'I love teaching' moments... :)D

[m1469]

I just thought it would be great to share with each other some things that we love about teaching, especially specific things that have made you fall into love with it, and be so proud to be your students' teacher.

I will start with a couple of things.

I have never had any of my students enter competitions, so I don't know what it would feel like to be a part of that as a teacher (if you want to share, please do), but there are other littler things that I have experienced.

Sometimes, I don't know what it is exactly, but I will see a certain dexterity and coordination in their hand and, even if it's only there for a moment, it literally makes me want to cry.  I can see that they get it and feel it in their hand, even if they don't know it.  Especially if it is a student who I have wondering if I am doing the wrong thing with them, and "are they going to get this ?" type thinking, for a while.  Suddenly, something will fall into place and progress is made.

Also, sometimes I hear this certain color in their tone, like it is just this innocent sound... they are not trying to make it sound "like" anything in particular, they are just playing.  It sounds so pure to me.

I have had a couple of students make some very interesting strides performance-wise, this year.  In my fall recital, my last performer expressed a musical maturity that completely captivated the audience.  It was quite an amazing experience.  Also, another student of mine made a real connection with a particular piece of music, and suddenly she became a "pianist" with that piece.  She showed in performance and through that piece an ability that surprised me and her family.

There are more things, especially little moments and little things... but I will just say those.  Will you share some things ?  I think it could be really inspiring, especially for those days when teaching might not seem as cool as the other days



m1469

[luvslive]

I have a 7 year old student who is very bubbly and cute, but she tends to be unmotivated.  She sometimes blames her mom for her piano problems...and often won't let Mom help her at home.  Well, on Monday she showed up at her lesson with two "friends"...stuffed animals!   Her Mother and she had practiced with this tiger and cheetah, the girl giving them "lessons"...it was just touching to see how much more she tried with the animals watching her.  Then each animal would take a turn playing.  I know this isn't going to solve the motivation problem forever, but what a change in attitude.  And it really helped her to have more repitition of pieces in practice.

[pianoannie]

I have one student who has cerebral palsy affecting his left side.  I actually didn't know he had CP until his first lesson (it wasn't obvious at the interview, and astonishingly, the mom didn't mention it).  When he started with me he could do very little with his left hand, no finger independence whatsoever.  I wondered how I was ever going to teach him piano, because I have no experience or education in teaching special needs children.  But he was so sweet and so determined, there was no way I was going to drop him as a student, which would have, in essence, be telling him he was too handicapped to play piano.

So I learned all I could about CP, talked with a couple of occupational therapists, and used various hand exercises and special approaches in teaching him.  There have been many little successes throughout the past year with him.   But it was a HUGE moment for both him and me the first time he was able to play legato skips with this left hand!!  I nearly cried!  Now, to watch him, his hand moves look quite awkward, and it's hard to believe you're hearing legato with the choppy motions he has to use.  But he is able to actually use all of his LH fingers now (though it takes great effort and concentration to move them), and we are working on legato steps with all 5 fingers.

[lagin]

I had a very shy girl, about nine years old, ask me to play her piece for her last week.  She already knew how to play it, and we were working on interpretive details.  It's called "Spooks," and we were making it "scary."  I think she finally understood how much fun, and how important it is to make music "come alive," because though she could already play it, and had played it for me, she turned to me and asked me to play it for her.  Then I acted really "excentric" and was very "scary," and this she little shy girl started to giggle, and that's a break through for her and me!  Her dad also told me later when we were alone, that she just beams after her lessons, and loves coming down for them.  Wow!  It's so neat to see a love for piano, and piano lessons! in a child her age.

[Bob]

Whenever they make progress it's nice. 

And yes, when the shy ones finally open up a bit, that's nice to see too.

[alwaystheangel]

I know this sounds horrible but I'm new to teacheing and I'm always so thrilled to hear the parent of my students say that they love piano lessons!  That comforts me in knowing that maybe i'm not screwing them up musically for the rest of their lives!

[pianoannie]

Oh, I had another sweet moment just this week.  I was simply demonstrating a simple pentascale warmup for a young student, and explaining how it could be played in all 12 keys.  I quickly played the exercise in a few keys just to show him what I meant, and he said, "Wow, you are such a good pianist!  And you are such a good teacher.  I'm really glad I get to be your student."
I don't think I've ever felt so admired for being able to play pentascales! 

[henrah]

Wow, it sounds so rewarding to be a teacher! I've always thought of teaching when I'm older as I'm stuck right now in what to do later in life career-wise, but teaching sounds like fun! I know it will have it's bad days though, but I think I could handle them

It's lovely to hear your experiences, thanks,
Henrah

[cjp_piano]

I have a 7-year old beginner, been taking lessons just for several months now.  He broke his right arm and was SO upset that he couldn't use it to play piano.  So of course, we're doing things with just the left hand. 

One piece in his book had mostly LH melody, so i showed him that he could still learn it and be able to play it.  The next lesson, he had figured out how to play the whole piece, even the right hand parts with the left hand!  The piece didn't have too much hands together play, mostly echoes and accompaniments with the RH, so he had drawn arrows, and crossed out notes and all kinds of things to be able to play it! 

I was impressed and thrilled, to say the least.  I was also ashamed at myself for limiting him to play only the left hand part!

He also composed a piece that used a cluster of notes for the right hand, since he had a cast all the way to his fingers!

I LOVE teaching piano 

[Appenato]

such moments as these are priceless. they make a long day of teaching worth it.

in one day a few weeks ago, i had 2 different students say something about their music that made me beam inwardly, if not completely outwardly. i had brought my own first book that i began in to my 5 year old student for supplementary pieces. she made the comment that some day, when she was maybe my age, she thought she might like to teach, and maybe she would bring one of her students her first book, too. i thought it was neat of her to say that about maybe wanting to teach. 

later that same day, i was teaching a 13 y.o. girl and could plainly hear she didn't like the sonatina she was playing. i asked her what she really thought of it and she said she didn't like it that much. "i just can't seem to connect with it, so it makes it kind of hard to play and get into it." 13 years old, having only played for a few months, and saying something so profound as that already (when, prior to, i'd been getting the impression she didn't like lessons that much..)!

or there's the countless times when my youngsters have begun lessons and never wanted to learn a song because it was "too hard"... or music later in the book looked too hard. then when they've learned it, they find they actually like it a lot and that it wasn't hard at all. their delight in that makes me beam and know the good outweighs the bad moments in teaching.

there are numerous more instances of "i love teaching" moments, but these were the two that really impacted me the most lately.

[Bob]

When a student says they can't do something.  I say ok and tell them we'll work on something else.  I break the problem spot down and work on each part, usually just two or three ways, and then put it back together.  If things go well, the student plays the section.  I find it really amusing.  I ask what they were just asking again before we practiced it.   Usually it goes over pretty well, althought sometimes the student can doubt themselves since they didn't know what they could do.

[pianorama]

I had a very shy girl, about nine years old, ask me to play her piece for her last week.  She already knew how to play it, and we were working on interpretive details.  It's called "Spooks," and we were making it "scary."  I think she finally understood how much fun, and how important it is to make music "come alive," because though she could already play it, and had played it for me, she turned to me and asked me to play it for her.  Then I acted really "excentric" and was very "scary," and this she little shy girl started to giggle, and that's a break through for her and me!  Her dad also told me later when we were alone, that she just beams after her lessons, and loves coming down for them.  Wow!  It's so neat to see a love for piano, and piano lessons! in a child her age.

Spooks.... Is that in gr. 1 RCM? In the beginning does it have a few grace notes? Hmm... If this is the song I'm thinking of I played when I was 8 or 9. I really liked that song. (Sorry, off topic...)

[pianorama]

Spooks.... Is that in gr. 1 RCM? In the beginning does it have a few grace notes? Hmm... If this is the song I'm thinking of I played when I was 8 or 9. I really liked that song. (Sorry, off topic...)

Wait... those tiny notes with slashes through them are called grace notes, right?


I'm not a teacher, but I remember a time when I made my teacher smile, and if she were a member she would probably be writing this now:
I had only been playing piano for about 6 months (I was 7) and I was working on the Alfred books, which is easier than gr.1. She could sight read through all my songs, and I admired her for it.
Then one day the student who came before me unexpectantly called in sick, so when I got to my lesson, she was practicing a song. I don't remember what song it was but I think it was a Chopin nocturne. Probably gr. 8 or 9 RCM. I was flabbergasted and when I looked at the music I said,
 "Wow, that's a lot of notes. I liked that."

I am, of course assuming this, but I'm sure that made her happy.

[Bob]

Pianorama?  Cut off?

I remember Spooks too.

I remember walking into one of my lessons in when I was younger and showing my teacher the piano concerto I wanted to play.  I imagine I was this little kid walking in telling them I wanted to play the thing.  Funny.  I would still have to work on that thing.  The teacher let it go.  I think I actually could have done part of the slow movement though now that I look back on it.

[pianorama]

Pianorama?  Cut off?

*Considers whether this is an insult for being over enthusiastic or a question about that extra line of writing that makes no sense.*

Either way, I deleted it. I don't know how it got there

[lagin]

Yep, that's the very same Spooks.  Gr. 1 RCM indeed.

[xamy]

As a student, it is a pleasure reading through this post. I am about grade 8 standard. I never realised teachers could feel so happy about "little things". Don't teachers get bored of having to teach what are for them easy pieces over such a long period of time? When does a  teacher get angry? My current teacher is incredibly talented, I heard her perform her in public once. I feel very priveleged to be one of her students and sometimes wonder wether she is wasting her time teaching people like me, when she could be doing far more exciting things like making CDs and performing more regularly. My former teacher once joked:

"It is very hard to make a living as a professional pianist. Apart from being very talented, you need to be lucky and get involved with the right people. The unlucky ones become teachers like me!"

He said this with a smile on his face, but I think he might actually feel like this deep down. What are other teachers thoughts?

[Bob]

Who would want to make a living enjoying themselves?  Assuming practicing and performing is enjoyable. 

He could have just been talking.  If you teach a long day, stupid things start to come out of your mouth after awhile.

Maybe he wanted to play professionally and it didn't work out and he's a little bitter about it.  Who wouldn't be after all that work and effort?