Music Teaching Tips

1. Be organized! - Be as organized in ALL facets of your teaching as possible, ranging from billing to repertoire lists to teaching materials for your students. Although it appears to take time away from the lessons, the time you spend getting organized now will make it much easier to give lessons, as well as make a better impression on your students.

2. Consider yourself a professional, worthy of as much respect as would be given to any professional, and act that way at all times. Make sure that your students and parents realize that teaching is your profession. You'll be treated better and your students will progress faster if they understand that you're a dedicated professional.

3. Always be willing and able to learn, learn, learn and then relearn. There is no perfect method that will work for every single student that comes across your path. Take the initiative YOURSELF to do research constantly on different methods. Restudy pieces of music that you learned yourself as a child and see if you have some different ideas about interpretation, etc than you did before. Always be willing to explore music written by 20th and 21st century composers. Your willingness to expand your musical knowledge will benefit your students by showing them that new are not something to be feared, but, rather, something to explore.

Regular performance opportunities at different levels

* Individual lessons - observers
* Group lessons - perform pieces prepared/unprepared/sight-read/ensemble
* Informal concerts in teacher’s music studio
* Formal concerts in hired halls
* Combined concerts with other teachers, other instuments
* National performing opportunities
* Home concerts - 2 or 3 families get together, all bringing something for tea afterwards
* Children perform weekly to family; or teddy bear concert - issue tickets
* Follow concerts with tea parties and social events
* Reward with an outing, especially musical

Pianists perpetually face a dilemma about pianism - specifically, how to learn or teach piano technique. We encounter a myriad of different ways of playing the piano, and recognize that even "experts" of piano technique, whether they are teachers or performers, often disagree on what are the essential principles of healthy piano playing. At times, the paradox of the naturally gifted pianist reveals itself - there are instances of technically facile performers who are not aware of important elements of piano technique, because they have never had to examine or question them. Often, the refrain from piano teachers is "Practice, Practice, Practice". Scales, arpeggios, and technical exercises are prescribed, without acknowledging that an improper technical or practice approach will not lead to natural facility, and may in fact, damage it.