I recently rediscovered the best resource to improved teaching. This past week I went to several of my lessons armed with my video camera. Have you ever thought about who is most critical of you? Maybe its not universal, but I’m pretty sure that I’m more critical of myself than anyone else has ever been. Watching myself do anything in retrospect is simply torture. During grad school I spent many hours evaluating my own teaching demonstrations, and never became fully comfortable with the task. But nonetheless, who better to criticize your work than yourself?

This week I dusted off my camera, and when all was said and done, I had a few great revelations about teaching. Read on to share what I discovered!
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What is good teaching? True, the result of good teaching is often demonstrated in performance. But good teaching, the act, takes place week to week behind closed doors in the private lesson. And, good teaching doesn’t just haphazardly occur because someone is a naturally good teacher. The teacher must prepare for their students’ lessons and always investigate and reflect on how to improve their teaching.

So fill in the blank. Good teaching is _____. Recognizing the makeup of good teaching is the first step. Read on for more tips. Don’t forget to share your two cents in the comment box following the post.

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by Ben Heine

Put away the Christmas tunes and pull out the sonatinas! Of course, any time is a good time for the sonatina. But I think the sonatina’s bright and crisp style offers the perfect pick me up in the dead of winter. And so it seems that most piano teacher associations focus on the sonatina in the winter and spring.
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Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915) was a great piano teacher of the late 19th century. His teaching impacted his students so much that they became the biographers of his life. Leschetizky wrote very little about his own teaching strategies. But thanks to his pupils, we can gather information about his teaching philosophy and put it to good use in our own studios.

For me, one of the most impressionable statements about Leschetizky came from Ethel Newcomb’s (1875-1959) biography Leschetizky as I Knew Him (1921; reprinted 1967). According to Newcomb, and confirmed by other students, Leschetizky had no method. Newcomb credits Leschetizky to saying: “Don’t have a method; it is far better to leave your mind blank for the pupil to fill in. You will discover more easily, in this way, what he needs.” She goes on to express how strongly Leschetizky felt about abandoning a specific method as he would say “Write over your music-room door the motto: ‘NO METHOD!’”

I cannot speak for Leschetizky’s exact definition of a method. But his motive was to resist teaching one method for all. When I first read about Leschetizky, I was a graduate student in pedagogy, and these statements puzzled me. I wondered how any teacher could really teach without a specific method. What a challenge that would be! His rationale seemed extreme. But the more I teach, the further I am from depending wholly on a specific method. Today, our method of choice comes as a set of texts ranging from beginning through late intermediate levels. Teachers are closely attached to, and often dependent on, the methods that are commonly found in the hands of our students. But do we really “need” this method? And to what extent should it be used in the lesson? Finally, at what point in the student’s training should the teacher abandon the method system?

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do you recognize this student type?

Gender: male or female
Age: 13-18
Level: beginner to early intermediate
Title: Beginning older student

Character: Seemingly responsible. Eager to play, especially the music he or she knows by ear. Usually has all of the answers. Bordering on independence, but still in need of supervision. Smart. Capable. Possesses one or the other: extreme, unwarranted confidence; or an all too harsh criticism of their skills (which in most cases are adequate or excellent). Sometimes carrying an unattractive attitude to the lesson.

Their biggest challenge: Understanding that their desired level will take time and work. Understanding that they too can reach the same playing level as their their classmate, who most likely started lessons at a younger age. Learning how to MAKE time to practice in order to achieve their goals.

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