In Praise Of
When I first met Lorene McClintock and encouraged her to expand her revolutionary ideas on how to learn to read music and play the piano, neither of us could have anticipated the scope and grandeur of the final result. Beyond the fact that, if followed, her method will have taught you how to play the piano, it also will have helped you to understand music; indeed, your awareness and comprehension will have risen to new and higher levels.
Your method is the only one I have ever heard of that can develop musicality from a book. I consider it the ultimate in adult study courses for use throughout the 21st century. Students completing “The McClintock Piano Course” not only will play well but will have acquired as much musical and theoretical background as many professional musicians possess.
In a world full of the shoddy and half done, it is a real pleasure to come across a product of excellence. The material is easily accessible and handy to use. Your warmth and concern for the student show through on every page. As I read and practice the lessons, I can feel the care and work you put into this course. By the last lesson, if done according to your instructions, I should have the knowledge and discipline to be a fine piano player. That is my goal. My piano no longer is idle. It is used and even looks happier sitting there in my living room.
With a background in electronic engineering, it was difficult for me to get over the mental hurdle of paying a few hundred dollars through mail order without any of the guarantees that are usually applied to this type of transaction. Although your information packets and testimonials are very impressive, I am an overly cautious person when it comes to these types of situations. To make a long story short, I was overwhelmed when I saw the volumes of work, dedication, thoughtfulness and insight far beyond the parameters of piano instruction that you put into this work. I doubt that any realistic description of this work could be put into words and still have your potential audience believe the true essence of what you have compiled.
As a teacher of more than 20 years, I am discovering that “The McClintock Piano Course” is in a category of its own. There is no other course that even comes close in its presentation and implementation of music principles, aesthetics, design, and packaging, student-turns-teacher effectiveness, readability, cost, and the immediately noticeable results. I am discovering many uses for your course in my piano studio. After seeing my copy of your course, one of my adult students and his wife became convinced that they “had to have it” for themselves and their family. This is, indeed, more than a piano course. As an educator and a piano teacher, and most of all, as a parent, I thank you.
A great gift has been given to the world, dispelling forever the false belief that music can be learned, enjoyed and performed only by the few. For me, this Course is the prototype teaching released for the first time into consciousness that will be the model and inspiration for all teachers around the world.
How very grateful I am for this wonderful opportunity to at last learn to play the piano, and to play it musically. Life has already become more of an adventure. The lessons are written so beautifully and with such love, patience and wisdom that I realize that they are not just lessons for learning to read music and play the piano, but lessons for living a fulfilled and productive life. My husband of 47 years is so thrilled that I am learning to play the piano that he sits in the room with me and when I come to an especially profound passage, I read it aloud to him and he loves it. After working with the 6th lesson I notice that my hands feel better and are more limber than they have been in years. Wonderful therapy!
I feel like I have just climbed Mount Everest. As a child with dyslexia, I was unable to coordinate the movement of my hands and feet — upper and lower body. Suddenly, after I started lesson 15 when I used “The McClintock Walking Experiment,” I found I could clap my hands and pat my feet at the same time. At age 72, I feel like a new woman! I am up at 6:30 a.m. and by 7:30, I’m at the piano. I come back and play some more on my lunch hour and again at 4:30, when I finish work. How can I ever thank you for adding this joy to my life?
It was always my desire to play the piano and I had looked forward to taking lessons after I retired. However I retired confined to a wheel chair, unable to walk or barely stand with crutches. I was told by the medical profession that there was nothing they could do to help me. At this point I learned of your piano course. Although I could not believe that it was possible for me to learn to play, this Course removed all my doubts as I eagerly delved into each lesson. Here I am 100 lessons later, quite confident that I am playing rather well and with complete comprehension and anticipation. Many of my physical difficulties have been overcome. The greatest reward this Course has given me is a will to get up in the morning, take care of myself and proceed with my piano lessons and other functions of my life. Perfecting the music inspires perfection in all that I attempt. I played for a woman who was raised in an Italian family with a devotion to music and she commented on my beautiful touch and musical feeling. I now have a sense of worth and achievement which I had really given up on. How can I ever thank you?
When I first heard of “The McClintock Piano Course”, I had been working for a dozen years in the jazz and commercial fields. I had been away from formal education for quite awhile. When I began to study the Course, my confidence, musical awareness and my musical goals grew stronger. After a year of work with the Course, I auditioned and was accepted on scholarship at one of the foremost music schools in New York — graduating with a Masters degree. Shortly thereafter I was made a member of the Jazz Faculty. I am now involved with jazz education and it is a joy to observe the impact of the Course on my students.The scope and clarity of The McClintock Piano Course is seriously needed in today’s curricula.
Immediately after I started reading “The McClintock Piano Course”, I felt that right there in front of me, in the words of the Course, was the teacher I’d always needed. I was always made to feel comfortable that I would never have to go faster than I was able. As the Course points out, rushing and feeling pressured to get the “learning” over with so as to get on to the “results” completely deprives oneself of any genuine enjoyment of the experience. This new outlook on learning spilled over to all my other learning experiences…. I’m fascinated by how much I got out of the Course — in light of the fact that I do not own a piano, and do not frequently have access to one for practice. Of course, this kind of reading can be done practically anywhere; and this brings up an important point which people with busy schedules will find attractive: The Course is completely “portable,” and particular volumes can be taken with you to read and enjoy — for instance, while sitting on a plane or train. It also offers an excellent way to relieve tension, or to relax during a stressful period at work. It’s a great idea to just close the door to your office and sit quietly and take a “Music Break”.
I have been teaching what is probably the first McClintock Piano Course in England. The style of your writing is so clear and uncluttered and the progression so well thought out that it is almost impossible for anyone to misunderstand it. The practice ideas are so original that one can never feel bored – which is the state of most students practicing. And the music you have written is satisfying both for myself as a professional musician and for complete beginners. My students are very keen and are making good progress. I also do some composition with them in an improvisatory manner.
Thanks to “The McClintock Piano Course”, for the first time in my life, I became conscious of the ultimate value of being correctly taught how to play intervals from the very beginning….. Programming correct intervals with your fingers from the score without visual control of the “distance” between the keys is, however, not only a basis for a good piano technique…. Being an Otolaryngologist performing micro-surgery in ears and especially on the vocal cords of singers and professional speakers, I know that the “distant” touch of what you want to “take out,” or “make an incision” is basically determined by what your eyes (and cortex) want to be done. And during micro-surgery, you cannot control what your hands are doing — only the results at the end of your instrument counts….. I am sure that the way your Course has taught me to play the piano will be of great advantage in micro-surgery. But your method is not restricted only to surgery, I feel that it can be of great help to professionals of all kinds.
I wish I could explain what “The McClintock Piano Course” means to me. When I was on drugs, they would sap my energy so much that I wouldn’t be able to do my art work. Then I would take more drugs to try to get the ideas back, and when the ideas came again, there was no energy left to actually do the work. This Course is just unbelievable. It has released me from the hassle of drugs. After I read just a few lines of the Course, I enter into another world. It seems that all my negative thoughts are literally eaten up as I am reading. It gathers all the negative feelings and absorbs them, swallows them up — right down the drain. This music course has saved my life. This is a miracle! Oh, what this could do for the world.
All the principles of Montessori are embodied in this Course. … From the very first lesson the student develops visual, auditory, memory, and tactile skills. Because the Course is one in which the participant goes as slowly or as rapidly as is comfortable, and because the skills are sequential and there is provision for evaluation of skill mastery before progressing to another learning level, gaps can be filled in. Weaker learning areas are strengthened because all approaches are used e.g. visual memory, visual imagery, auditory discrimination, visual motor memory, and visual motor integration. This can be very helpful to people with learning disabilities.
Enclosed is an order for your recording, “Reflections of the Soul.” I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your wonderful Piano Course…. I have always loved the piano and finally decided several years ago to learn the instrument. I tried several approaches to learning, from self study, using the popular method books, to formal instruction….The limitations of my knowledge became very clear. I also did not see any way to improve, since the available teachers in my area all used basically the same approach — what I would call the “traditional” teaching method…. What makes your Piano Course effective is that it is a truly unique approach. The Course actively teaches sight reading, versus the traditional method which asserts that this skill comes with time. The Course focuses on musicianship from the very beginning, again not leaving this to chance. I also appreciate the many exercises that can be done away from the piano, and the many insights that make a world of difference in learning….. I look forward to hearing your recording and continuing with my studies, and I wish you continued success with your wonderful Piano Course.
In my opinion as a psychologist, this rapid speed of learning can be attributed to your unique “signal-and- response” system, which allows the learner to circumvent unnecessary mediating learning processes and, thus, quickly establish the desired motoric responses. Through the use of the McClintock Keyboard Concealer and Interval Keyblocks, the student quickly learns to recognize the feel of different intervals and chord shapes. This kinesthetic learning experience, which is provided in the Course, is most helpful in learning to sight read music…. I would recommend your Course to educators regardless of the individual discipline…. You have accomplished in fact what psychologists have known in theory. You have succeeded in providing a Course which allows the learner to draw upon his inner resources while learning to read music and play the piano.
“The McClintock Piano Course” has transformed and shaped my athletic endeavors on both a professional and recreational basis. There are too many ways to mention in which the astounding methodology and step-by-step presentation of principles in the Course have found direct and profound application in my athletic experience….. As a former college sprinter and football player, a running back with the San Francisco 49ers, a recreational squash player, and more recently, as an avid golfer, it occurs to me that there is an all-encompassing thread which runs throughout — it is “rhythm.”… Your Course led me into and through the experience of learning how to become open to, aware of, and moved by rhythm itself. The process of discovering one’s own rhythm in any athletic pursuit is the basis of true enjoyment and accomplishment in the particular sport…. One often hears great athletes described as having superb rhythm — the ultimate moments of which is called being “in the zone.” “The McClintock Piano Course” makes it possible to experience many more “zone” moments than is usually thought possible. More importantly, it teaches the art of living in the zone in daily life, which I consider to be its greatest gift…. Thank you so much for this profound, magical, and transforming experience.
I want you to know how grateful I am to you and your wonderful McClintock Piano Course for giving me a second chance to learn to play the piano…. My inability to master the instrument — a skill that would enhance my own musicianship and appreciation of musical literature — has been a source of frustration and personal dissatisfaction…. The methods you introduce in the Course reflect tremendous pedagogical insight…. As a working adult, I appreciate that the Course is structured in such a way that I can study even when I don’t have access to a piano. I never imagined that the skills necessary to a mastery of the instrument could be honed on an imaginary keyboard in my office!… Everyone who has ever tried and failed to master the piano should try again with “The McClintock Piano Course”.
“The McClintock Piano Course” represents the ultimate in music education — a master work of structural learning by one who understands the laws and principles behind music and is able to impart this knowledge to anyone desiring a proficiency in the art of reading music and playing the piano…. While developing an adept musician, the Course takes the student far beyond musical training. It develops skills in visualization, awakens consciousness in parts of the body that once were dormant, and increases ones ability to concentrate and focus. This Course opens doors for contemplation and meditation. It literally transports the earnest seeker toward the threshold of unlimited potential in mystical development.
Even though I have been playing piano for many years, my sight-reading improved before I was half way through Volume I. Your methods are invaluable tools that must benefit any teacher, no matter what systems they use. Add to that the fact that your Course is loaded with practical insights that would assist teachers and students in any field. I don’t see how any teacher can afford to be without it.
Homeschooling requires a great commitment of time and discipline. As my husband and I sought to rear and educate our six children at home, we looked for ways to expand their knowledge, of which music is one. Thanks to your piano course, I am able to teach my children a fine art with a well-rounded system. I have found that when I am not able to be with them, my son (10) and daughter (8) can do the lessons on their own, and afterwards they come to me and share what they have learned. I am confident that as we progress, because of the thoroughness of this piano course, we as a family will be able to play the piano and understand written music as a whole. We can already see that its lessons will last us a lifetime.
Your Piano Course will provide spiritual growth as well as enlightenment and fufillment for anyone who works with it.