Teaching Piano

Teaching piano begins with learning, playing, knowing, and loving the piano and the music it can produce. Equally, teaching piano begins with learning about, playing with, knowing, and loving people.

                  - True-Piano-Lessons.com

Sometimes, parents find a piano teacher for their child, and start the first lesson with saying, "I don't want my child to be a concert pianist. I just want my child to know how to play." Where do you think a concert pianist starts? The exact same place as your child. That's something the teachers need to understand.

No matter what a piano student expects out of their lessons and practice, the teachers need to start with the fundamentals. Every student needs to be taught the same basic knowledge and skills. Over time, the student will express interest or the lack of, and that's when the teacher can change teaching methods. Pace is also something that differs between students. The teacher cannot rush in to anything. I've definitely learned that throughout this project. It's hard for me to understand why someone is having such a hard time learning something I find very simple. That's when I need to take a step back and remember I struggled with learning things at the piano too. I remember so vividly one song in my Level 3 method book. It was a polka, and I just could not play it! I was practicing that song for 3 weeks before my teacher just said, "Close enough", and we moved on. I have to admit, I've done that a few times myself. Method books include songs that are meant to teach students a certain skill. For example, right now, I have a few students learning the concept of a 5th interval. It's when you play notes that are five notes apart, either one at a time or as a cord. When they play the song right after the introduction of a 5th, I don't care about rhythm or tempo; I care about them playing a 5th. If they do it, great. We move on. If not, they do it again until they can play a 5th. One concept at a time. That's how piano teachers need to teach.