Back in my 20s I found it hard to believe that someone would pay me to do something I had a real passion for. The fact that I was teaching the piano and earning money from it was frankly astonishing. Seeing and being around people who love their job is life affirming. We often feel […]
Are you a teacher who is ready to move on? ‘”Anyone can teach the piano in the UK.” When I tell people this they are amazed: “What? Anyone?” Then I have to go through the explanation that piano teaching is unregulated, teachers don’t need to have any qualifications and people are often asked to teach […]
Have you noticed that everything at The Curious Piano Teachers has been very quiet over the last few weeks? HAVING A BREATHER To be honest both Sharon and I were in need of a complete break from what is often the non-stop, hurly-burly world of The Curious Piano Teachers. So this summer we have taken […]
‘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 […]
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 […]
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 […]