Having taught piano at a Suzuki music school, and knowing many other Suzuki instructors of both piano and strings, it varies WIDELY as to when note reading is introduced. We always used Hal Leonard or a similar series for reading once the piano students were about half-way through the first piano book, but I once had a transfer student that moved from another city who was nearly done with book two Suzuki with almost no reading ability!

As I am currently going through a similar situation with a transfer Simply Music family (the 11 year old did that method for 5 years, the 7 year old for 1, and luckily they can at least read rhythms already), here is what I have been doing: playing a bit by ear/rote, "discovering" a particular reading concept (finding middle C/treble G/bass F, directional steps, skips, etc.), then using PA Primer and Level 1 books to reinforce the concepts by sight reading as much as possible through the rest of the lesson, stopping to answer questions as we go. I then have each student pick 1 or 2 of the sight-read pieces to practice over the week. So far this has been working rather well for both students. I am focusing more on the "guide notes" and directional reading for now, allowing them to move out of what is perceived as "baby" pieces a bit faster than simply having them name all notes as they go. We will fill in the remaining note names with time and practice.

I have a similar situation. I have a 6-year old student in Suzuki book 2 who didn't know how to read music.

Each week I assign theory pages for note reading and in the lesson we do off the bench games. I also give her supplemental music that she can read on her own. She really enjoyed the PreTime Piano Favorites book. For repertoire pieces, she learns them by ear. It's working out well so far, and she's catching on quickly from her musical experience.

Hi Akiko,

Mixing the two is working really well for me too - she's actually been able to transfer a lot of the musicality and fluidity that her Suzuki has promoted into her "note reading" pieces. We've avoided frustration by moving slowly and by allowing her to expand on the simple note-reading songs by adding LH patterns that are found in her Suzuki pieces. It's been a good balance!

I am considering teaching music with the "Simply Music: method. What are the pros and cons of this company.

There was quite a discussion on this a while back. Mostly negative, if I recall.

I agree with Arlene. I've been reading facebook posts from teachers who have transfer students from Simply Music programs and they can't read.

I looked at it in depth a while back and was not impressed with their performances on You Tube; no technique to speak of, little dynamic interest, no rise and fall in phrasing.

The one thought I have that tips the scale negatively is the way they try to turn anyone into a teacher. They boast that you don't need musical training to teach for them. They're wrong.

Lastly, I won't ever use materials from a business that I have to pay for each student I teach from those materials. For this reason I don't use materials from MYC, Kindermusik, Kiddy Keys, etc.

Here's the start of the Simply Music thread:
http://pianoadventures.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=51345&page=1

In the thread, there are links to videos of Simply Music recitals that are painful to listen to. I think they speak for themselves. Any particular reason you are consider it, TunedIn?