What I learned from my parents about teaching music

[dcstudio]

I invite speculation on what exactly I am talking about below and how exactly this relates to music. Please tell me what you think.     I welcome all evaluations.

my father played the piano and he also was a PBY-5 pilot in the RCAF during WWII. . He would often take me flying. He taught me to land the plane one day by simply taking his feet from the rudders and his hands from the yoke and telling me to find the airport and land.  Realize we were in a Piper Cherokee 6--a small aircraft not a jet.   It was before the days of GPS and this is how you did it on a sunny day.  It was an amazing experience because I knew that no matter what that plane was not going to crash.  (a rational fear of mine, considering the number of hours I spent in airplanes as a child.)   I always landed without issue. 

my mom was a flight instructor and is still a singer.  she took me flying one day and decided to teach me to land with my instruments instead of visually.   As we neared the airport she began pulling approach plates from a manual and feverishly taking notes.  She began reading from a checklist with peace and security in her voice.  I ignored her completely and pointed the nose towards the airport and started to make my descent.  She looked at me and suddenly became agitated that I wasn't listening to her discuss this "instrument approach" to the airport.  She made a comment along the lines of.."what if something happens up here on a day with bad weather and YOU have to land this PLANE!!"  I was 12, this would have been highly unlikely...hee hee  From that point on..even when I flew with dad I would read that checklist and have it memorized just in case.

ok  just a poll.  which of my parents taught me more about teaching the piano.  who was the better pilot?

[zeusje]

Your mother taught you to teach. Your father was a better pilot. So who of them was the better pianist then?

[keyboardclass]

You're off your trolley mate.

[keypeg]

You need both kinds of instruction.  As to who was the better pilot, I'd say "We haven't seen either of them fly."  If your father was in the air force flying a plane in war conditions, then he would have also been trained, and one way or another had this checklist in the back of his head.  He transmitted to you this oneness with the instrument (plane in this case) and changing surroundings so that you could fly focused on your goal without distraction.  Your mother tried to give you the knowledge you needed to draw on but I might question how it was done.  To pull out a checklist in the middle of a flight and "teach" it then doesn't make sense since we cannot retain it all.  I suppose if it happened flight after flight, you would retain more of it each time until it would be there for you subconsciously.  But I'd rather be studying the items of the checklist on ground first: I'm not a pilot so I don't know how it's usually done and put into practice.

The analogy to piano is clear of course.    I'd say that as a student I want both the naturalness without fear, and the knowledge.  A teacher who can balance out these two elements while taking into account the nature of his student and the stage he is at is probably a gem of a teacher. And of course, we're assuming that the student actually wants to learn to fly.

OT to the actual theme: you might like to read the account of James Heriot, the veterinarian who was called up during WWII and had flight training.  He recounts how his flight instructor made him a nervous wreck by barking out instructions and berating him for errors which often were caused by nervousness at the barking out.  Then one day he told Heriot that he should fly out on his own, and when he did, he got lost over some field, found his way back and had to land under tricky conditions.  All the stuff his instructor had barked out at him came to his mind and he landed safely.  The same instructor who had told him what a dreadful pilot he was, was sitting in the canteen calmly sipping coffee.  He said something like "Good landing.  I knew you'd be a good pilot."

I think that is one way that music used to be taught, but apparently it created casualties as well as successes.  How many students quit piano either for decades or forever?

[krystellle]

either way, you come from a cool family.   

[dcstudio]

either way, you come from a cool family.   

you have no idea    flying musicians hee hee

[stephenv]

What amazing parents!

NO FEAR!    I think they both taught this lesson. (Mom used the fear factor to instill in you the need to study. i. e. book learning...healthy fear?)     

These lessons seem Priceless!   Self reliance comes to mind, knowing you CAN do it.   oh wow....teaching someone to trust in himself. 

To the unsure student:   difficulties, ha....just do it.   

[dcstudio]

What amazing parents!

NO FEAR!    I think they both taught this lesson. (Mom used the fear factor to instill in you the need to study. i. e. book learning...healthy fear?)     

These lessons seem Priceless!   Self reliance comes to mind, knowing you CAN do it.   oh wow....teaching someone to trust in himself. 

To the unsure student:   difficulties, ha....just do it.   

someone who actually understands my parents and my teaching method--stevenv got it right on the money!  musical pilots, just the norm at my house.