Guide for Giving Piano Lessons
Giving piano lessons is a rich and rewarding activity if you both enjoy playing the piano and enjoy teaching. However, teaching the piano is a skill unto itself and must be learned. Piano lessons are typically half an hour to an hour in length, depending on the skill of the student. The content of piano lessons may vary, but as a teacher you'll get a lot of mileage out of some basic tips.
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Warmup
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It's a good idea to allow students some time to warmup at the beginning of lessons. As a teacher, you should be assigning them scales and etudes, or study pieces every so often. This step is especially important for advanced students, as the advanced repertoire will require them to be "warm" during their lessons. This is less important for students that are just beginning.
Checking Old Pieces
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As a teacher, it's essential to check your students' progress on assigned pieces regularly. On a related note, it's essential that you as a teacher develop a very critical ear if you don't have one already. You must be able to distinguish minutia from week to week.
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Starting New Pieces
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If you start a student on a new piece during the lesson, it's helpful if you walk them through the main difficulties. Also, if you've played the piece yourself (and you should have), you should photocopy your fingerings and markings and have your students copy them. Also, as a teacher, it's important to spend some time working through your students' material in your own time. This will keep lessons going smoothly.
Theory, Composition and Listening
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There are other essential skills that you should pass on to your students that don't require a piano. Theory and composition are very closely related and are essential for advanced students and students considering pursuing a musical career. It can also be very instructive to spend some lesson time listening to distinguished recordings of the piano repertoire.
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References
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