Well, it finally happened. A student pulled a fast one on me, and I fell for it…. hard. Usually, if a student is trying to get out of something, “trick” me, as I have had them do in the past, I catch on and stop them before they can finish. But this unfortunately was not the case last night. I don’t know about any of you other teachers, but for some of my younger students, (4 yrs old), I sometimes offer them an incentive to be good during the lesson. It could be the smallest thing, yet their whole attitude changes and the lesson usually goes very well. So, last night, I told this little girl that if she was very good that she could have a Mint Meltaway. (I had gotten some for Valentines day, and I made the mistake of letting her have one, so she always asks for them – and since then I have gotten more, so every now and then I”ll give her one if she is VERY good.) Being the brilliant little four year old that she is, when I gave her this offer, she quickly responded with a counter offer – that if she was SUPER good, she could have a peppermint stick and a Mint Meltaway. So, I agreed that if she was SUPER good that she could have both. Well, needless to say, she was close to perfect. I didn’t have to get after her for anything, she played her songs well, and she was very respectful throughout the whole lesson. The only thing that we did not get to do in our lesson was review her flashcards. She seemed so distraught that she had left them at home, but I just told her to bring them next week, and we would go over them. I kept my promise, and gave her both the peppermint stick and the Mint Meltaway, and then as her and her mother were packing up and getting ready to leave, I began teaching my next lesson. I did notice that they were taking longer than usual to get out the door, and before long, the little girl was walking back to the piano. A little annoyed that she was interrupting my lesson, I asked her what she needed. (keep in mind that she had already eaten the candy that I had given her). She looked at me with a look that just screamed… “Imin big trouble”… and said, “Miss Angela, I need to get under the cushions on your couch… I didn’t forget my flashcards, I hid them under the couch cushions.” I couldn’t believe it……and I told her that next week we have to do them for twice as long. Her mother agreed with me, and we already determined that no matter how good she is next week… no Mint Meltaways for her…… there is never a dull moment for a piano teacher 
Hiding=No practice? March 24, 2009
Hyper Children with Exhausted Fingers March 17, 2009
The excuses that kids make for not practicing these days!…. and they expect me to buy it I say this not complaining, but rather laughing inside. At least they make their excuses humorous.. but that’s the best part about it. They are ever so serious as they begin to tell you why they didn’t get to practice, and to try to listen and not just burst out laughing is almost unbearable. So was the case last night in one of my lessons. This particular student is only four years old, so for her to think this one up makes it even more hilarious. I was looking at her time log for practicing, and I didn’t even comment about her only practicing 30 minutes for the week, when she just started blurting out her reasons on why she didn’t practice that day in particular. She started like this: “I could not practice today because my fingers were so tired. My mom told me to take a nap this afternoon and said I would be rested so that when I woke up I would be ready to practice. So, I took a nap, but while I was sleeping, my body was resting but my fingers were moving so fast, and they never stopped moving. So when I got up, my body was all rested, but my fingers were so tired. There was no way that I could practice with my fingers being so tired.” Her Mom piped in and said that’s exactly what she said as she was coming down from her nap that afternoon. I started cracking up of course, and told her next time when it’s time to take a nap that she better let her fingers sleep. Like I always say, I’m always amazed at what these kids come up with… and I always anticipate their stories at each lesson!
Parents With Cold Feet March 10, 2009
Why is that the parents of my students are more nervous than their children when it comes to getting ready for the recital? It is just a little annoying as I tell the student to let me hear their recital song without their book, the parent interrupts me, and says, “Oh no, I would rather them not play without their book.” I keep my cool of course, but I’m thinking… it’s only an eight measure song, and your kid is brilliant. They have had it memorized for the last month, and it’s good for them to do something challenging! I explain that if she doesn’t feel comfortable without the music when the recital comes, then we will work something out. The Mom went on to assure me that her daughter probably can play it, but she doesn’t want to give her a chance to fail, especially in front of people. Well, I went on to tell her that it took me failing several times when I was 4, 5, and 6 yrs old in a few recitals before I could get up and win a very important competition when I was older. You’ve got to start somewhere! Sometimes, I don’t know what to do with these parents! It’s kind of like that saying… you can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them. You know, you have to have them there to help their children practice, and to give you a check, , and so on and so forth, but oh would lessons ever be easier without them there… sometimes.
Take A Look! March 4, 2009
Just wanted to give a “shout out” for my friend Dave Gaus! Check out his site at www.unravel.us Unravel Us is a unique company that designs t-shirts and promotional items for small businesses and individuals. The website hosts regular contests where graphic designers will do design work for companies or individuals. An example would be a piano teacher who needs a tote bag for her students. Unravel Us hosts a contest for the best design for a tote bag for a piano teacher. Graphic designers upload their best designs for the contest and the winner receives a prize. Then they allow you to choose the best design and you get a great designed product at a low cost! They then print and ship it right to your door! Visit www.unravel.us and see a contest they are hosting for a university. I have already begun to utilize this idea for my piano studio! I think you will find it useful, too.
Theories on theory February 24, 2009
I have recently taken on a student who just wants to learn theory. He is an adult student, and plays the guitar but can not read music. Oddly enough, I thoroughly enjoy teaching theory, and I even read my old theory text books from college every now and then. I do not want my student to be “bored” by just learning theory. I have started lessons with the most basic theory book level, and I started from square one. We covered note values and the grand staff in our first lesson. Basically, I am just “walking” him through the book, and he then takes the book home to finish the lessons on his own time. I do not want to get into any kind of rut where I “let the book do the teaching.” Do any of you have any suggestions about how to make teaching theory an enjoyable experience. I enjoy it, but I want my student to enjoy it just as much!
Long Lessons February 19, 2009
I currently have a little girl who loves to play the piano and likes coming to lessons, but she has an hour lesson each week. She is not that advanced, and it seems like I run out of things to “do” in our lessons. I review flashcards with her, and do the usual…letting her play her songs, helping her with problem areas, and going over her song for the upcoming recital. I don’t want her to get bored, so I think I need to add something to her lesson time. However, I don’t want to add anything to her weekly assignments, because then I think she will be overwhelmed. Does anyone have anything that you find helpful while giving a longer lesson?
Paying for Lessons with Tinker Bell Money February 16, 2009
Wow! I just finished teaching what had to be the roughest lesson I have had in a while. The student: an adorable and brilliant 4 1/2 year old little girl, who at her first lesson blew me away with how much she was able to learn and retain… and yes, she enjoyed every minute of it. Through out her last few lessons, we have been making progress and she even has been able to play a little tune here or there, using the basic C,D and E keys. Today was a different story. The problem: Purposely saying wrong notes, holding out quarter notes for four beats, jumping from the second measure to the end of the song, and the list goes on and on. Let’s just say that it seemed like the longest 1/2 hour lesson I have ever taught. I knew that she knew the notes, the timing, and what she was doing, and sure enough I was right. I got a little bit stern with her toward the end of the lesson, and told her that if she wasn’t understanding these things that we were going to have to go all the way to the beginning and start all over. With that she replied, “I was just trying to sneak up on you and trick you during the lesson.” Of course, I knew what she was doing, as every time she told me a quarter note got four beats, she had a little smirk on her face. Talk about wanting to pull your hair out, and feeling like you totally wasted a 1/2 hour! I gently tried to explain to my “little sneaky” student that her mom doesn’t want to just “pay” me money for her to goof around and try to trick me. I told her that she really wants her to learn something and play beautiful songs on the piano. The check that her mother had written me was lying on the top of the piano, and as she looked at the check she become very somber, and almost looked as if she was going to cry. I thought oh boy… here it goes… she thinks I’m mad, and now I’ve made her cry. But no, she was sad because after looking at the check and realizing that Tinker Bell was on it, she looked up at me and said, “You mean my Mom is wasting Tinker Bell money on me?” I couldn’t resist the opportunity to “hit home”, so I said very emphatically, “Yes, she is wasting Tinker Bell money, and it makes Tinker Bell very unhappy when you are wasteful.” With that, she looked at me and said, “I promise that next week I am going to do better, and I am not going to trick you anymore.” Of course, I was holding back my laughter, as she was holding back her tears, and her Mom was just watching the whole thing and shaking her head. I forget that for a four year old girl the whole world turns upside down when it has anything to do with Tinker Bell. I should have told her that the piano keys are sprinkled with Pixie Dust! Maybe I would have gotten a more positive response!
Time to Brush Up February 10, 2009
It’s amazing how much you forget in just a little bit of time. I have literally spent hours composing a song, performed the song, never written it down on paper, and months later forgotten a good majority of it. I look back on those moments with so many regrets. Even though it seems like it takes for ever to script an entire arrangement on the piano, it takes even longer to try to remember the piece two months later. I was reminded of how fragile our memories are (at least how fragile mine is), when I pulled out my theory books from college. I began looking through them, and sadly it looked like a foreign language to me. After that eye opener, I decided that I am going to review some sections of my books every day. I definitely don’t want to forget all of that tedious work and have to learn it all over again!
Uncomfortable Kids February 6, 2009
I do not have children of my own, so each new student that I have is quite an adventure for me! I never know what to expect, but I am always excited to meet new kids and to start the “getting to know you” process. I have had a few children who on their first lesson are totally at home, cool, calm, and collected; and I have also had some who are very shy and cling to their Mother or Father, and barely give me the time of day. For most kids, their parents, most particularly their Mother is their “security blanket” that they do not want to “let go of”. Of course that all gets better with time, and sooner than later they begin to feel comfortable with me. But, yesterday I had something happen that I have never experienced. There was a little boy and his mother coming over for his first lesson. He is seven years old, and his mom had told me that he was very excited. However, once we said our hellos, and got into the actual “lesson” part, you would have thought that he was being forced to stay. He even started crying at one point, and for the whole lesson he would not even look at me. I of course was worried, thinking that he did not like me, or something was scaring him. Boy, was I shocked when at the end of the lesson, he motioned for his Mom, who was sitting on the couch watching the whole thing, to come over to him. He whispered something into her ear, and then she proceeded to tell me his request. He simply told her that next week for the lesson, he did not want her to be there. He said she made him uncomfortable, and he wanted to come to the lesson all by himself! I couldn’t help but chuckle in amazement, as that is completely opposite of what I’m used to. So, she readily agreed that she would just drop him off, and not even come in the door. After that agreement, he was completely fine! In fact, he was excited! They left, and I just watched them go, confused, but happy that he wanted to continue with lessons. Kids never cease to amaze me…I just love the way they think, and how they express themselves. I love teaching!
All snow and no show February 5, 2009
I am thinking about taking up a new career these days seeing that the weather we have been having has totally put a damper on mine. I really am just kidding, but I have had about seven lessons cancel and then reschedule for the next day just to have to cancel again. I am not upset at the parents or students in the slightest – the phone calls that I got were kind of histerical. Today, a frantic mom calls and tells me that she could not get out of her drive way. There was just too much snow. Of course I couldn’t be upset at that, as she said the plow had plowed about three feet of snow literally in front of their driveway. Her husband had not been home all day, and there was no way she was gonna make it out. Another mom called today, also to reschedule the lesson for her daughter (for the second time in two days), and she was stuck on her way home from Chicago. The poor thing was so exasperated on the phone from driving the few miles from the Portage exit to the Chesterton exit that she was just not going to try to make the drive to my house. With each case, I had to chuckle as I just scribbled some more in my scheduling book and tried to “fit” two days of lessons into tomorrow afternoon! I hate driving in snow, shoveling snow, the possibility of getting stuck in snow, the intensity of hoping that you can stop at that stop sign, or that the person heading toward you will stop…. all of these things just add to the drama of having almost two feet of snow fall in two days. I would never want someone to “risk their life” to make it to a lesson - I mean lessons are important and all, but not THAT important!
