all piano teachers plz visit

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

can u plz tell me how long u practiced a day to become a piano teacher and how hard was it. because i really need to be 1. im only started this year and im up to grade 5-6 and im 15. can u teachers plz tell me if it is still possible to become a piano teacher plz. Becuz that is the only fun job out ther.

[allchopin]

If you just started this year, I wouldn't recommend it, considering you lack the experience needed to teach (not just the ability).  I myself am not a teacher (yet) but I'm looking around town.  I've been playing for about 5-6 years, and I've never taught a soul, but I feel confident with my knowledge and skills.  Have you learned about theory as well as technique?  It is essential to teach children (children, I assume!) correct techniwue from the start, while teaching how to sight-read music also.

note: I think a more fun job would be to perform with an orchestra, earning a strong 90,000 a year....

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

yeah i have learned a lot of theory. im pretty solid with the theories and techniques. i can easily sight read. i ment that i learned piano for a year  . i started last year. sorri bout confusion

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

oh yeah, and u mentioned orchetra how many hours would u recommend me to practice on the piano a day? cos i got all the time in the world  

[Greg_Fodrea]

Learning the piano and teaching the piano are two entirely different animals.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging you!  You're absolutely right, teaching music is the best job in the world.  I've been playing the piano for almost 20 years, but just started teaching a year ago.  I'll never go back!

In addition to making sure your skills, technique, and theory are solid, you may want to check out some books on teaching in general at the library.  Start to research teaching techniques as much as you study the piano.  Also, go to your local sheet music stores and ask about resources for piano teachers.

As for practice time, I spend a minimum of an hour a day on my own personal practice, sometimes two or three, and another half-hour to an hour on reviewing my materials for teaching.  I also continue to take lessons myself - Very Important!  Your own knowledge needs to continue to expand, and you'll pick up on teaching techniques as well.

My advice: Study with a good piano teacher in your area (or two or three), and ask about mentoring.  Maybe they'll let you take on some of their overflow, or at least observe some classes to start learning how to teach.

Good luck!

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

hey sir, thx a lot. i try a lot harder and keep ur comments in my head for the rest of my life.

[Greg_Fodrea]

No problem!  Keep us all posted as to your progress.  By the way, to answer allchopin's assertion about playing in an orchestra, that would be a dream come true for most pianists (assuming you don't have performance anxiety).  

But, to answer your follow-up question:  If you're going to work towards that, plan on four to six hours per day of practice, and plan on getting some professional instruction from a concert pianist or highly-qualified professor or performer.  You may also consider getting a professional certification or examination (check out www.abrsm.org for one example).  This will force you to become technically strong while giving you credibility, as well.  

Since it sounds like you're pretty young, consider attending college with a major in music (performance) and a minor in education to get your teaching credentials.  This will set you up for success in teaching or performing at the concert level.  Music is a life-long committment, and its worth making the investment now.

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

hey thx again ur advice is really good. 8)im following every detail of it. i would like u to visit this site. https://www.nobuouematsu.com/fr/main.html. download the mp3 ff7 one winged angel and sheetmusic. .u neva head anything like it. it took 4 years to compose this song and it sounds more than great. its too hard for me to play.   But im very sure u can play it

[Greg_Fodrea]

One_Wing3e_Ang3l ~

One of my students recently brought me a book of Huang's FF music that they wanted to learn.  They, too, said it was too difficult for them to play...I disagreed.

I downloaded FF7 (Cid's Theme), and gave it a quick run-through.  Yes, there are some challenging parts, but if learned correctly, you should be able to tackle it.

For one thing, try blocking (studying the hand posistions measure-by-measure) two to four measures at a time.  Then, play the hands seperately at least 10 times per section until thoroughly learned, then put them together.  Breaking the piece into sections will help.  And whatever you do, don't try to learn the song at tempo.  Slow it down and learn it with correct rhythm and 1/2 tempo.  THEN speed up.

Next, for this piece, you may want to study your block and broken chords to get ready.  Many of the "complex" patterns in the LH are actually just broken block chords.  Even when it gets into 16th & 32nd notes, it's still the same patterns.  Another practice tip that will help you here: Practice your arpeggios!  The skills you'll gain by studying arpeggios will help you tremendously here.

Again, good luck!

(PS - e-mail me if you need any other teaching tips on this song - gfodrea@msn.com)

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

thx, i keep a copy of this. U seem to noe a lot  

[Greg_Fodrea]

thx, i keep a copy of this. U seem to noe a lot  

The key word being "seem".  I'm not being humble, but believe me, I'm still learning.  I love to share when I can, and I take much of the valuable advice on this forum.  

But I can't say enough about continual study.  I stopped studying theory for several years (in High School), and now, 10 years later, I'm still playing catch-up.  Don't neglect any area of study!!!  Study technique, theory, repertoire (all styles), and keep all of it up.  You'll be glad you did.

[minsmusic]

Teaching the piano is a wonderful way to earn a living, but to be successful, you need to be a good teacher, not necessarily a geat performer.  It's very good you have a grasp on theory.

Start collecting your library now.  Download some classical music from www.music-scores.com or sheet music archives.

Get familiar with 'method' books - Alred's, Bastien's, Thompson's.   Collect elementary pieces.  

Practise being very patient with people.  Work on your communication skills.

Visit www.thepianoeducationpage.com.  READ EVERYTHING!  Download their advice on teachers and keep it in a folder.

Start teaching your friends, or your brother or sister (?) to get some experience.  Tell your own teacher that is what your goal is and ask for some advice.  Take special note of how your teacher teaches you.

Do well in school.  Study hard, apply yourself, become self-disciplined - you need to become a very responsible, reliable person to be a piano teacher.

Give yourself a little time before you plunge right in with your own students.  You need to know EXACTLY what you will do in your first lesson with your very first student.  

Think, research, develop.  How are you going to teach sight reading?  How are you going to develop aural skills?  How will you introduce rhythms?  Besides the piano, what else will you use?  What pieces will you teach a five year old?  What pieces will you teach a ten year old - they're vastly different.

When you're ready to teach, take on young beginning students only.  Don't take on too many.  You want quality not quantity.  Devote your time to your three/four students.  Over time and with experience and success, increase your intake.  

There are a few good threads you can look up on this site.   Read the ones on teaching like you're doing.

I did four years at University to qualify to be a teacher.  I've been teaching for ten years.  At the moment I have 28 students.

Doing your exams (both practical and theory) can help you with 'credentials'.

But remember, become a 'studious' person.  Becoming analytical helps too.

All the best, and don't give up your dream even if you can't have it immediately.  

[bernhard]

Some truly excellent advice from Minsminc. Well done!

To that I would add:

1. Know what you want from your student.

He may not need to know what your plans are, but you must have plans. Make them specific. !I want my students to have a good posture at the piano" is not specific enough. Think on the lines of "I want my student to have a stright back, feet firmly on the floor. calves perpendicular to the floor, elbows a fist away form the body". You get the idea.

2. Have a large enough repertory of behaviours on your part so that you can get the student to do what you wnat him/her to do.

This takes a lifetime and you will learn new ways to motivate, guide your students. So be prepared and on the alert for any new ideas. Try them out. What works with someone may nto work woth someone else. do not limit yourself unnecessarily.

3. If what you are doing is not getting the results you want, do something else! and keep doing something ealse until you get what you want.

For this to be effective you will have to have sorted (1) and (2) above, namely, what you want, and have enough behaviours to keep changing.

4. Be sensitive enough to know when you've got what you wanted so you can stop nagging the poor student!

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

what the. i smell professionals.
hey thx
for ur feed back jus one more question.
should i drop my sci and commence work and just focus on musicology?
is maths and english important to become a piano teacher?

greatly appriciated

[Greg_Fodrea]

First of all, music IS mathematics!!!  Don't expect to be able to progress through complex, advanced music theory without a good mathematical foundation!  As much as I hated most of my math courses, I'm so glad now that I took them!

Second of all, if your goal is teaching, it's a good idea to have a mastery of the English language.  Keep up your studies.  You can major in music, but any self-respecting, accredited college will make you take your core classes, too.  And you should.

The more well-rounded your educational experience, the better equipped you will be to give your students a complete music education.  You'll develop analogies from all fields of study, and you'll be able to communicate with students at whatever level they're at!

I'll get off my soap box, now.  Good luck to you!

[bernhard]

Greg Fodrea is absolutely right.

When I first started teaching I thought that all it involved was knowing the subject and transmitting the subject to students willing to learn it. Ha ha, that delusion did not last long.

The usual student:

1.      Has no particular wish to learn anything. Oh, they certainly want to “know”. And in fact many come with the expectation that somehow, magically a teacher will be able to transmit their knowledge to them instantly and with no effort whatsoever on their part.

2.      Has no idea whatsoever about how to go about learning something. They don’t know how to pay attention, how to memorise, how to practise, how to organise their time, how to do all that in an efficient manner.

3.      Has no motivation, and expects you to inspire him/her and provide the motivation as well.

4.      Has no desire to give priority to his/her musical studies if it means giving up some of their social life, shopping time, movie going, hanging around aimlessly, etc.

5.      Does not recognise you the teacher as some inspirational figure that they worship and are prepared to follow.

6.      After many years of living in a repressive society hase accumulated all sorts of body armour and malfunctioning co-ordination that you will need to untangle before you can have them playing anything properly.

7.      Have no idea of a proper diet – and these days often come with some food related illness (anorexia, bulimia).

8.      Have no idea about exercise and how to do it properly.

9.      Cannot take care of their own health (I am not talking medicines, here, I am talking lifestyle).

10.      Have no self-discipline.

11.      Have no discipline (that is, resist following instructions).

12.      Are argumentative (oh, the time that could be saved if instead of arguing they would just follow instructions).

So what does any of that has to do with music teaching? Nothing at all. But it has everything to so with music students. And as the saying goes, no student, no teacher.

So, since this is what you are going to be dealing with, you better be prepared. A piano teacher should:

1.      Know the subject back to front (that of course involves not only being able to play the piano well, but being able to mimic bad playing – which believe me sometimes can be more difficult than playing well. It involves knowing theory and harmony – and this means maths. )

2.      A piano teacher must be an excellent communicator. This means not only a thorough command of English (or whatever the language is in the country you are teaching) but also the ability to articulate your ideas in the language. Communication however is only 5% language. 15% is tone of voice and 80% is body (non-verbal) language. So you must study these subjects (which belong to the area of psychology and anthropology) and make sure that you can communicate at all three levels.

3.      A piano teacher must be able to work at the movement level. This mean being aware of both macro and micro movements, figuring out what is wrong with your student technique and being able to suggest alternative movements. This means not only studying anatomy and movement disciplines (Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, yoga, etc.) but also sorting out your own body/movements. We are not in the realm of textbook learning anymore, this is the real thing: practical knowledge.

4.      A piano teacher must develop skills similar to that of a personal trainer. S/he must learn/be able to motivate the student to learn and practice. The student will not do it by him/herself (at lest not in the beginning).

5.      A piano teacher must be an expert in different practice methods, A/he must be able to teach such methodology to the student and see that it becomes a habitual part of the student’s life.

6.      A piano teacher must know physics – especially acoustics and mechanics – and engineering – so that he knows how a piano is built, how it works the way it does and how. This will also help at the student’s movement levele since most of the playing apparatus in the human body consists of levers. Do you know lever theory (yes, you will need maths here as well).

7.      A piano teacher must have counselling skills. Your student may be being bullied (or bullying) at school. S/he must know how to deal with students who are insolent. With students who cry in lessons, and be able to differentiate if the reasons are legitimate or if the student is just being manipulative. S/eh must have strategies to deal with each case. S/he must be aware of family problems that may require expert help.

8.      A piano teacher must be multi-cultural. S/he must be prepared to face students who came from different cultures with different views of the world and different expectations. S/he must be prepared to study an understand such differences if s/he is to teach successfully.

9.      A piano teacher must be an excellent judge of character. Above all, s/she must be able to detect potential and have the ability and the skill to bring that potential to actualisation. Since no one is born with this kind of skill, you better start training yourself.

10.      A piano teacher must be knowledgeable about organisational skills. AS with many of the items before, s/he must put his/her own life in order in these aspects before s/he can successfully teach anyone.

11.      A piano teacher must be computer literate and be able to use all the resources of the computer (the net, word processing, notation software, being able to create midi, record student’s music, burn CDs, etc.)

12.      A piano teacher must know about pedagogical theories and recent developments (Bartok, Kodaly, Matthay, Susuki, etc.)

13.      A piano teacher needs to have a technology to develop patience, level-headedness, impartiality, egolesness, anger management, control of the desire to strangle the students and so on. This may involve anything from analysis to yoga and meditation.

14.      A piano teacher must be good with and respond differently to the demands of children, teenagers, and adults (unless you want to especialise)

15.      And finally, just to cheer you up, the pay cheque at the end of the month is nothing to write home about.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

thankyou very much to help me reachmy dream
uguys r priceless

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

oh yeah i took ur advice and im taking up teaching yr 7 and 8's for free this thursday. And by the way what did u mean by "I'll get off my soap box, now" wah the!

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

don't u need to require a license to charge? Beacuse of all the tax. I heard my commence teacher say all jobs u do u will get taxed.

[bernhard]

So let us add to the list:

16. A piano teacher must be conversant with law and legal matters.

17. A piano teacher must be an expert accountant.

(I kid you not, Minsmusic is right!)

[anda]

i'd reduce the number of laws a bit: (based on my experience as a teacher and as a student who has had a lot of teachers):

a good piano teacher has to be

- a good psychologist - especially empathic, has to feel what the student feels
- a person with a vivid colorful imagination, able to find the best comparations (my exercises for my young students are "the rock", "the kids and the bus", "the bunny", "the lizzard" - laugh all you want, it works )
- a PIANIST - that is someone who can play! you couldn't possibly explain the student that this or that exercise or move will help s/he to do that as long as you can't do it yourself! and, based on personal experience, students who had seen me on stage respect me more and trust me more.

[Greg_Fodrea]

Anda makes some really good points.  I also get super-creative with my analogies, and use stories and pictures that make my students laugh.  As a result, learning is fun and becomes permanent through the use of mnemonics.

Also, it's essential to be a good pianist yourself.  Inviting students to see you perform is powerful, and being able to play or sight read a piece that they are working on gives a tremendous amount of credibility.  Don't skimp on your own practice!

Finally, based on the advice given by minsmusic and bernhard, you might also want to take some business classes or a locally-offered small business seminar.  When I started my teaching business, I was clueless.  Now I run an incorporated multiple-instrument studio with four instructors.  Without business coaching, an accountant, and a consulting attorney, I'd be lost!

[one_wing3d_ang3l]

yeah i know. i performed piano concerto 3 with a bunch of peoples. They sure looked shocked after i finished it . (Even though i nearly died practicing the piece) i coudn't move my arm to play sport or to write for 2 days. espicially the massive cadenzas. Since then they called me masta muahahha