Professional Practice

Piano teaching: an uncertain future?

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

In the ever-evolving landscape of piano education, our work as private teachers has transformed significantly in recent years, and I know many who are quietly struggling with a nagging sense of uncertainty about their continuing career prospects.

But by embracing a mindset that views challenge as an opportunity for growth, we can navigate uncertainty and face the future with positivity…

Why live performance matters

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

The acclaimed musician, philosopher and writer Stephen Nachmanovitch writes, in his seminal book Free Play (1990):

“There is something energising and challenging about being one-to-one with the audience and creating a piece of work that has both the freshness of the fleeting moment and, when everything is working, the structural tautness and symmetry of a living organism. It can be a remarkable and often moving experience in direct communication.”

Nachmanovitch‘s comments ring true whether, like him, we improvise in front of an audience, or perform the great masterpieces of the classical repertoire, recreating and interpreting them for a live audience, alert to the singularity of the moment and its potential for connection.

It’s a simple, honest, profound truth that musicians and music-lovers the world over all understand. Live performances can be a remarkable and often moving experience in direct communication.

The flexible piano teacher

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

Because they are flexible, younger saplings can weather most storms, but older trees are not always so fortunate. Lao Tzu observed this comparison:

“When we are born, we are supple and tender like a young plant. When we die we become rigid and unyielding.
The ten thousand beings, including plants and grasses, when young are soft and pliable. At their death they are dry and brittle. Therefore we say that the stiff and unyielding are the companions of death.
The soft and yielding are the followers of life. A mighty tree may be strong, yet its branches may be broken off.
The hard and unyielding will fall, while the soft and yielding will overcome.”

Tao te Ching, 76, abbreviated from the translation by Solala Towler

For piano players, there are multiple applications for this wisdom, from physical technique to practice strategy.

But in this post, I want to focus on how Lao Tzu’s advice is relevant for those of us who teach. Let’s consider the important lessons here for staying flexible in our educational approach, studio practices, and professional outlook…

Should Piano Teaching Be Regulated?

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Please note: this article has been written in the context of UK education.
The regulation and politics of music teaching in other countries varies, but the basic principle of our right, ability and freedom to learn applies globally.

The thorny question of whether piano teachers should be legally required to have particular qualifications before ‘being allowed’ to teach regularly crops up online.

It is surely obvious that gaining qualifications should be a basic goal for all professionals. However, it seems equally evident that here in the UK, music teachers enter the profession via many different but complementary routes. A background in performing, the knowledge and skills developed in other professions and through our lived experience all contribute to who we are as teachers, and that’s a virtue which many rightly celebrate.

I believe it is a mistake to conflate good teaching with qualifications in a simplistic way. Most of us remember qualified teachers from our school days who weren’t very good. Similarly, many of us will have met truly inspiring music educators who have little or no formal training.

While the current piano education system in the UK is certainly problematic, and the frustrations and concerns of many good teachers are understandable, intervention by the government could prove disastrous.

Minimum qualifications could only be mandated effectively if the whole profession is regulated and private tuition is rigorously monitored. I very much doubt politicians have an appetite for imposing such regulatory oversight on private tuition and musical activity in the community.

Nor could instrumental tuition be singled out: consistency would demand that similar regulations be imposed equally on all extra-curricular activities, hobbies, clubs, societies, community classes, and educational pursuits. The social implications are stark, ultimately touching on our basic educational rights and even our freedom of thought.

But for the benefit of those who remain interested in the idea, let’s take a few moments to consider what a regulated music teaching profession might look like, and how that might impact educational opportunity and community music making…

Compassionate Boundaries

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

“It’s hard for us to understand that we can be compassionate and accepting while we hold people accountable for their behaviours. We can, and, in fact, it’s the best way to do it…
We can confront someone about their behaviour, fire someone, or fail a student, or discipline a child without berating them or putting them down. The key is to separate people from their behaviours – to address what they’re doing, not who they are.”

Brené Brown, Ph.D, LMSW
The Gifts of Imperfection (Hazelden Publishing, 2010)

Online forums see daily requests for advice and support from teachers who are struggling with tricky pupil and parent relationships.

For piano teachers, the problem often seems to stem from a lack of agreed boundaries around issues such as:

prompt fee payment
lesson attendance
punctuality (including prompt collection after a lesson)
respectful behaviour (parents and children)
effective, regular practice.

How do we balance on the one hand enforcing contractual obligations and appropriate behavioural expectations and, on the other hand, offering compassionate support, putting musical learning needs first, and positively enthusing our pupils?

I would suggest that the only effective balance here is to give 100% to both.

Piano Teaching: An Isolated Existence?

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

It’s become something of a cliché to say that the life of a piano teacher is a terribly isolated one, implying we have little or no meaningful contact with colleagues, operating entirely off our own steam, without support.

In this article I am going to consider from a personal perspective why I don’t personally feel isolated as a piano teacher, and offer some useful tips for those who do, along with practical suggestions for networking and accessing support from colleagues.

Finding Your Mentor

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Here’s a very positive trend within the world of piano education: many teachers are enthusiastic about refreshing their skills by attending training courses and seeking out a mentor who can support their ongoing professional development.

Unfortunately though, while there are plenty of courses to choose from, finding a suitable mentor isn’t always so easy. In this post I will consider the qualities to look for, but first of all we need to ask: what is a mentor?

The Oxford English Dictionary tells us:

“A mentor is an experienced and trusted adviser.”

With this definition in mind, I will begin by sharing my own journey…