What is the best part about teaching piano to our students?

[go12_3]

I enjoy teaching piano to my students.  There are some days they are with it....the note reading to fingering and counting.  Yet, what matters most is their personalities, each so unique and different.  Some learn faster than others.  Some has to take it slow.  Some may show potential in being a fine musician.  Each day that I teach, I get a set of different students, so my job is never boring.  I put my best self for my students so that they will be eager to learn music.  That is what I want to instill in them.  That's the best part of teaching:  my students.  And probably associating with great and supportive parents, especially the ones who'd thank me.  I just love my job!

[m19834]

hmmm ... well, I don't wish to limit my answer to strictly piano as I do some other teaching, as well.  There are actually lots of things that I truly love about it.  Some part of me feels like I was born to teach (however, we can be "born to" do more than just one thing, just for the record  ).  For starters, I really like being bossy, hee hee .  Okay, but on a serious note, it's true.  "Go do that you person !  I command thee !"  .  Ooops.

Okay, but seriously.  Being bossy is really pretty fun.  Okay, but seriously, it is.  There is actually a lot to be said for being bossy.  Firstly, it's fun.  Secondly, I could do it all day and if I have the opportunity, I do.  However, along those lines, I spend the majority of my days almost completely alone  , so my bossyness is directed mainly towards my doggy.  Until I have a student arrive, or until my husband gets home.  That's a joke.  I don't boss my husband around.  Only mostly.  Not really though.

Anyway, today I met with a very eager individual for his private piano lesson.  He is just a pure charm.  He was not only eager to play what I was asking of him to play, but he was so eager to please me.  I wouldn't say that I just look for that in a student necessarily, at least I never had before today ( ), but there was something about it that made him quite malleable within my bossy clutches.  I loved that he responded to what I showed him.  I like that in general when I am teaching.  Seeing that I actually get a response from students ... seeing a light come on in their eyes, that kind of thing.  And, of course I enjoy seeing improvement in them.  That's always nice, but that's also to be expected, hopefully !

There is another thing that I enjoy about teaching, and it's tough to say it in just the right way.  There are times when I am reminded of my teachers.  There is something that I very much enjoy about feeling as though I am part of a tradition that has been passed to me, and that I am now passing it along (as best as I can within a given moment) to my own students. 

I will admit, I also enjoy impressing my students.  I like to play for them and see their reactions.  I enjoy the moments when it seems their minds are being broadened.  I love the times where I feel like my life is on track, as though its purpose is somehow evident, because of something that has taken place while teaching.

There is probably more, but I am done for now.  I will say though that the serious stuff that I listed here is what I think of as truly teaching.  I am just today starting to realize a line between what teaching actually is, and then all the other stuff that makes the "job" difficult.  That is not to say that there are not difficulties involved with teaching in general.  But, I guess I see that there are basically moments when people are learning, when something is actually happening, when life matters, and then there are all of those other moments that seem rather dull by comparison.  It seems to me that any true 'teaching,' are those moments when the "something" that really matters is actually taking place.

[m19834]

My teaching these days is under scrutiny by me, in that I am really investigating my purpose in teaching.  I am finding elements of teaching that are surprising me, though in some sense they shouldn't.  Recently, I am realizing very clearly more of what I love about it; I really enjoy "problem solving."  There is something very satisfying to me about helping somebody just grasp a concept. 

I very much enjoy trying to figure out how the individual thinks, how they approach particular problems, concepts, principles (how they approach life !), and then dealing with them in such a way that hopefully augments whatever their natural tendencies are, or helps them out of (or avoid altogether) tangley mind nets.  I myself have been in the most agonizing "mind nets" over many things as it relates to life and particulars of living, and while there is something to be said for being challenged as a person in all ways, one of my basic life-concepts is that we are here on Earth together, to somehow work together and help each other if possible (otherwise, I believe, we would each have our own planet  ). 

Obviously we must work individually, too, and there are particulars about life and learning that are simply individual and intimate in such a way that they become a basic relationship of the individual and life.  Ultimately, I don't want to get into the way of that with others, though I don't believe they are mutually exclusive.  The greatest moments involve both teacher and student, where something (maybe profound) is being explored/learned and can be somehow experienced together, but each individual has their own particular relationship with that particular experience (btw, I feel similarly about performing).  To be a part of that, hopefully in just the right balance ... I don't know, that, to me, is magical.

I very much enjoy working to clarify a subject to myself, then taking into account the learning environment and individual learner(s), and then trying to think of a way to address material and concepts so as to actually "travel" somewhere together.

[morningstar]

I love it when i play the piece they are having trouble with and their jaws drop to see you play it so easily! Priceless moments.
Also it's really good when they master a piece or as you see the become more proficient at playing music in general, means you're doing it properly.

[go12_3]

I love it when i play the piece they are having trouble with and their jaws drop to see you play it so easily! Priceless moments.
Also it's really good when they master a piece or as you see the become more proficient at playing music in general, means you're doing it properly.

I agree with you!  I had a student that played a piece just wonderfully, and I felt such a satisfaction and it's rewarding also.  I love to see my students progress and understand and enjoy playing the piano.  = )