If you are working through a method book and life happens so you miss a week or two of lessons, it can get really boring to keep practicing the same pieces over and over...especially when those pieces were meant to be completed in a week. So, is it OK to work ahead in your book? Yes, if you accept the following realities.
First, if there is a new concept taught for the next piece, make sure you read what the book says about it. Some are really simple and just adding on to something you already know about. For example, you know about quarter rests, now it shows you half rests and whole rests. You know how to handle a rest, now you know what longer rests look like. Great. No problem. Just be careful to practice giving your rests the correct number of counts.
Second, be prepared to be corrected and assigned the same piece(s) as part of your practice assignment for the next piece. When you learn it on your own, it is likely that you will miss a few things that your teacher would point out to you if you had learned it in your lesson. Don't be upset. I personally love it when students take the initiative to learn more than I asked them to. Just be aware that you may have a bit more work to do on that piece before we can fully move on from it.
Third, if the new concept is something you really don't understand, feel free to contact you teacher (me) to ask about it. If the reason you don't have a lesson is anything short of I am stuck on a deserted island or too sick to read an email, I'm glad to help clarify or offer an alternative piece that you can work on until we meet again.
Finally, if you are someone who likes trying to figure things out on your own, tell me. I'm happy to go over new material and point out places that people tend to get tripped up in a few songs ahead of where you are so you can work ahead to your hearts desire. My goal is for you to be engaged and keep moving forward in your skills, and one way you can do that is by challenging yourself to work ahead and figure it out on your own...as long as you are still willing to accept correction when you don't get it quite right.
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