Category: The Guest Book

The Pianodao Guest Book
Interviews • Opinions • Guest Posts

In this new guest post for Pianodao, best-selling author KAREN MARSHALL points to the importance of helping students feel welcome, seen, and ready to learn…

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Years ago, my late teacher Eric Leveridge told me,

“Karen, remember that a piano teacher can actually be providing a service to the community. Supporting parents and young people as they make their way in life.” 

I have never forgotten those words. Instrumental educators enjoy the rare privilege of spending years of consistent, one-to-one time with a child. Sometimes for up to twelve years, or more. We are not just teaching an instrument; we form part of that child’s long-term developmental support team. 

Attachment theory offers a helpful lens through which we can understand this connection. Borrowing John Bowlby’s concept of a “secure base”, we can see how music teachers can create a predictable, encouraging environment where children feel safe enough to take creative risks.

This is not to suggest we replace parents or act as therapists, but rather to recognise the meaningful difference a trusted, consistent adult can make. 

Many of us notice students arriving at lessons with limited attention, heightened anxiety, or low resilience. Modern stressors, disrupted routines, and educational pressures profoundly impact confidence. The piano stool can become a reassuring space, a place to rebuild resilience and rediscover potential. 

Continue reading The Piano Stool: a safe harbour

The Pianodao Guest Book
Interviews • Opinions • Guest Posts

In this insightful guest article, best-selling author and teacher KAREN MARSHALL points to the continuing challenges faced by those whose childhood and education were disrupted by the pandemic, and offers powerful hope that through piano lessons, we can help rebuild that generation…

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The Long Shadow, Lost Learning, and the New Reality

Back in 2023, when the dust was finally beginning to settle on those surreal lockdown years, I wrote a series of blog posts about “Post-Pandemic Piano Teaching” for the previous Musicroom site.

At the time, many of us hoped, and I was definitely one of them, that by 2026, the phrase “things will never be the same again” would have been a distant memory. Perhaps we imagined we would be back to business as usual, with the fallout of those disrupted years safely behind us?

Yet, standing here today in 2026, the reality on the ground, both as a classroom music teacher and a private piano teacher, tells a very different story. The landscape didn’t just temporarily shift; it permanently fractured.

When I first examined “lost learning” a few years ago, I focused on immediate, obvious gaps: the physical absence of live performance, the technical difficulties caused by internet lag during online lessons, and a sudden drop-off in fundamental musicianship due to the rise of performance-only digital exams.

Personally, I treated it like an emergency to be managed with quick-fix, pattern-dense repertoire, and short-term interventions. What I perhaps didn’t fully anticipate was just how long the shadow of the pandemic would be, or how unevenly its impact would be felt across society.

Continue reading Post-Pandemic Piano Teaching