Consider a common scenario: a dyslexic student struggles with basic sight reading but has a keen musical ear, picking up advanced repertoire intuitively. In a traditional piano method, they would be stuck at level 1 for years. Their fingers would itch to play advanced repertoire, but their reading ability holds them back. Their enthusiasm for music, so bright at first, dims. 

This student reveals the limitation of most method books: they assume students learn linearly, in a predetermined sequence. Students move from level 1 to level 10, all skills developing in tandem. Let’s call this a ladder curriculum.
A Linear Skill Ladder

While this works for plenty of students, it fails our dyslexic music lover and others with similar, but less extreme learning differences. So I’d like to propose a nonlinear constellation curriculum.
A Non-Linear Collection of Skills

In a constellation there are multiple entry points and lines of connection: you can start from any musical ‘star’ and draw connections to any other, creating constellations unique to each student. Students can explore skills and repertoire at their own pace, rather than climbing a ladder rung by rung. For example, with a constellation curriculum, our dyslexic student can learn an advanced piece by ear or rote imitation, do basic reading drills, then write an arrangement of a popular tune by hand, developing each skill independently before integrating them at the right time.

A nonlinear approach can benefit all students, not just neurodivergent learners. Nonlinear pedagogy offers great scope for personalization, creativity, and innovation, qualities which would improve any student's learning experience. 

Here are some teaching ideas that view music as a non-linear constellation of skills. They are not intended as a replacement for linear teaching, nor do I suggest trying every idea with every student. Rather, they are a collection of related ideas — take and add the ones you like to your own teaching constellation.

Non linear teaching means we can teach advanced concepts immediately ('pick a star, any star'), without having to build up to them sequentially ('we can do that one day, but first we need to finish xyz'). Rote repertoire and improvisation are two concrete examples of what this looks like in practice.

Take Current, a rote piece by Paula Dreyer:

This piece shifts all over the keyboard. A linear curriculum that introduces one hand position at a time would wait to introduce this piece until level 2 or 3. However, beginners can learn it easily by understanding the open 5th patterns and copying their teacher. 

Another example is I Love Coffee, found in Piano Safari Book 1;

Here, the extensive use of accidentals would prevent beginners from reading this piece. But by understanding the black and white key patterns, beginners can learn it in their first week of lessons.

Improvisation activities offer similar scope for non-sequential learning. In his Create First series, Forrest Kinney teaches the blues scale by saying: play all the black keys and add A natural. Students can then improvise in the blues without understanding the complex underlying theory. Kinney uses similar principles to teach modes, Japanese folk scales, and the traditional major/minor scales. Students experience these advanced concepts directly through improvisation and learn to analyze them later.

All these examples show that students don’t have to build up to complex skills sequentially. They can start drawing their personal skill constellation from any star.

Non-linear teaching allows us to start with a student’s strong points, their ‘bright stars.’ Let’s return to that dyslexic student with a sharp ear, who loves music, who is very intrinsically motivated. Working on sight reading exclusively would kill all their enthusiasm, and pushing them to advanced reading repertoire would be unsustainable. The solution is to teach them rewarding rote repertoire while incrementally building their reading skills.

As mentioned above, Paula Dreyer and others have written many pieces specifically for this purpose, but you can also tailor repertoire to a student’s specific interests. If a student takes Suzuki violin lessons, use Suzuki repertoire. If they attend church, use hymn melodies. If they love Godzilla (very common), teach them the Godzilla theme. 

Students’ pianistic skills can grow, free from the constraints of fixed hand positions. They will learn to recognize patterns, building their tactile and aural memory. Meanwhile, they can practice basic reading drills which, while dry, are more palatable when paired with engaging repertoire. When the student is older and ready to read, we can start ‘connecting the stars’ — devising activities that bridge playing and sight reading.

Once a student has developed a few strong skills independently, they can integrate them by reverse engineering a piece. For example, to learn Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a student could first learn it by ear, then write the melody by hand, adding phrasing and dynamics:

Twinkle Twinkle with phrases and dynamics added by a student

From there, they might try adding a left hand part. For less advanced students, this could mean having the left hand double the right an octave below. More advanced students might add I–IV–V chord accompaniments, or experiment with broken chord textures.

A different student used this piece to learn primary chords and harmonization

This approach lets students combine aural skills, notation, harmonic understanding, and creativity in one activity, connecting skills that were previously taught in isolation.

If the student goes through this process with several pieces, they have a nice handwritten album to show for all their hard work. They can decorate and personalize it all they want, making the product unique to them. Instead of following a method book, they have written one which reflects their unique qualities, moves in a sequence that plays to their strengths. 

My students have created albums including handwritten arrangements of Suzuki Book 1 with personalized accompaniments, a beginner piano arrangement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, a group of hymn arrangements, and a set of original variations on Pachelbel’s Canon.

Learning to create different accompaniments using chords patterns and inversions

When a student builds a personal constellation of skills, repertoire, and activities, no two lessons are the same. Learning becomes deeply personal, student-led and flexible. 

Teaching nonlinearly has allowed me to meet students where they are, to build on their strengths, and nurture their intrinsic interests. While linear methods definitely have a place in my curriculum (more on this in my next post), I no longer follow them dogmatically. This way, my students are no longer confined to a narrow path, they can use the whole sky as their canvas.