Creating a tool to evaluate teaching materials for older beginner piano students through the lens of constructivism

This paper describes the creation of an evaluative tool that aims to measure the degree to which constructivism is facilitated within the teaching materials created for older beginning piano students (twelve to seventeen years of age). Literature exploring the published teaching materials available for teaching piano includes content analysis, comparisons of tutor books and music reading approaches. The majority of research focuses on young children under eleven years of age, tertiary students and adult learners. Little research has critically examined the materials created for the older beginner piano student. Additionally, research in music education has explored various forms of constructivism but this research is rarely piano specific and generally represented by qualitative or small quantitative studies. Constructivism related to teaching piano to students aged twelve to seventeen years has received little attention. This paper unpacks the research and methodology that underpins the creation of an evaluative tool designed to explore the extent to which constructivism is facilitated and supported in the published teaching materials for older beginner piano students. The creation of an evaluation tool anchored in constructivism is central to a larger study exploring the resources used by Australian piano teachers when teaching older beginner students.