Just as musical etudes focus on the development of skills and address the technical problems encountered in keyboard literature, the "etudes" in Stewart Gordon's new book also focus on ideas which prepare piano teachers for meeting the problems encountered in piano performing and teaching. This collection of essays, many of which first appeared in the "New Davidites" series in American Music Teacher, examines the many challenges involved in piano teaching - not only the technical tasks of teaching students how to play the instrument, but also the more general challenges of how to inspire and shape students' learning, growth, and personal identity, and how to offer career guidance.