How To Do Just About Everything
By eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
Rate: (8 Ratings)
Finding a good piano teacher may be hard when you move to a new community or just begin taking lessons. Perhaps your piano tuner can recommend some teachers, or you've heard of a fantastic teacher from a friend or acquaintance. If not, here's where to look.
eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
How to Select a Piano
By:
eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
How to Select an Electronic Keyboard
By:
eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
How to Move a Piano
By:
eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
How to Fix a Piano Key That Sticks
By:
eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
How to Use a Metronome
By:
eHow Arts & Entertainment Editor
Comments
person457 said
on 7/21/2008 CONTINUED...
As for festivals and competitions, many teachers use these to enrich their overall lesson program. There are a few teachers who are overly focused on them, teaching pieces rather than music. Most, however use these events as performance opportunities, not curriculum.
Typically, those teachers who do not allow parents to attend lessons are not "hiding" anything. They are enforcing a common policy used to prevent certain problems. In the one-on-one scenario, there is usually less pressure on the student, and the student and teacher have each other's undivided attention. Some students have a hard time making those necessary mistakes before even the friendly audience of a parent. Please be sure to ask your child what happened in the lesson and how they felt about it. If the student is uncomfortable, find another teacher.
A teacher's personality will affect his
person457 said
on 7/21/2008 CONTINUED...
As for festivals and competitions, many teachers use these to enrich their overall lesson program. There are a few teachers who are overly focused on them, teaching pieces rather than music. Most, however use these events as performance opportunities, not curriculum.
Typically, those teachers who do not allow parents to attend lessons are not "hiding" anything. They are enforcing a common policy used to prevent certain problems. In the one-on-one scenario, there is usually less pressure on the student, and the student and teacher have each other's undivided attention. Some students have a hard time making those necessary mistakes before even the friendly audience of a parent. Please be sure to ask your child what happened in the lesson and how they felt about it. If the student is uncomfortable, find another teacher.
A teacher's personality will affect his
person457 said
on 7/21/2008 To balance some of the strong opinions in previous comments:
There are as many different methods and styles of teaching as there are teachers. Just as there is no "cookie cutter" teaching method that works every time (I fully agree!), there is also no "cookie cutter" definition of a good teacher.
Communication between student and/or parent and the teacher is crucial - both while you select a teacher and later on, in evaluating the student's progress. Do tell your teacher the truth! There are some elements of your practice and learning that your teacher will only know about for sure when you tell him or her. Early communication can keep your progress on track. Even if you end up leaving your teacher, your input is valuable.
A teacher's training definitely matters! (you can't teach what you can't do)- but training is only one of many facets to consider.
As for fes
budapest said
on 4/19/2008 More important than the teacher is how you prepare for that teacher. You can't just throw your kid into lessons and expect them to succeed. You have to find a teacher who has a personality sympathetic to kids, who understands their attention span and is willing to inject at least SOME fun into what can become drudgery very quickly. I suggest starting with a pre-method, and there are lots out there; computer programs, by color, there's one called piano by number that has good results. You can see it at http://www.pianoiseasy.com
Watch out for teachers who are dogmatists and disciplinarians. The ideal piano teacher for a little child should be somewhere between a game show host and a virtuoso.
colley5 said
on 5/14/2007 Several online directories of music teachers also exist, with varying levels of usability. It's probably worth a try to search on these! Two that I know of are Lessons4U.com and The Learning Musician (http://www.learningmusician.com)