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A Patient Piano Teacher
A patient piano teacher knows when to back off, when to be less demanding, and when to switch to an activity that provides relief from stress. The child’s stress usually comes from the teacher’s insistence on following a set curriculum, with a set timetable.
Kids don’t practice because kids are kids, not because they are lazy.
Browbeating them and insisting on concentration when they can’t deliver it is torture to a kid.
Find Out What They Can Do Today
A better approach is to know what you want to teach the child. Then find out what part of that curriculum is palatable to them that day, and try that. Curriculum at this level can be taught in any order, and complying with the child makes them cooperative. Sometimes kids are in no mood for anything, and then you have to back off completely.
Be crafty, and disguise a simple skill as nothing. Force never works. Force always has an equal reaction, which is apathy. Try to see it from the child's point of view.
Combine Old And New Schools
Combine the old school, conventional methods with the newer ideas, like Piano By Number. If you present your tool chest in the right proportion, the child will be interested, regardless of their mood. You need to be constantly assessing the state of the patient/student to see what they are capable of at that moment.
Teach Yourself Piano
A Solution For Curriculum Burnout
Retreat to numbers when the child tires of reading music. When they get tired of numbers, I switch to piano games. When they get tired of piano games, I switch to hilarious music history. Once they are laughing, we can start again at the top of the list.
Be Aware Of The Child’s Mood
The best advice on salesmanship I ever got was from a real estate entrepreneur, who said to me, “You’ve got to have a thermometer ten feet long to sense the mood in the room. That’s what sells: sensitivity.” Students who play under their own steam want to play. At times kids will simply not be in the mood for anything.
What If They Don’t Want A Piano Lesson?
At such times, I play a game called ATOMIC PIANO LESSON. The child sits on a chair or the sofa, and I play piano, asking them for their reactions to the music I am playing. It is really ear-training, but they will never know it. I ask them to play a C chord while they sit on the sofa, six feet away.
Of course they can’t, but they pretend to reach. Then they laugh. I seem to be asking for the impossible. Once they are laughing, they will return to the piano and play a tune or two, usually with one finger. We laugh. But we are still in agreement, because we had fun: we will keep trying. Tomorrow is another day.
REFERENCES
Piano Teaching Style
If It’s Fun For The Teacher, It’s Fun For The Kids
Piano Methods and Children’s Personalities
The Backwards Piano Method
Reverse Psychology and Children’s Piano
Help Your Child Enjoy The Piano
Ten Rules for A Pleasant Piano Teaching Atmosphere
If You’re Having Fun, You’re Not Learning
The Difference Between the Worst and Best Piano Teacher
A Piano Teacher’s Emotions
A Pleasant Piano Lesson Atmosphere
The Use of Humor in Piano Lessons
Make Use of Your Student’s Sense of Humor
The Piano Whisperer
Fitting the Piano Method to the Child
Soft Piano vs. Hard Piano
Why I Teach Piano
Advice To A Young Piano Teacher
Teaching Children's Piano
Guilt Is The Wrong Way To Buy Attention
The Piano Teacher’s Tone of Voice
Knowing When To Back Off
Piano Candy: The Case For Bribery
Why Nagging Your Child To Practice Won’t Work
How To Make Your Kids Love The Piano
Teaching Kid’s Piano Is Like Herding Cats
Repeated Victory Will Make You Invincible
Ratio of Talk To Activity in Piano Lessons
On Which Side of the Piano Do You Teach?
Setting the Mood Of Children’s Piano Lessons
Why Kids Succeed At The Piano
Child Pianists Are Like Guide Dogs
The Purpose Of The First Five Piano Lessons
The Real Goal Of Children’s Piano Lessons
The Philosophy Of Piano For Kids
How Simple Should Piano Lessons Be?
Piano Toys You Should Bring To A Lesson
Fun Kid’s Piano
Joyful Piano Lessons
The Invisible Piano Method
Make Beginning Piano Simple
The Reverse Piano Method
Nurture Your Piano Students
Against Disciplinarian Piano Teachers
