 "The McClintock Piano Course: A
New Experience in Learning"
reviewed by Muriel Brooks.
At
most social gatherings, if there is a pianist around, one is likely to hear
that old refrain from the adults present, "Oh, I always wanted to learn to
play the piano." These days more of them are doing just that, causing them
to become the fastest growing segment of the music student population. To
accommodate these avid students, adult methods have been appearing in large
numbers in the music stores. In 1992, Lorene McClintock added her unusual
course to the available material.
"The McClintock Piano Course: A New Experience in Learning",
was developed over a 30 year period of testing. It consists of 201 lessons
— three volumes of music and eight volumes of text — plus a patented
set of Interval Keyblocks, a Keyboard Concealer, and a music manuscript book,
all packaged in two attractive boxed sets. The course is sold in this complete
format only; one cannot buy individual volumes.
An accompanying brochure states that one of the purposes of the course is
"to enable an individual with no previous knowledge of music or the
keyboard to learn to read music and play the piano and to receive a complete
music education — with or without a teacher." Other purposes are
"to develop musical literacy and a musical consciousness" enabling
one to become "a more active and appreciative listener" and "to
provide a discipline that is both enjoyable and stimulating." Those are
broad aims but this course fulfills them better than any in my experience.
The author's first concern is to develop a sense of touch and measurement
through exercises coordinating eyes and hands. This is achieved through the use
of the patented Interval Keyblocks and the Keyboard Concealer, and like a
number of other exercises in the course, is not done at the piano. The
cardboard Keyblocks are Lorene McClintock's clever invention. The Keyboard
Concealer, also of cardboard, is the best of several types to be found in other
beginners' methods to prevent the pianist from watching his or her fingers.
Without the constant looking from music rack to hands, a secure keyboard sense
is established. If one can't watch the hands, the eye can watch the music. This
produces a more fluent sight reader — the goal of every teacher and the
means to more enjoyment for the amateur pianist.
Lorene McClintock places great stress on developing tone quality, legato
playing, the shaping of phrases, and rubato — musical considerations that
are rarely touched upon in most methods. She gives clear and truly innovative
directions on how to achieve these important aspects of musical performance
beginning with the very first lessons.
Theory is thoroughly taught, also from the beginning, and doesn't just deal
with the basic I, IV, and V chords. By the time the individual reaches the last
volume of text, he/she has very thoroughly explored diminished and secondary
7ths, 9th, 11th, and 13th chords, the Neapolitan, French, German, and Italian
6ths, plus diatonic and altered chords in major and minor keys. Additionally,
the student has been instructed in modulation, improvisation, ear training,
analysis, and composition. Once again, this range and depth of information
cannot be found in any other adult method, especially those designed for self
instruction.
One may doubt the success of such a home study course, but this particular one
can definitely be used with or without a teacher. The detailed directions
ensure understanding and correctness of execution, all reinforced with repeated
questions the students are urged to ask themselves as to what they are seeing,
doing, feeling, and hearing. This is the result of 30 years of constant testing
and rewriting.
Lorene McClintock first taught the concepts herself and produced the three
volumes of music. There followed a period in which she trained a group of
teachers in Texas, her home state, allowing them to buy the music and use it in
classroom situations as well as for private instruction. That experiment was a
20 year success story. Realizing that if she produced a thorough text, the
method could circulate more widely and be used for self-instruction, she set
about writing the voluminous instructions.
The next step was to allow individuals to work with the books on their own.
Revisions or additions were made to clarify the text as needed. Finally, after
30 years, satisfied that she had done all that was possible to produce a course
that would "provide a simple and direct approach that will dispel the
fears of those who have always wanted to play the piano but who have felt that
it was too complicated and difficult to learn," she published "The
McClintock Piano Course: A New Experience in Learning". It is designed
for adults and teenagers but could be of benefit to teachers through the
application of the many excellent ideas and principles innovatively explained.
The brochure, in describing the advantages of The McClintock Piano
Course, states that it may be used as "'learning therapy"' for
the physically handicapped, to develop coordination and confidence, and for
mentally and emotionally distressed and drug-dependent individuals, to enable
them to focus their attention, learn a new skill, and gain self-esteem."
As extravagant as that may sound, Lorene McClintock can document many quite
unusual benefits of a mental and physical nature that have occurred with adults
of all ages — some in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s — working their
way through her course.
One can see how, as she rightfully claims, it is "remarkably effective as
a method of stress release and relaxation." The constant cautioning to
avoid tension, to use the arms and body in relaxed ways, and the physical
exercises to learn meter and rhythm (away from the keyboard) can result in a
desirable lack of stress. In these days when many musicians are experiencing
increased tension and physical damage, it's refreshing to come across a course
that is a model of prevention of those ills and even manages to free people
from muscular problems….
Copyright 1994 Piano & Keyboard Magazine,
223 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo, CA 94960
Printed with permission of the publisher.
Click here to order The McClintock Piano
Course
<< Back to The McClintock
Piano Course
|
