| Let's assume that you have the requisite musical | | | | are two qualities that I utterly banish from my manner |
| education, regardless of your age, to teach a child the | | | | while with a child. It's THEIR piano lesson and I need to |
| basics of the piano. | | | | go at their pace, aware of their mood, always on the |
| With that requirement in hand, no small accomplishment | | | | lookout for that momentary opportunity to press their |
| itself, you are ready perhaps to embark on a career | | | | musical knowledge forward. You will get a lot more |
| of piano teaching. | | | | done by using the little spaces in between the fun. Let |
| "But wait," you say! "Won't I need a few other things to | | | | them be happy, sing, make up songs, then when the |
| become a piano teacher?" | | | | moment is right, they'll be ready for your next point. |
| That is true, you'll need a car and a studio, a piano or | | | | 4. You had better love repetition and have an almost |
| perhaps two. | | | | biblical ability to disguise a simple task in a thousand |
| But we're not here to consider the physical nuts and | | | | and one different ways. No child accepts blind |
| bolts of piano teaching. We're here to consider the | | | | repetition gladly. If you disguise it as a game, they will |
| psychological requirements for sitting with one child, a | | | | adopt it wholeheartedly. Let me give you an example. |
| half hour at a time, again and again, day after day, | | | | Recently I instituted a game using a pair of dice, or a |
| showing them how to play the piano. | | | | single one. Kids call it PIANO DICE. I teach the child six |
| If you've guessed some of the qualities already, let me | | | | songs, like Jingle Bells and Star Wars, etc, and then |
| enumerate the most important: | | | | number the songs from 1-6, writing this list down on a |
| 1. Don't even think about being a piano teacher if you | | | | post-it which I put on the piano. The child rolls the dice |
| don't really love kids. I mean "love kids" on those days | | | | and then has to try to play the piece with the number |
| when they're tired and hot and sticky and in a bad | | | | on the dice. Not play it perfectly, but as well as they |
| mood and don't want any more education right now, | | | | can. It's an excellent opportunity to point out a fingering |
| thank you. That's when you'll really be tested. So | | | | idea, a wrong note, a pattern in the keys that might |
| unless you have an affection for kids and an | | | | help them. And the kids respond, because we go on to |
| understanding of how hard it is to grow up, don't | | | | the next roll of the dice right away, not dwelling on the |
| bother to become a piano teacher. The children will | | | | piece but trying to get the entire list more clear in their |
| know who you are the moment you walk through the | | | | minds. That is an example of disguising repetition as a |
| door, and they better like you a lot. | | | | game. |
| 2. You will require the patience of a block of stone. If | | | | In closing, let me give you the image in my mind that |
| you've ever herded cats, you'll have an idea of how | | | | allows me to start each piano lesson with a child and |
| difficult it can be to grab and hold a child's attention, | | | | make them happy about it: I imagine the child before I |
| even with a great big noisy piano at your disposal. I've | | | | arrive, having their own happy day. And then magically |
| witnessed kids who took years, literally, to figure out | | | | I appear. I say to myself that whatever has happened |
| the basics of the piano such as fingering and reading | | | | to ME that day is irrelevant, and all that matters is how |
| music, but if you wait long enough and keep trying, you | | | | that child feels about THEIR lesson on THIS day. |
| can do this with any child. The key is to let them set | | | | And I resolve that no matter what, that child is going to |
| the pace, at least on the surface. By this I mean that if | | | | feel GOOD about playing the piano on that day. It |
| they need to fool around for a few moments, it may | | | | doesn't matter if they have practiced or not, if they are |
| be more productive to go along with it, even | | | | in a good mood, or if they make great progress. It |
| encourage it, so that they are able to blow off a little | | | | matters only that they sat at the piano, gave it their |
| steam. Then they are ready to work because they | | | | best try, enjoyed it, and were praised for their honest |
| know you will let up when the pressure is too much. It's | | | | efforts. |
| simple child psychology. | | | | It's my job to make their musical education a happy |
| 3. A sense of humor will get you 10,000 times more | | | | one by accurately determining their mood and acting |
| results than a gruff attitude. Gruffness and disapproval | | | | appropriately. It works every single time. |