What To Look For In A Piano Teacher
The biggest gap in the quality of tutoring from all the piano teachers out there is that most are very good at playing the piano, but not necessarily good at teaching piano, or teaching at all.
Teaching is a very special skill set, reuiring a excellent balance of clear communication, encouragement, experienced discrimination of how much to ask of each student, and that special ability to transfer knowledge. Few people have all that.
Therefore it’s essential that you use two barometers to test whether this or that teacher will be best for you.
The first is to get recommendations from others you trust. Don’t just pick a name out of the yellow pages. Find out if they have a shining and long-established track record, and then find others who have taken lessons from them and ask their honest opinion of that teacher’s strengths and weaknesses.
The second gauge is your own personal compatability. We’re all so unique in our personalities, the way we think and the way we learn. You may find a teacher who’s crystal clear in their directions and explanations, but for some reason, you just don’t get their languaging style, and you have trouble following them. Or maybe the personalities don’t line up. And of course, some of us are more visual learners while others are auditory, kinetic or informational learners.
So what do you do. Simple. Tell any teacher, up front, that you want to try them out for a while and see if your styles & personalities match up. Don’t be afraid to state this right up front, and don’t be afraid to “divorce” them if the marriage just ain’t working out. If they’re a long-experienced, high-quality teacher, they know all this already, and won’t be offended in the slightest if you need to move on and try someone else.
To be sure, give it a fair amount of time to see if the match is good. As long as the teacher is quality and relatively kind and clear, 3 or 4 lessons just isn’t going to be enough to gauge it. Commit to at least 3 months – about 12 lessons, and then assess.
Once again, as in our earlier discussions, the key is enjoyment. You don’t have to take piano lessons. You want to enjoy learning and playing piano, in your own time, at your own pace. So find a teacher with whom you so thoroughly enjoy the learning process that you really look forward to meeting with them each lesson, and even look forward to diving into the work they give you each week. And if it takes a few hit-or-misses to find that, don’t feel any concern. Get what you need; it’s your piano-playing “career” at stake, and if you force yourself to stck with someone you don’t enjoy, eventually you’ll quit altogether and miss out on the joy of actually being a piano player.
1 comment
I loved the 2 images you have, especially the 2nd one. No longer teaching, but the 2nd image reminded me of gigs in shopping centres [ malls ? ] where I’d place a small child on my knee and use their 2nd finger to play a nursery rhyme like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It worked well if the child relaxed and got lots of photo opportunity and applause.
Quoting your 1st paragraph ” The biggest gap in the quality of tutoring from all the piano teachers out there is that most are very good at playing the piano, but not necessarily good at teaching piano. ” I was getting to be like that after a few years of kids learning because their parents wanted them to, until my PRIZE STUDENT Ashley Irwin who was outstanding, really got me teaching with enthusiasm again.
[ http://www.ashleyirwin.com/ ]
Now in LA doing film music .
All the best from a retired Aussie teacher and player.
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