How good.., To be a Piano Teacher..

[omnicell]

Im new here... This is my first post... ,   Im learning the Bach Inventions at the moment...    Yet, I was wondering.. How good does one have to be,  to be a " real"   Piano Teacher...   "registered" Piano Teacher...

Does one have to take tests.. or, qualify at something....   

Thanks....

[Bob]

There's no set level.  You can teach beginners.  If someone is willing to pay you, you can learn how to teach better.

To be registered, you just have to pass tests and performance exams.  I think that's what MTNA requires. 

Or get a college degree.  It depends what you mean by real though -- You could get a doctorate in piano performance and win lots of competitions.  Then again, the old lady down the street is considered a piano teacher too.

If you want to try teaching, I say go for it.  People will say not too, that you'll mess up the student, but any teacher is messing up a student here and there, with a degree or not.  And whoever would pay you would know you're younger -- They know what they're paying for.  And if they're willing to hire a piano teacher with no experience, they're probably not that serious about piano to begin with.  So go ahead -- use them and learn how to teach better.

[little-prince]

Depends on who you teach or where you teach...
most of my friends find little children who would like to learn
after passing grade 8... hope that helps...

[richard black]

In the UK there's no formal accreditation scheme for piano teachers. This leads to some ridiculous situations, for instance a 24-year-old acquaintance who recently finished college (studying trumpet) who easily picked up both private and school piano teaching work though her own standard is frankly pitiful. On the other hand, my wife, who is a professional piano teacher who trained up the hard way in the then-USSR, can't even get an interview for teaching jobs in schools because she's from outside the UK. It's not that they are racist or xenophobic as such, they just look ideally for a UK qualification (even if it is in trumpet!) and someone who can easily pass a Criminal Records Bureau check, something that's very hard to complete for applications from Eastern Europe. (Hasn't stopped her building up a good private teaching practice, of course.)

[gyzzzmo]

In the UK there's no formal accreditation scheme for piano teachers. This leads to some ridiculous situations, for instance a 24-year-old acquaintance who recently finished college (studying trumpet) who easily picked up both private and school piano teaching work though her own standard is frankly pitiful. On the other hand, my wife, who is a professional piano teacher who trained up the hard way in the then-USSR, can't even get an interview for teaching jobs in schools because she's from outside the UK. It's not that they are racist or xenophobic as such, they just look ideally for a UK qualification (even if it is in trumpet!) and someone who can easily pass a Criminal Records Bureau check, something that's very hard to complete for applications from Eastern Europe. (Hasn't stopped her building up a good private teaching practice, of course.)

My experience in Holland is that if you got a musical degree from eastern Europe, youre concidered by many people to be much better than a western Europe degree. Propably because almost all the pianomasters seem to come from eastern Europe