Every teacher knows the impulse: you hear something lovely and immediately want to hand it to a student. The only problem is that the cost of guessing wrong is paid out of the student's confidence.
This check runs four gates, and takes about three minutes with a new score in your hands. Whichever gate the piece fails, stop and think there — rather than handing it over first and finding out later.
Thirty seconds. Your eyes alone will stop half of the unsuitable pieces.
Key and accidentals
Has the student played in this key before? How dense are the accidentals on the page?
Red line: an unfamiliar key AND a page full of accidentals, togetherRhythmic vocabulary
Any rhythmic figures the student hasn't met yet? Dotted patterns, syncopation, three against two…
Red line: more than one brand-new rhythmic figureRange and stretch
What's the widest stretch? How often do the hands shift position? Can a small hand hold it?
Red line: beyond what this student's hand can currently manageLength
Number of pages × how fast this student currently digests music. Do the sum in your head.
Red line: more than 1.5× the length of their recent finished piecesThe fate of the whole piece usually hides in its three hardest bars. Circle them first.
Where are the three hardest bars?
Circle them in pencil. Every judgement from here on revolves around them.
Which technical elements do they need?
List them one by one: scale passages? chord connections? voicing? pedalling? leaps?
Compare against the student's toolbox and mark each one
The same piece, given to the same student, can go completely differently three months earlier or three months later.
Whose idea is this piece?
If the student wants it, you can tolerate more difficulty — the motivation absorbs some of the frustration. If it's your experiment, the bar goes higher: learn it yourself, break it down, build the bridges first. Not "I'm not solid on it either, let's poke at it together."
Where are they right now?
Just finished a challenging piece → schedule something digestible to breathe. Several easy pieces in a row → time to step up.
Is there enough frustration in the account?
A student who has just been stuck, whose confidence is low, doesn't need more difficulty stacked on top. Give them a piece they'll win.
The last gate is an honesty test you give yourself.
Estimated time to finish
You've chosen properly when you can say "roughly this many weeks, and this section each week." If you can't say it, you haven't thought it through.
The stop-loss checkpoint
Look again in week 2–3: is the hardest passage taking shape at a slow tempo? Three weeks stuck in the same place, and the student starting to avoid practising it — that's the signal to shelve it.
The backup piece
Same technical goal, half a step easier. Have one in your pocket before you start.
One sheet per piece. It prints on its own page. After a few dozen of these, you won't need it any more.
Piece: Student: Date:
Gate 1 · Scan the score
Key already played; accidental density acceptable
Brand-new rhythmic figures ≤ 1
Stretches and shifts within hand ability
Length ≤ 1.5× recent finished pieces
Gate 2 · Technical inventory (hardest three bars: bars ＿＿, ＿＿, ＿＿)
| Technical element | ✓ Has it | △ Shaky | ✗ Never met |
|---|---|---|---|
Verdict: ✗ ≤ 1 and △＋✗ ≤ 3 Passes Future list (bridging pieces: ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿)
Gate 3 · The student side
Whose idea: student teacher (→ I've learned and broken it down myself yes)
Current state: just finished a challenge piece several easy ones in a row low-confidence stretch
Gate 4 · Scheduling
Estimated ＿＿ weeks. Checkpoint in week ＿＿: is the hardest passage taking shape slowly?
Backup piece:
Once all four gates are cleared → in the lesson where you introduce the piece, let the student open the box with "How Do You Want to Get to Know This Piece?"
The worksheet prints on its own page, so you can run one per piece.