What has been your most rewarding moment in your teaching experince?

[pianissimo123]

I would love to hear from all of you. Your favorite, most rewarding teaching experiences and joys!

let the fun begin!

[drorperl]

There's definitely quite a few

one that comes to mind is...I remember teaching a few years ago a young (less than 10 yrs old) kid the blues scale, and starting to have some fun and messing with improvisation. when i met this kid the following week, his mom told me that he told her during that week " mom, I discovered what I love about music..." (he may have phrased it a little differently...but u get the idea).

needless to say, today this kid is playing great, and improvising beautifully


-------------------------------------------------------------
Dror Perl. Pianist, Composer, Teacher.

https://www.sheerpiano.com/

Sheer Piano: The First Full Color Piano Music Books
simple jazz & contemporary compositions that are fun for beginner pianists & up

 

[birba]

What's a blues scale.  I mean, what are the intervals between the notes?

[sonatainfsharp]

There are so many, but an early moment was when I had a transfer student who had been playing for four years and his previous hack teacher couldn't get him beyond the Faber & Faber Level 2A books.

After five months of lessons with me, he was playing out of Level 5 at his first recital and was the most polished student, to boot.

[m1469]

In the past 24 hours I've shifted my thoughts, once again, on all of this.  In light of thinking about what it is that my students really need, yesterday I realized that sure, maybe most of my students are more along the lines of being casual learners, but they can all use love.  I've been wanting to respond to this thread for awhile because I think it's important to look for the rewarding experiences in anything we do.  

Something I've learned over my years so far of teaching is that I may watch somebody accomplish something one day, they may even show that they enjoy very much what they accomplished, but it doesn't mean they will carve out some historic legacy.  In many cases, it will be a fleeting enjoyment for them and they will end up finding something else in life they would prefer to spend their time doing.  For the most part, the rewards for me and probably for them are in fact in moments and probably smaller-seeming things.  Perhaps for a few of them I am something more than another adult and teacher in their lives, and there are a few that I will probably have long term friendships with ... perhaps for the rest of my life.  I love that some of them have a sincere liking for music and piano, and there probably are several who will play in one capacity or another for the rest of their lives.

My life's desire and the biggest rewards though are becoming summed up fairly easily in the past 24 hours and that is to be making music.

[drorperl]

What's a blues scale.  I mean, what are the intervals between the notes?

C blues scale would be the following notes

C, Eb, F, F#, G, Bb, C

D Blues:

D, F, G, G#, A, C, D

and so on...

-------------------------------------------------------------
Dror Perl. Pianist, Composer, Teacher.

https://www.sheerpiano.com/

Sheer Piano: The First Full Color Piano Music Books
simple jazz & contemporary compositions that are fun for beginner pianists & up

[go12_3]

When my students relax and enjoy themselves during their lessons...
I think my style of teaching is to be serious during the learning process and
yet find the joy in playing piano.  I love it when a student lights up his/her eyes when he/she
plays a piece well. 

[m1469]

Last Tuesday, one of my little guys --5 years old-- came in from outside towards the end of his brother's lesson, and brought me a bouquet of Fall leaves, wishing me a happy Fall with a smile as he handed them to me.  So sweet, thoughtful, and cute .

[mcdiddy1]

Probably the most rewarding part is seeing a student that was previously struggle get better from you. I have student who struggling to effectivly ready notes, play in rhythm, piano technique and was extreamly shy and insecure. This past week we moved on to play a new piece and he said that looks hard. After 10 mins he could play the piece perfectly to which he responded " that wasn't as hard as I though". Having a student have success and see their potential and possibilites is more rewarding to me than the Christmas Cards and pats on the back and the "what a great teacher you are" comments. Teaching a kid to do something they couldn't do five minutes ago is pretty cool job.

[m1469]

Well, my little leaf-bearing 5 year old from last week blew my mind this week.  I've watched two YouTubes of children (prodigies in those cases) who somehow moved some important things into place for me in my own strange puzzle.  However, I've never had one of my own students of any sort, let alone a 5 year old, move so much into place for me and so instantaneously, too.  And, with the YouTubes, it was like one bit that helped a whole concept, but this was different.  It's like my whole perspective changed and shifted and centered, and suddenly everything I've ever been as a pianist and as a teacher made sense.  There was suddenly just this clean line from my own childhood to now, and I could suddenly see a whole view that's been there this whole time, but that I've been doubting.  It helped me understand something very deeply that I can't even put into words.

I have always believed that teachers and students need each other and that there are certain kinds of matches.  I've sometimes been so happy over matches that I've found as a student, and have sometimes felt like I was meant to meet a person, but I've never known if that teacher actually felt that way about me as a student (or in some cases, if they even wanted me as a student at all).  I still have no idea.  But, I can say for sure now that it's at least possible for a teacher to feel that way about a student.  I feel like I was meant to meet this child.  I don't know how long I'll have him, but I feel like everything's changing because I do.  In some way, it doesn't take anything at all away from my feeling for my other students, but somehow enhances my appreciation for them, too.  Yes, I need to continue to work on patience, I see that very clearly now.  I see very clearly that I need to be looking more in detail at their accomplishments, and I can see much more clearly why, too.  

Who knows what next week will be like, but for now I say ... wow .

[m1469]

I can't help it, I *have* to talk about my five year old every day he comes!  He always does something that makes my day and right now, I will *SO* take it!  He brought me leaves again today ... he's so funny.  He had his lesson (which was great), then his brother came in to have his lesson, and my five year old heads outside to go get me some leaves (he didn't tell me he was going to, but that's what he was doing).  Then he brought me in another bouquet.  It's fun, he gets really excited about the pieces we're picking out for him -- he gets this big voice and laughs from his core because he just loves it.  And it's pretty neat because we're just falling into an actual teacher/student interaction that I would have with a mature and serious student, and he's just taking it in ( ).  And, often if he's sitting in the same room while his brother is having his lesson, my little five-year old will be sitting on a chair or his dad's lap in back singing solfege or something or other.  I always listen to him with one ear and the back of my head.  Of course, there's the occasional 5-year old burps (and other things) ... and then he looks around as though he's embarrassed (which he's not) and says "excuse me" with his hand over his mouth and his eyes surprised, with a little laugh as though it were actually an accident ... haha.  Today when he was leaving, he was walking backwards and looking at me because I was saying "Okay, happy practicing ... be good practicers!" and he said, "AND, in a year I'm going to start selling lemonade" haha ... and he bumped into an entry-way table ... hee hee.

I can't help it, I'm finally a piano mommy and I feel so honored.  Okay, I've been a piano mommy so far a bit here and there and to degress, but this is different.  He's my very own piano/music child  .  One time he came to his lesson wearing army pants, a beige artistic boy-blouse and a girly hair clip in his hair.  And, apparently when he was 3, he out-of-the blue decided to name himself "Jet" (not his real name) and has two names that he goes by.  heh heh ...

[pianowolfi]

A student who was 5 when I started to teach her, and is now 12, said to me today (well she was and is not really "easy" at times  )

"Thank you for your patience!"

[m1469]

Well, my little 5 year old strikes again!  They almost made it out the door with it having been a pretty normal lesson, but right before they left, the Dad told me that as they were going around last week saying what they were thankful for (for Thanksgiving), my 5 year old always said "My piano teacher, m1469 Fox" ... and that he writes my full name all over the place ... mwuah ha ha haaa   .

And, I have to say, this week was a bit of a shock getting back into the swing of things, but it's been surprisingly good to be teaching again, actually.  Last week was my first week off in 8 months and I *really* took it OFF (plus it was crazy with family and traveling and then I got sick on Sunday), and my whole perspective changed because of it.  I felt like some kind of normal person last week.  And, even though it's been a little hard to come back, I enjoyed teaching people this week that I don't normally even enjoy teaching all that much!  I'm slowly winding up the gears again!  It doesn't hurt though to have the Dad tell me what he told me .

[mcdiddy1]

The other day  I have been feeling rather unappreciated in teaching the students. I had to take a test and missed my first three students so i had a subsitute come in to teach them. I got out of my test early to be able to teach my third student. I was practicing in the room and he bust through the door and said " You re back!" and gave a big hug. He went on to say " One my friends said you had been thrown in jail for teaching a kid a bad song". I bust out laughing.

[keytune]

Love teaching children and adult with learning disabilities!  It's challenging but extremely rewarding when they finally "get it".

[m1469]

My little 5 year old, a couple of lessons ago we were picking out a new piece and I think I had played a little bit of something I'm working on for him ... or right before he came ... but, I *think* he had heard it ... and as we were picking out music for him, he kept saying "no".  And, then, he looked at me with this funny look in his eyes and with this funny voice, almost laughing, and said with bright eyes "I just want to play that crazy piece" and pointed to my own music that was sitting on my piano's music rack.

And, Tuesday, he walked into the house first before their lesson and I was practicing, and he came right over to me and just stared at my hands and at my music, and he said he wanted to do that, too .  That's kind of fun to see a 5 year old truly inspired by mature music!

[emusicmaestro]

My Advanced Level students getting A grades for their OCR recitals, in particular when two students were awarded 100%.

[nanabush]

-One student saying they want to continue music after high school!  She's in Grade 11 now.
-An older women who started last year getting 89% on her Grade 1 exam (she had no prior musical background); she thanked me for 'putting up with her' lol!
-My first recital for my students being a success; I'm still a student (21 yrs old), so organizing a standalone recital isn't the easiest thing with my own school/recital stuff going on parallel.  Everyone (students/family) enjoyed the variety of music, and couldn't wait until the next one 

[mpstilwell]

My most rewarding moment in my teaching career was when one of my students got better than me! He was a good 15 years older than me but he practiced ALL the time. He was a Lawyer and spent all his time out of the court room playing. It was so cool to see his hard work pay off. I have also had similar experiences with piano tuning students at the school I teach at (https://www.pianotuningschool.com/)

[dbmusic]

Impossible - one moment!!!!
...the four year old who took her hands of the piano and announced "Now I know! All the music's in the piano, you just have to learn how to get it out!
...the 6 year old who performs a simple little piece beautifully, leaps up from the piano with her hand over her mouth and says, 'when I was playing that it sounded like you, and then I realised IT WAS ME!'
...the 12 year old who has three lessons and plays in his first concert
...the 15 year old whose mother says, 'she walks in the door from school, drops her bag by the door, goes straight to the piano for 30 mins - and then she's ready for the rest of the day'
...the 13 year old boy who always plays loud, fast, 'out there' music who suddenly asks for a sweet, gentle piece, then comes back and plays with delightful sensitivity, lost in the moment.
...the 19 year old who goes onto the Conservatorium and then heads off to Germany to share music on the international scene
...the 21 year old who is now a jet pilot and phones to tell me how glad he is that he can play the piano
...the 56 year old who runs a restaurant, working 7 days a week chopping vegetables and fingers. She passes Grade 6 and we break out into a dance together to celebrate the moment
...the 84 year old who always wanted to learn and exchanges her cardboard cutout piano for a real keyboard and starts sharing music with me
How lucky am I?

[m1469]

haha ... I had a fun lesson today with one of my firecracker 7 yr. old students.  She said something to me like a ventriloquist, and I thought it was funny and we decided to only talk like ventriloquists for the rest of the lesson.  That was kind of fun for a change ... hee hee.

[m1469]

Well, yesterday evening one of my students gave a solo recital and it's the first time I've had a student do that (and it was her first solo recital like this).  This was an 'occasion' for me personally for several reasons!  Aside from interesting personal aspects, it's as though it's a little bit of a hurdle to have gotten over as a teacher, too.  Something in particular that I learned, as a teacher, but which helps me as a performer/student, is to come away from the experience of having prepared this student, to have had some "interesting" relationship challenges with her towards the end, for the recital to have had its imperfections, for the possibility of crowd members to have been thinking certain ways ... and, above all else, to still be feeling truly proud of my student for what she accomplished.  Not blindly proud, but proud nonetheless.  I see that it's actually possible for those things to happen, and for the teacher to still be proud.  This is something I haven't known in quite the same way, but now I do.

[dcstudio]

A 70 year old woman with absolutely no musical training (or ability, it seemed) came to me for piano lessons 2 years ago.  Progress had been slow--but this woman would not give up. She had no sense of rhythm whatsoever--even reciting a line of poetry was nearly impossible. Finally, after months and months of work with a metronome and a lot of perseverance, things began to make sense to her.  The joy on her face as she discovered that she could play the piano was awesome to see. To my amazement she actually began to make music! Last week she brought me a batch of home made cookies and told me through teary eyes that she never imagined she could be this happy again since she lost her husband.   Playing the piano is what helps her get through the evenings without him, and thanks to me, she said, now she can play more than chopsticks.

I've had proud moments with students before, but this one brought tears to my eyes as well.

Every now and then I'm reminded how lucky I am that this is how I earn a living! What more could anyone ask for in a job?

[sarah_antoinette]

Goodness. A lot!

-Two of my student's (identical twins!) coming up after a recital (where I had performed at the end) and saying, "Miss Sarah! We heard the feelings in your music!" (We had talked about how music had emotions the week before:)

-A four year old student, after hearing some of my older students play at the recital (and being so taken with one particular piece that she demanded I play it for her), said "I guess I'm going to have to take lessons for longer than a year before I can play that song."

-One of my older student's buckling down and learning/memorizing 4 pieces for Guild Auditions (she might have only done that because her friends were doing it, but she did great and it improved our lesson times a lot).

-Any time a student grasps a new concept, gets excited about playing a piece, or rises to meet a challenge (like recitals or Guild Auditions) and succeeds!