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Why I Teach Piano
Lesson 15: Why I Teach Piano
Being a traveling piano teacher, as a valued guest in lovely homes, is a lucrative and noble profession. But money and honor are not my motivation. Strangely enough, after many years of doing this, it is the children’s faces that make me do it. Essentially, I am an adult paid to play with children. If the lesson isn’t play, it becomes work, and will soon become drudgery.
Look At Their Faces
The pure, un-adult look of a child, happily engaged with the piano, is reward enough. Their eyes, even when impatient, frustrated and tired, are clear pools. I’m a father, too, and it’s not quite like the feeling of father-child. It is more like collaborating with a pure genius, a new brain with a slate wiped clean. I find it more refreshing than anything else to interact with such a new being. I try to guide them toward my favorite object, the piano. That’s all a piano lesson is.
Piano Is Easy
Share The Child’s Space
The key is to enter the child’s space. You cannot force them to enter yours, the space of diligence and effort and professionalism. You cannot expect a child to understand the tremendous effort that is needed to master even a small part of the piano. Do do not make kids aware that they are about to scale Mount Everest until they are older, when they understand what work is. The beginning of piano lessons is the time for students to be seduced by the music itself, by the “ear candy” aspect of the musical experience.
Surprise Them
To enter the child’s space, you have to be still and calm. What is their mood today Ask. Children usually are very honest, and if they say, “I’m tired from soccer,” you have been fairly warned. Some kids are in a mental space so far from piano lessons that you might as well be on the moon. This mood or type of child forces the creative piano teacher to find ways of presenting subjects that are completely unique.
Start From Where The Child Is That Day
For the hypothetical child who was tired from soccer, I might have them put their heads on the piano quietly while I play “Rockabye Baby” somewhat mockingly, an act that makes them laugh. Now, they may be tired but at least they are laughing. Next, we’d yawn while I casually played something that sounded like a yawn. A slow, down glissando might work here. Notice I’m not fretting about the lesson time, or the lesson plan and agenda. The real lesson plan is this particular child on this day, at this time. A true lesson plan is “of the moment,” derived from the child’s current state, and not something written in a textbook.
Match The Lesson To Their Mood
Maybe this hypothetical post-soccer piano lesson is turning to ear training. It’s an activity that exhausted kids find appealing and has many benefits for their musical training, even at this very early stage. On another day, this same child may be bright, perky and ready for action, but you must be ready for whatever situation may arise, and teach accordingly. Kids are constantly worried that you, the piano teacher, are going to turn authoritarian, like an angry parent, and they dread it.
Never Be Angry Or Impatient
Never be angry or arch. Prove to them through experience that you are absurdly patient and friendly. They will relax and you can enter their space to teach them. Have the wisdom to avoid negative feelings at all costs. The time “wasted” in friendly but directed interaction is more than paid for by the short spurt of real attention that you’ll be rewarded with. Keep the child calm by never being negative and they will make a good effort.
COURSE ONE: TEACHING TOOLS
#2 WHAT A CHILD SHOULD EXPECT FROM PIANO LESSONS
#3 WHAT IS FINGERING AND WHEN DO WE USE IT
#4 PIANO BY NUMBER AND OTHER STARTING METHODS
#6 MINUTE BY MINUTE PIANO LESSON
#7 TOYS AND ACCESSORIES FOR FUN PIANO LESSONS
#8 READING MUSIC FOR KIDS STEP BY STEP
#9 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORST AND BEST TEACHER
#10 A CHILD’S CLASSICAL MUSIC LISTENING LIST
COURSE TWO: TEACHING BACKGROUND
#11 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE PIANO
#12 A SHORT HISTORY OF PIANO METHODS
#13 A PLEASANT PIANO LESSON ATMOSPHERE
#14 ADVICE TO A YOUNG PIANO TEACHER
#16 A PIANO TEACHER’S EMOTIONS
#17 PACE AND CHILDREN’S PIANO LESSONS
#18 CHILDREN’S PIANO MOTOR SKILLS DEFINED BY AGE
#19 CHILDREN’S PIANO FINGERING OVERVIEW
#20 GUILT IS THE WRONG WAY TO BUY ATTENTION
COURSE THREE: PIANO GAMES
#21 FOURS, A PIANO COUNTING GAME
#24 THE USE OF HUMOR IN PIANO LESSONS
#25 HAPPY OR SAD: EAR TRAINING FOR KIDS
#26 FOLLOW THE LEADER: VISUAL PIANO GAMES
