Piano Lessons - How Do I Teach Differently?
Piano Lessons - How Do I Teach Differently?
How do I teach differently than the piano lessons you had as a kid? Great question. In fact, many parents I encounter did take some sort of music lessons as a child. They notice how different things are when their child comes home from lessons and does very different practice than the parent was used to doing as a child.
"Wait a minute. They're doing all these different things than I did when I took lessons as a kid." Yes, they are, and there are a few very good reason for that. For starters, I teach very differently than the traditional piano lessons you may have had thirty or forty years ago. In fact, it's sometimes astonishing to parents how far removed their child's lesson experience is from what they remember as a kid.
I'm a neuroscientist, so I teach someone how to play an instrument based on how the brain actually handles music. "How does a brain, and it's individual lobes actually deal with music and the capacities that go with that" is the primary angle I'm looking from and then interpreting back to the student. I teach according to how an individual's brain learns. That's completely different than any other music teacher you're ever going to encounter.
I also don't ever teach a student something merely so that they learn the skill. That's a means to an end. For example, there's a song in a student's book and the goal is just to play the song. I'm never going to teach the student to sit and practice over and over again with two hands. What I'm going to do is break the song down into "how does their brain" and "how do their hands and body have to get what the skills are to play the song."
The other thing I do that most teachers don't do is I don't work solely in traditional "kid's" piano books. I go for "what's the direction we are driving the ship in long term" and consider what the student is attempting to achieve as and end result. For example, if the child is an eight-yea-old, they know that they want to be able to play "Heart and Soul" and I know what it is going to take for an eight-year-old to play that song. It's completely different than just playing the songs out of the piano book.
In fact, a song like that is done far more at the level that a professional would practice. I teach my students how to practice the way that professionals practice. Most teachers don't teach that way, especially since piano is such a tradition-laden instrument. Most piano teachers teach how they were taught. I don't. Because I have a degree in music and am a professional working musician, I teach how professionals do it.
It doesn't matter what the age of the student is. Unless we are working within the first few months of lessons, particularly with the 4, 5, and 6-year-olds, the students get the professional practice routines taught to them. If they've had three to six months of lessons with me, at that point, they are into the groove of "how does a professional learn this song?"
I always teach according to how the brain learns to play, what the end-game of the student is and the method that a professional would use to learn and practice a song. I do that over and over again so that the student becomes steeped in those methods. By teaching this way, I find that my students succeed faster and end up being successful players long-term.
One of the things I've repeatedly hear from adults is "Yes, I took piano lessons as a kid." I always ask them "Do you still play?" and they say "No." When I ask why, it's always because they hated their lessons when they were a kid. When I inquire a little further, it turns out that ALWAYS, they were taught in the traditional ways that didn't and still don't work. I find now that the students I teach the way professional do it end up being life-time players. That's what I'm most committed to for the student.
If they are chained to my hip for life and need me to be able to play the instrument, I haven't done them a service. If I teach them how to teach themselves beyond me, then I've fulfilled on the promise of piano lesson. That's why I'm different than traditional piano teachers!
If you have questions about this, contact me through my website at http://anaheimpiano.com and I'd be happy to give you some assistance that addresses the players in your house. There's not one solution that works for everyone, so I'd be happy to address any individual questions you may have.
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