Mine would be a child of about seven with very supportive (but non-obtrusive) parents. If it was a girl, she'd practise enthusiastically every day and quickly get to a point where she was ready to take Grade One. She'd play all her pieces beautifully with lots of expression and unique, musical interpretation and get a mark like 138!

Then we'd do lots of other repertoire for a while before looking at Grade 3 pieces, which of course she'd sail though and get another mark like the last one. By then she'd have joined the local children's orchestra and love it to bits.

Before long we'd be looking at Grade 5..... and she'd still be only about 9.

Actually this is a bit like my wonderful little girl who is 8 now but nearly ready for her Grade 1. She's not practising quite as much as I'd like but today when she played 'the Vicar of Bray' she said 'oh I LOVE this piece' and played it really well. Then she played all her scales by heart and we did our call and response games, which she loves and does really well at.

And actually I know a child EXACTLY like the one described in the first paragraph but his mother's a cellist and he's been practising for half an hour to an hour EVERY DAY for four years, has a great teacher and is really good. How many young children have that kind of focussed support at home? Not that many, sadly.

I have a student who would be close to my perfect pupil. She has lots of personality and is very funny. (she expanded on an idea I gave her and made up her own sentence for the bass clef spaces..."Fat Angry Crocodile Eats George Bush"! (apologies to any American Republicans...))

She LOVES learning new scales (nutter) and gets very excited about trying to work them out herself. When she learns pieces she often picks out her favourite part (could be a three note phrase, or a chord, anything) and plays it over and over saying, "Isn't that great?!" She is 8 and working on a pre grade one grade for May...I'm aiming for a distinction for her!

Can't wait to hear her in five years or so, when hopefully her sight-reading will be really good and she will be solidifying her musical 'personality'.

A pleasure to teach!

I have a student like the one Violinia describes... but she's not 7 but 10. Her mother is supportive but not obtrusive. She loves theory. She did get 138 in her Grade 1... She is very expressive and loves playing lots of different types of music. She'll play ballet music, beatles tunes, disney solos, studies etc. She practices a lot and so gets through lots of repertoire. She'll do her Grade 3 in the summer but we won't even begin to learn the pieces until end of March or beginning of April as she'll learn it so quickly she'll be bored. She has listened to the new syllabus CD and has chosen pieces she wants to learn that are not in the set book as she likes them and wants to play them even though one of the pieces is really hard for the Grade. She is enthusiastic and listens and will play anything she can get her hands on! She plays for pleasure. She enjoys the clarinet and that makes her a delight to teach.

Oh yes, she is also lovely to younger pupils in the school and really encourages the beginners.

I think a couple of my pupils could be described as "ideal" even though they are so different!

One was my very first pupil, so I was a bit spoiled at the start! She doesn't come from a musical family, but she has never needed to be told to practise. She does it every day completely from her own initiative. When she first arrived aged 7 she could not sing a note in tune to be honest. With lots of aural training she then got picked to learn a second instrument in school a year later, and can now pick out a tune by ear. She's ideal in the sense that she is the hardest working pupil I have, not because she is the most talented. Her family are full of encouragement and are extremely easy to get on with. After a few years of playing the girl can now sight read grade 2 pieces on the piano (not learn them, sight read them!)... she has also never missed a lesson in that time. Not one

She got full marks at grade 1 aural not because it came easily to her but because she worked 10 times harder than anyone else - and it paid off. I think it makes a difference to me in that many children, including myself, would have had no problem with aural tests from the start. Because she did have a problem with them and overcame it, I count that as more of a success than a good mark for someone who can do them naturally anyway

I agree too! Attitude and commitment are so much more important than ability - especially when it comes directly from the child rather than the child is just responding to parent-pressure. It would be a bit of a cop-out if our ideal pupils were all the ones that required no teaching. It's great to get satisfaction from joint efforts between self and pupil.

(I do like the ones who require no teaching, all the same.... )*

*But we shouldn't dismiss them as requiring no teaching, though. We just have to do something a little bit different at times to make sure we're stimulating them enough and providing enough challenges.

Totally different for me- my ideal would be a student (necessarily more mature) who already played at least one instrument to a high standard so I could teach mostly instrumental technique as, in effect, a conversion course!

This is not ideal BUT

One of my pupils is struggling with school, knows he isn't doing well academically, finds it hard to keep up with the rest of his class.

He took Grade 3 in the summer and although I have NEVER done this before, I asked him if he'd like to take Grade 4 in December. His eyes lit up and he worked and worked...and got 133!

This kid has a real lifeline in his music learning, it gets him through the rest of his school life. I don't wish his sadness on anyone but I'm glad to be able to help.

My ideal student would be the one who understands what is demanded of themselves, who is diligent and hardworking. I do not specify an age group, for each age group necessitates a different style of teaching (you wouldn't utilize B.F. Skinner's theory of authoritarian dictatorship on a five-year-old, would you? Well... Maybe, if the situation REALLY got out of hand in a lesson).

Nonetheless, the ideal student really is the ideal student. Though each and every one of us on this forum may have our "own" ideal, mine would have to be the most-ideal-of-the-ideal student.

And that student doesn't exist. Leonard Bernstein and Dimitri Mitropoulos come close, but they're both gone now.

Before that, we had Tchaikovsky, and further back, Wagner, Mozart, and Bach. Beyond Bach, I haven't researched much.

Anyway, the point still stands: My ideal student does not exist.

The pupil I'm most proud of was a teenage girl many years ago, who had learning and behavioural difficulties, and got into a lot of trouble at school, was expelled and sent to a special school. Somehow we clicked, and eventually she got a merit for grade 2 piano. This was the only qualification she got, and her mother was speechless that she'd manage to achieve something!

I am lucky enough to have an ideal pupil. She has just turned 11 and has passed Grades 1-6 all with Distinction (mostly around 140), is taking Grade 5 Violin this term, is taking Grade 3 Jazz Piano this term (having passed all previous jazz exams with marks around 143), has just passed Grade 5 Theory 100/100, and has already learnt all pieces for Grade 7 Piano (but that's on hold until next term, we can't do everything!). OK, that's exams and they can be spoon-fed to a certain extent, but it's the spontaneity, enthusiasm, motivation and passion for music, which makes her such a joy to teach. She also has her own ideas about dynamics, phrasing, tempi. We never ever cover everything in a lesson, we have to be really disciplined as to how the time is spent. She loves a challenge and will often surprise me by returning one week later having learnt one of her Grade pieces from memory with all dynamics and articulation included!!!! Anyone beat that? Naturally such a gifted and hard-working pupil has won cups at music festivals and is currently aiming for a music scholarship to secondary school. Personally, even though music college could be an option, I think she will become a doctor as she will find that challenging too!!! I'll let you know if I'm right in 7 years' time. But I think music will always be her passion

What a joy to teach!

How different we all are!
I like to get a pupil as a beginner and do the lot - my way - but I do like a pupil who learns notation quickly, so I can concentrate on technique and musicality.
Beyond that, I like a pupil with a sense of fun, who's good company! I like people to ask questions and give me challenges - and make me question things myself. It's good to have somebody who makes steady progress according to their ability, but it's even better when teacher can learn from pupil too, which is often the case - whether it's with regard to teaching methods or musical interpretation. That sounds like it's at odds with me saying I like to do things 'my way', but what I mean by that is that I don't like taking on bad habits! I like a pupil who argues with me - within reason - about specific articulation, how long a pause should be, what bit of melodic interest should be 'brought out', how that should be done - all that sort of thing!