‘Why do you play the piano’? I asked this question last week when I gave a talk at Miller’s Music in Cambridge (UK) to a group of piano teachers. Overwhelmingly the answer was: “because of a love of music and the piano”. I went on and asked the same question about our pupils and came […]
I love getting away from the computer! There’s nothing to beat getting out into the ‘real’ world and spending quality time with like-minded people. Sharon and I have done just that this week as we have been to a conference. It was held at the University of York and the theme – Connections and Communication […]
Imagine the following scenario: Teacher to pupil: ‘Play middle C’. Pupil responds carefully and plays middle C. Teacher: ‘How did you know that was middle C?’. Pupil: ‘Because it’s by the keyhole’. METACOGNITION Maybe you’ve had a similar scenario with a pupil in the past – I know I certainly have. You believe that the […]
What kind of questions do you mostly ask in your piano lessons? Did you know that not all questions are equal and some types have more learning power than others? I played a game with some of my pupils this week where they had to spot every time I asked a question. It was great […]
How many questions have you asked in the last hour? In the last day? In the last week? This month in The Community (The Curious Piano Teachers online membership site) we are looking at all things to do with giving feedback in piano lessons. One of the key elements of effective feedback is the art […]
Say the headline aloud! Go on, you can do it. Say it out aloud and with conviction. During May I’ve been looking at our role as piano teachers. How we started, what choices we made as well as well as why we matter and why it’s important to know our own story. You can find […]
Do you feel like a ‘real’ piano teacher? Do you feel secure and professional in what you do? Or are you always worried that someone will ‘find you out’? All this month I’ve been looking at the choices and different opportunities we’ve made in our journeys to become piano teachers. Click the links below to […]
How did you become a piano teacher? Was it a conscious career decision or did it happen almost by accident? We know that there are many routes into becoming a piano teacher. For me, having just graduated, it seemed like the obvious thing to do and crucially there was a ready-made opportunity for me to […]
Have you seen the film Sliding Doors? It’s two versions of a story. In the first version Helen, played by Gwyneth Paltrow gets fired and catches the train home only to find her husband is being unfaithul to her. In the second version she just misses the train by a whisker and an alternative story […]
What’s your musical ‘backstory’? Sharon and I were chatting recently about the various events in our childhood and beyond that brought us, ultimately, to start teaching the piano. It can be fascinating for us to recollect our first encounters with music. It’s also inspiring for others to read about the influences, the opportunities, the choices […]