ABSTRACT
This chapter describes features of learning theories and learning styles that are applicable to teaching and learning in a group-piano setting. It explains about psychologists who proposed and tested theories of learning as a way of studying those theories, and reviews behaviorism, cognition, humanism, and constructivism. There is a developmental theory that can be helpful when working with children, adolescents, and adults in the piano classroom. It was proposed by Erik Erikson, it covers the entire life span, and it considers not just cognitive abilities but psychosocial commonalities at each stage. Lev Vygotsky supported the notion of using cognitive strategies to improve learning. In 1956, Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues defined mastery learning and introduced a hierarchical list of learning categories that could be assessed by teachers. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of self-actualization is most often represented by a pyramid.
