To be angry at students

[lallasvensson]

Hi!
I am a new piano teacher and I have some adorable students. They are good kids and make progress in general but occasionnally they dont do what i have been asking (learning by memory, learning a new piece). I dont dare to be angry at them because the whole thing is still new to me but I should say something right ?
Otherwise i teach very traditionally (scales, Czerny, Nikolaieva...) as I learnt myself and parents think i am quite strict (i put a big emphasis on technical skills as I think it is easier to develop them in an early stage) and I ask my students to repeat over and over the same place until they can play it, which they usually manage at the end.

[TwinkleFingers]

just my opinion, not in anyway a teacher. Try to make it enjoyable for them.  I wouldnt like someone getting angry with me at an early age.  Might turn into david helfgott or something at a white-jacket resort.

[lallasvensson]

I really refuse this laid back attitude. Because of this laxism, kids do whatever they want at school and everywhere and the level gets very slow. The only joy they have with me is to be able to play good pieces. When they manage that, they are truly happy.
Their parents like me because I am strict in my way of teaching. If they only want fun, then i am certainly not the right teacher for them, they dont need to pay someone for that.

[Hmoll]

There is a difference between being strict, and getting angry with students. Students - at least if they are children -  can get a lot from a teacher who is strict, and instills discipline. However, I find it is not productive to show anger towards students, and it is also not appropriate.
If a student is not practicing, or working on what you assign, there are plenty of ways to give feedback without becoming angry. When you become angry, all it shows is that you are not in control.
Teachers should have a documented studio policy that covers everything from make-up lessons to consequences the student faces if he or she is not prepared. For example, showing up unprepared two weeks in a row, might result in a discussion with the kid's parents (i.e. leave the getting angry up to the parents), and several more incidents where the student is unprepared could result in the student being expelled from the studio.
Why get angry? All you have to do is communicate that lack of preparation results in negative consequences -  a good lesson in life for most kids.

[eddie92099]

Firstly, you scare me  :-/.
Have you considered using your lessons as a joyful introduction to the wonderful world of music rather than a route to becoming Horowitz in the shortest time period possible? I just think that would be more beneficial in the long run...
Ed

[ilovebach]

You must never get angry with your students. It just shows that you have failed not them.

If you are new to teaching you may be trying to use the same strategy with each child - as you get more experience you will find out that you have to explain/approach pieces in completely different ways for different children.
If they are not able to do what you ask them then it is most likely because you need to approach the particular problem in a different way. It could also mean they are not capable of what you are asking at the current time. Or it could mean that they have not practiced enough.
There are lots of demands on people's time and piano might not always be top of the list. This is difficult for us to understand because for us, piano IS top of the list! You have to decide if you only want pupils with your dedicaton in which case you could refuse to teach those who do not practise enough!
It is possible to be strict and let them have fun as well - which I am sure you are already achieving.

[Clare]

I think it really depends on the student. I WISH my old piano teacher had been terse with me every now and then because her being so nice all the time made me lazy. My new teacher scared the crap out of me at the start and that was a breath of fresh air!
I think somehow you need to figure out who wants to go far and who doesn't. I remember wanting to be a proper pianist when I was 7, and that was four years before I started learning, so I really think kids know at that age how far they want to take their piano studies.

[namui]

Showing anger implies authority (can they be angry back at you ?). Do you want them to feel that they must do such a music activity because that will satisfy you ? Or do you want them to learn that they should do it for their own good ?

Forcing the student to comply is not that difficult. But teaching students to really learn is in fact a very difficult mission.

I'm not a piano teacher. But I work teaching...so I have my 2 cents here.

[surendipity]

When I sit down with my students I ask them about their week to see what they've been up to or busy with.
Then I open their writers and go through the check list of what was to be practiced.  If they say they have not practiced the writen material and I recgonize that they have had other important events durring our greating I ask them to simply play whatever they played when they sat down at the piano.  Usually they did sit down to play something.  A scale an old piece, something they tried to play from ear from a movie.  (Harry Potter or Nemo)  is popular currently.
So I ask them to play it for me.  They immediately get involved in the instrument and in themselves.
Then I grandly tell them how lovely it was (no matter what went wrong)  then I tell them how wonderful they are for actually learning or re-learning something that they were not even asked to learn,  they took their learning into their own hands.  They empowered themselves and did it alone and this is where you must congradulate them for their endevours.

Then ask them to take a look at their classical pieces and give them some history on the era, composer, and why the music sounded the way it did way back when.

I have taken children away from the piano and danced minuets, waltzes and polonaise to teach meter.

Sing the line.  Have a scale race.  Play with your eyes closed (they love this)

When I talk about the composers I get tons of questions.  That's where you want them.  The more they ask, the more they will learn and succeed.

Learn to Heal with music not Hurt.

And as much as you teach a student to listen to music, you too must teach yourself to listen to the student.


Don't let your frustrations get the better of you.
Smile and enjoy even one bar a music played with vigour no matter how baddly it may have sounded.
Then you can talk.  Listen first, talk later.
Let the student guide you firstly, they'll teach you alot.

Right now they are shouting out their limitations.
Slow down, play a duet or a game of "Find that note"
and enjoy the experience of the moment not of the future.  

The one thing I tell my students who are discouraged is, The one great thing about learning anything is that you can never get worse......  It's impossible...
You can only improve.  Then I tell them about famous persons who have had a very hard time.  

Arm yourself with patience and a vast knowledge from many sources and you will not only have great players you will have a great life.

Surendipity

Now go out there and smile  (alot)