How to begin teaching?

[turayza]

Is it possible for me to teach new students if I'm only a high schooler? I have been playing piano for eleven years and have teaching experience (just not piano-teaching).

[jgallag]

The sad truth is, of course. As long as you can find someone willing to pay you, you can teach piano.

That said, I beg that you wait. Yes, it seems like a good way to make some extra money, but I doubt as a high schooler you have the necessary piano experience to teach piano (not that many of the college-graduate piano teachers have it either). I don't mean skill or talent at playing the piano. I believe you should have it, but it's simply not enough. You need to be able to solve technical problems at the piano by analyzing your own motions and those of your students. You need to be able to incorporate theory and ear training into your teaching. I think you should be so confident in musical skills that if you weren't able to find any method books you could write your own for your students. You need to know what your aims are and how to achieve them. You need to know how to recognize a student's individual talents and handicaps, and you need to incorporate these into your teaching. You need to encourage and develop a student's passion for music while diagnosing and eliminating destructive habits that may cause the student physical pain in the future. And amidst all the work involved, you need to have fun at the lesson, because if you're not the student surely won't.

In the end, you do need practical experience, though. I just think that you should give some serious thought to how the instrument is played before you begin teaching. For this, I think you need to experience college-level instruction yourself. I would also recommend you start reading up. There are a host of books out there on how to play the piano, some worthless, some invaluable. You need to be exposed to what's out there. I can't stress the bad habits part enough, though. I observed one of my colleagues teaching a student, and seeing the poor boy slouching while he was playing, sitting on a bench so low he had to raise his forearms to reach the keys, and playing by dipping his wrists far below the keyboard made me want to scream. Rent Freeing the Caged Bird by Barbara Lister-Sink (DVD), as she names several bad habits that can cause harm down the road.

So, I'd ask you to wait. As I'm sure you know from your outside teaching experience, doing something yourself and teaching someone else how to do it are two completely different activities, and the latter requires an extremely intimate knowledge of the subject. Of course, you might describe how you would teach a lesson, if you did get the opportunity, and then get pointers there, too.

[Bob]

Go for it.  Nothing to lose.  There are several other posts.  If they're willing and they'll even pay you, it's good practice for you.  You will get a lot -- a lot -- out of it.  Go for it.

Who's going to hire you?  Probably someone who isn't going on in music anyway.  Or if they are, they move on to another teacher soon enough anyway. 

It's not a perfect world.  "Real" profession teachers screw students up too.  Don't worry about it.  Just go out and learn more. 

Have them get a primer, theory, and recital/performance book (extra pieces).  Get one for yourself so you can plan ahead.  And dive in.  Pattern things after how you were taught.  No, it's not improving the teaching field, but it's good practice for you.  Later on, you can figure out what's right or wrong for you.

Otherwise, when is it the right time?  Do you need a degree for it?  Taking a lecture class will really help you teach better?  The people I saw who had more teaching experience going into that kind of training got more out of it because they already had some experience to relate things to.

If you're in high school, you'll probably go off to college in a few years anyway.  Your students will find a new teacher.  If you go into music teaching, that experience will be extremely valuable, not to mention being one more thing to convince a school you're serious about teaching.

You really don't have anything to lose.  Go for it.

[quantum]

Above I think we have two very valid points of view to think about.  That of a student receiving experienced and quality teaching and that of gaining experience to achieve the role of the former. 

If one wishes to pursue post-secondary music education, such institutions would be searching for reasons to take you on.  "Does this person have the drive and passion to pursue music professionally?"  Listing previous teaching experience is a big help. 

That said not every student is destined for the concert stage (nor wants to be).  I think far more important than instructing technical wizardry is teaching a love of music.  Knowledge in piano pedagogy will grow with your experience.  What you can do now is teach people who just want to enjoy music.  If you do happen across a budding musician and think it is too much over your head, there is no shame in passing on such student to another teacher. 

In the end, I too say go for it.  You will quickly discover that there is no theoretical substitute for the real experience.  There will be moments where you think - I know exactly what this is, but how do I explain it?  This is where the value of real teaching experience will benefit you. 

[jgallag]

I do want to say one other thing: Make sure you remember your place. The way many of the teachers talk on here, you'd think the students have to take lessons from them, they have to be paid, they are entitled because they are the teacher and may do as they please. No. The student does not have to take lessons from you, and if a student is not having fun and does not see progress, he/she can and should stop taking lessons from you. This is not to frighten you, but many people don't realize that although they are being paid for something, they don't have to be. They take advantage of the idea many parents have that piano lessons are good for children and therefore they must have their children take lessons and make them practice. It probably carries over from compulsory education, where if you don't like your math teacher, too bad, suck it up.

Each student is an individual and learns in their own way. It some cases of bad students, it may be that the student simply does not want to take lessons and resents the parents' rule over them. In most cases, though, I'd bet uncooperative students are bored, confused, impatient, amongst a host of other things. However, when students are having fun, the boredom and impatience will ease. You are a teacher, yes, but you are not a disciplinarian, nor should you be force-feeding them unappetizing literature and furthering the idea that piano is dull and not something they should be concerned with. Bottom line, you are being paid to teach the student, therefore, you must adapt your teaching to the student's needs and desires. It takes a little effort, but it is possible to achieve both your ends and the student's. We talk about the business side of teaching when we talk about payment, but we don't consider that as our customers our students should decide what they are purchasing. If the student wants to learn popular music, you'd best be teaching them popular music. Yes, people will get mad at me for saying it. "If I just let my students pick what they wanted to play, we'd never get anything done!" and blah blah blah. It's not about you, or what you think is best for the student to learn. You know what? A funny thing happens when you work with kids on something they want to play. They progress faster, have fun, and practice during the week. Huh! Your job is simply to guide them through the learning process, and prevent them from doing anything which could cause harm (much harder than it sounds).

[turayza]

Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it.
I'll keep everything mentioned in mind (:

[bestpianosoftware]

You can always make use of your craft as a part-time job in another venue.  For a formal school, some people can be judgmental.  Surf the net, you will have more opportunity teaching piano lessons online. 

[meli]

Why don't you do it as a part-time job as suggested in the earlier post? I think its a good way of getting experience, and making extra $. Just teach 1-2 students, and devote all your energy into them first. It would be helpful if you know another teacher, just tell her that you want to take up a few students, to get experience. Good teachers have a waiting pool, and may suggest you to the parents. You are still young, so take it as a learning experience. Also be prepared to make mistakes now (e.g. teaching mistakes, problems with parents, discipline etc..) . Just learn from it and quickly move on. Also be prepared to find out about things you are not sure of. Boy, did I do heck alot of reading & research! (mostly on the net). When
students asked me questions like about a certain composer, or title meanings or who composed this tune etc.., I admit I wasn't sure (quite ashamed actually!), but that somehow helped me improve myself. I HAD to find out! Oh well, that said, good luck!