| I have sorry statistics for you that your local piano | | | | Kids love to hear a tune, a funny song, something they |
| teacher doesn't really want you to know: 90% of kids | | | | know from TV or outside the lesson. The older they |
| who start piano today will quit within three months. | | | | are, the more important this becomes. |
| Why, you ask? Read on. | | | | Avoid the following kinds of piano teachers if you have |
| Most piano teachers are honest people, but the piano | | | | a young child: |
| is simply difficult to master, as any musical instrument | | | | Disciplinarians: there is always time for discipline if you |
| is. And statistically, perhaps some large percentage of | | | | can get them to love it first. |
| those 90% who quit were perhaps never destined to | | | | Gruffness: you need someone who knows how to |
| play very well in the first place. | | | | handle a child, and gruffness NEVER works. |
| Still, there has to be a reason why piano lessons turn | | | | Gruffness is the last resort of the impatient. |
| out to be less fun than perhaps the child was | | | | Impatient: the first mark of a real piano teacher is the |
| expecting. | | | | patience of a block of stone. Learning the piano |
| In fact, the reason the kids quit is the piano teachers | | | | requires repetition, which a clever teacher will disguise |
| themselves. | | | | or make illuminating. |
| The sad truth is that most piano teachers don't try to | | | | It is not easy to be a good piano teacher. Many |
| get their students fired up about piano: they simply go | | | | factors will work against you: |
| from page to page in a standard text and see if the | | | | Repetition is not inherently fun unless it is something |
| child can stand it. | | | | that interests you. |
| And believe me, it is boring to have to play these | | | | Mood: kids are people, too. They have good days and |
| exercise pieces again and again. | | | | bad days. Have the sense to find out which it is. |
| Of course, going from page to page in a text is very | | | | Modify your teaching pace accordingly. |
| easy for the TEACHER: there is little creativity | | | | Time of lesson: is it right after school? Does the child |
| required on the teacher's part. And as all parents | | | | need rest or food? |
| know, you'll have to be creative if you want to hold the | | | | Overloaded schedules: all kids have too many activities |
| attention of your six-year old. But most piano teachers | | | | and to them, you are just one more. Don't make it |
| don't really even try, because they apply the same | | | | difficult and dull. |
| methods to the average child's humble musical gifts as | | | | Do THEY want lessons, or are they doing it to please |
| they would apply to someone clearly destined for | | | | Mom and Dad? |
| Carnegie Hall. | | | | In closing, you can only lose the battle of the piano |
| These piano teachers acknowledge no difference | | | | once. Once the child sense that this is a negative |
| between a budding professional and a potential | | | | experience, the battle is lost, and it is the teacher's fault, |
| hobbyist, and hold your child, struggling to maintain an | | | | not the child's. |
| interest in this rather difficult art, to the same standards | | | | It is up to the teacher to give the child a sense of |
| as those used to train professional musicians. | | | | victory during each lesson, no matter how small or |
| A creative, intelligent teacher takes a good look at | | | | undeserved that victory is. |
| each individual student, and takes the time to find what | | | | Often what is required is to lower the bar so far that |
| factors will affect the piano study progress: | | | | the child succeeds at something, no matter how small. |
| Is the child happy? | | | | Which would you prefer as a teacher, a tiny victory at |
| Do they have motor skills, such as finger coordination? | | | | some aspect of piano, or a profound sense of defeat |
| Hand movement? | | | | over a task that only YOU deem necessary to |
| Can they distinguish left from right? | | | | master? |
| What is the child's personality? Quiet? Exuberant? | | | | The point is that the piano and music is such a vast |
| Belligerent? | | | | endeavor that there is always SOME small area that |
| Do they know how to complete a simple task? | | | | can be worked on if the child isn't following your |
| Can they memorize? | | | | curriculum well. Here are some examples what you |
| The list of things to look out for at the beginning goes | | | | can do during a "bad" lesson. |
| on and on. Each one of these factors affects how an | | | | Start playing. Move the child over, get them a chair, but |
| intelligent piano teacher will approach that student, as | | | | start playing that piano and show them why they |
| an individual. | | | | came in the first place. |
| The first barrier to cross is expectation: what is the | | | | Play ear training games. Listening games. Counting |
| child expecting? Did they hear stories from Mom and | | | | games. |
| Dad about old Mrs. Perkins, who rapped their fingers | | | | Talk about the famous composers, play a piece by |
| when they made a mistake? Or did they hear how | | | | them, talk about the composer's life. There isn't a child |
| wonderful piano lessons would be? | | | | alive that doesn't want to hear of the adventure of the |
| In any case, this piano lesson is THEIR piano lesson, | | | | rivalry between Mozart and Salieri, and if they're old |
| not yours, and you had better find out how to | | | | enough, tell them the theory that Salieri murdered |
| communicate with this child as an individual in the first | | | | Mozart. Make it up if you have to, but hold their interest. |
| five minutes or it's over. | | | | Stop concentrating on reading music. Play by ear. |
| One approach that works wonders is humor. And | | | | Memorize. Play by number. |
| playing. Make a joke and play a song for them. If you | | | | Children that have been taught with this benevolent, |
| do that first, you answer two childish questions that the | | | | fun approach, will reward you with a love of the |
| child will inevitably be asking themselves: | | | | instrument that may lead to unearthing some of the |
| Is this teacher a mean person? | | | | talent that lies with them. It's your job as a teacher to |
| Will playing the piano be fun? | | | | find and nurture that talent, and it may not be the kind |
| The answer to those last two questions had better be, | | | | of talent you're expecting. |
| "yes." Otherwise, you have already created a barrier | | | | For example, kids may have an interest in pop or rock |
| between yourself and the child. | | | | music, and if you can play a tune on the piano that |
| And I have to tell parents, unhappily, that most piano | | | | interest them, the battle is halfway won. It doesn't |
| teachers are NOT avid players, comedians or game | | | | matter what STYLE the music is, it matters that the |
| show hosts. | | | | music itself interests them. |
| Many are either very young and inexperienced, or old | | | | Some kids don't know Mozart from a hole in the |
| and tired of the business. It's rare to have a good | | | | ground, and you may have to play music from TV and |
| player as a teacher, but the rewards are endless: the | | | | the movies to reach them. |
| hardest obstacle to hurdle at first is to instill the idea | | | | I've never met a kid who wasn't interested in playing a |
| that piano can be lots of fun, and a good pianist vaults | | | | tune on the piano if you make it easy enough to be |
| that barrier instantly. | | | | pleasurable. |