stories with research-based pedagogical solutions for class application. The final section addresses larger scale studio goals such as festivals and recital adaptations. Finally, a resource guide filled with links for supplies, musical examples, teaching resources, forms, and a recital checklist are included.