Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales
When I started teaching back in the 1990s, the best known teacher in my neighbourhood was a venerable older gentleman who tuned pianos in the mornings, then gave lessons once the schools turned out in the afternoons. Sidney was a much loved, highly successful, and clearly very able teacher.
I was a tuning client of Sidney’s, and hearing that I was entering the fray as a teacher, he couldn’t have been more encouraging, referring pupils he was unable to fit into his busy schedule, and generously sharing advice from a lifetime’s professional experience.
This included his thorough list of rules for student conduct, outlining his expectations of practice, attitude in lessons, and even specifying a required dress code. And in this regard, Sidney’s demands were crystal clear: boys had to make sure their shirts were be tucked in properly, while dresses or skirts were compulsory for girls.
Sidney explained that piano lessons must be regarded as a special occasion, and that students benefitted from making an effort to dress up accordingly.
Setting Our Own Rules
Sidney’s dress code did not exist for his own convenience or amusement, but because he wanted his pupils to exhibit a positive attitude when attending lessons. I wonder to what extent our piano studio rules, policies and attitudes encourage that outlook today?
One of the great things about running our own teaching studios is that we are the ones who get to set the rules. But we need to do so with care, taking time to properly reflect on what is practical and truly useful in pursuit of our educational goals.
If our clients could change one rule, which would it be, and why?
It is certainly wise to seek out business advice from colleagues, professional organisations, online communities, and to listen to feedback from students and parents. But ultimately, the decision rests with us.
However attractive the recommendations, however powerful the arguments of others, we must pause to reflect and personalise, rather than unthinkingly copying what works for somebody else. We could wrongly conclude from Sidney’s rules, for example, that a dress code is the secret to having a successful piano teaching practice. It obviously isn’t.
A Special Occasion
I am struck by the many differences between the world in which Sidney operated, and that in which my own practice thrives today. Most seem to squeeze lessons into schedules that are excessively busy and fast-paced. More than half my students are adult learners. And in all cases, their fashion sense is entirely and rightly their affair.
But there are surely contemporary ways that we can help today’s students nurture positive expectations and look forward to their piano lessons as special occasions. We can, for example,
- give the friendliest of welcomes, maintaining the piano studio as a ‘safe space’ where learners feel secure, confident, and at ease.
- try to ensure that lessons are an enjoyable, positive, and musically engaging experience that learners can look forward to.
- set shared, realistic ambitions for each lesson, making sure learners truly own their piano goals and enjoy their successes.
- invite learners to jot down practice questions and musical thoughts between lessons, allowing lesson time for considering, discussing and where possible answering them.
- try to keep lesson content fresh and creative, without (of course) being contrived or disconcertingly unpredictable.
- finish lessons on a high and hopeful note, regardless of the week’s challenges or any disappointments from the lesson.
Aside from dress code, I have no doubt that Sidney did many of these other excellent things. Like him, let’s try to make each piano lesson a special occasion for our students.
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