Today, I Confess: It's Been 30 Years and I'm Still Figuring This Out...
It's official, friends: I've been teaching piano lessons for THIRTY YEARS! Cue the party horns...
Short story: I grew up as a big fish in a small pond and was hired to teach at my small-town music store at age 14. Did I know what I was doing? Of course not!
Nevertheless, I quickly fell in love with piecing together The Human Puzzle (through the lens of piano study) and the rest is history.
I've been a piano teacher for 70% of my years on this planet. That's pretty wild.
My younger self would have expected me to have this teaching thing down to a science by now. 😵💫
Once upon a time, I thought I was going to write The Perfect Method Series, teach 100 private lessons every week, and have a fully-optimized system for teaching every student more things in less time.
I imagined I would always know exactly what to say and would have assembled the be-all-end-all of repertoire sequences.
(Oh, she was ambitious, that younger self of mine!)
Here's what I had wrong: I was still seeing music as a thing to be conquered.
✅Proof of accomplishment.
✅Validation of self.
✅Discipline at its finest.
My younger self did not understand music as an art unto itself. I practiced to earn scores and applause.
I played the part of a sensitive musician who expressed herself creatively, but make no mistake: my motive sitting behind those keys was always about proving something.
I partially blame growing up in the age of The Mozart Effect, where the academic benefits of studying music became its biggest selling point.
We've struggled as a profession ever since to balance the (very real) benefits of lessons with the fact that music is fundamental to the human spirit and needs no further justification.
Music is not something to be perpetually optimized. Efficiency is not its highest value. When we seek to systemize music study, we are missing the point.
This is why there will never be The Perfect Method Series. There will never be a one-size-fits-all concept sequence or repertoire map.
...and 30 years of teaching has taught me to say THANK GOODNESS for that. 😊
I am grateful to embark on a brand new adventure every 30/45/60 minutes of my work day. Seriously - who else gets to say that?
The next time you find yourself searching for THE system or THE sequence or THE method, remember: the variety of approaches available to us is one of the greatest gifts of the profession.
We are forever reminding our students to embrace experimentation in the lesson... and it's time to take our own advice.
This summer's research on play brought me to a new level of understanding when it comes to this art we teach.
I'm heading into Year 30 with renewed dedication to stripping away the things that distract us from making music.
I'm waving goodbye to "justifications" for music study and I'm continuing to loosen my lifelong grip on Achievement Culture.
I am learning to admit I don't know where this year will take my students... and, even better, I'm learning to be excited about that. I hope you are excited, too.
🥂May we all continue to take our own advice.🥂