|
In Home Lessons
In-Home
lesson are a great way to save time,frustration and most of all create a positive piano experience. Imagine the
difference when the piano teacher comes to you...
Rapport and Laughter with my Students
How serious is the
average 5 year old? Not very.
The number one goal of any teacher should be and needs to be rapport. Every student
is different.
One of the great joys of teaching is to find out how each child relates and learns and reach each
young person at that level where they can say to themselves "I truly understand this!"
How is this done?
Well, building confidence for starters. A lot of parents have grown up "under the yardstick" of some neighborhood
piano teacher...and so naturally they think that all
piano teachers might teach this way.
Building confidence
and enthusiasm (rather than fear) needs to be the goal.
For myself, praise to the sky, stickers, a sense
of humor, all work a lot better. If I can get a laugh at the piano, what a positive anchor that is for
the whole teaching experience!
Laughter is an integral part of my teaching style...no matter what
age my student might be!
 |
What's in a Song?
What
would it be like to have shared song with a neighbor in the community?
Well, just 50 years ago piano bars were the mainstay
in a variety of public places and we did just that. The general public sang these songs together, danced these songs
together.
Now it would seem that most young people have little idea of American Music.
All the songs
once known, are lost.
For example, I ask my students whether they know Oh Susanna,
and they say... "No". That something missing is part of the
fabric that holds our uniquely American culture together.
When there was common song there was...well
there just was more in common. The piano was the
instrument that represented that togetherness as a culture.
People would sit around the piano bar an request songs.
Usually the musician was someone of real ability and talent...Our culture had a real respect for performance and good
music.
I think what we might be asking ourselves is... how can we bring some of this
back?
Perhaps these questions shed some light, from a pianistic point of view, on
some of the challenges we face today as a society and culture. E.S.
|
