MY APPROACH TO TEACHING
I am now nine years into my retirement! In spite of that, I spend about 22 hours per week teaching piano students. I do this because (1) I enjoy it, (2) there is a need that is not being met, and (3) I want to give something to others. However, I am not a teacher for everyone. I am not a generalist who will take any student who will pay me. My approach to teaching has been evolving. I don’t have to teach, but I have a passion for the piano and helping others learn it. Parents often want piano lessons for their children in order to learn to read music, or to become musically literate, or to be educationally well-rounded, et cetera. There is nothing wrong with those things, but there are many music teachers who can do that. I am interested in students who want more than that. I want students who are motivated to become exceptional on the piano. I don’t mean necessarily to be involved professionally in music, but to surpass mediocrity. I want to create pianists who motivated to achieve excellence. I have the skill-set to help students achieve that and I want to use those skills.
As I result of this mindset, I have expectations for my students that exceed what most teachers would require. Playing the piano is clearly not for everyone - every person should find their own niche. None of my expectations require a lot of talent; none are designed to pressure a child to be something they are not; none require an unreasonable time commitment. On the other hand, they do require desire and motivation, without which, nothing exceptional will be achieved. Please note that this is not relevant to very young students. You will see this in my requirements.
Okay, so lets be specific. I work at creating incentives for the things I ask of my students. For instance, there are several trophies that can be won quarterly by students for the most improvement, for the most practice points, and for learning the most scales. Every three months, I host a “Piano Party” in an informal setting in which students play for their parents and each other. Within several months of lessons, I want all students taking part in this. By the second year of study, I expect students to take part in all activities, including keeping a log of practice time. The annual festivals and auditions provide motivation and performance opportunities (and even cash prizes) for participation. While these are available for any student of school age, I expect participation in the local festival by the second year of study if the student is over the age of 8 years old. After one more year, I require participation in the festival in Columbia, which is slightly more ambitious. None of these things are beyond the reach of the average student. For more expectations, see THIS.
I will be blunt about one more thing which can potentially be somewhat controversial. It is my opinion that many children in today’s society are too busy. Parents rightly want their children to excel academically, but to also excel in one or more sports, plus one or more musical instruments, plus be involved in other school and social activities. Any child, regardless of intelligence and talent can be loaded to the point of excessive busyness and stress, potentially leading to and emotional imbalance
I love children, and especially my students. My aim is to always be gentle and patient, and I work at being encouraging and affirming. I will never stress a child by pushing them to do something they are not capable of, but I want them to experience the encouragement of accomplishing something that takes effort and discipline and risk. I ask your help in making that happen.