My heart always races a little when asked to demonstrate something, especially to someone I don't know very well. Thankfully my more advanced pupils have mostly been coming a long time and that fear response is no longer there.

Last week I had two new pupils -

- one is a teacher wanting just a few lessons on the flute to refine technique. This person reassured me that it was fine not to be able to play everything put in front of me - could I just explain how to play it? Which put me at ease (nice teacher!) Actually I can sightread anything on the flute if I take it slowly and I can explain where the problems are and what the remedies are. If I was asked to demonstrate a piece to show I can play the flute and I'd have to choose an exam piece as that's the only music I have. I can do a good job of the Trinity grade 8 studies.

- the other pupil is an adult beginner on Piano. Towards the end of his first lesson he said that before he leaves he wants me to play him a piece of music. I suddenly felt as though the floor had slipped away. Fortunately the lesson overran considerably and I didn't mamage to fit that in. Now it's occupying my thoughts all the time and will until he comes again. I can play well ALL the exam pieces up to grade 4. After that I can play all the the pieces up to grade 7 but in a piecemeal way - I can do all the hard bits but not one is in anyway presentable.

I do think it's reasonable to check that a teacher can play the instrument they teach - I wish I'd done that with my first guitar teacher. I don't think playing out of a book with Grade 4 written on the front is good enough and so I've been looking at one of the grade 7 pieces which is doable. The trouble is that while I can play it perfectly when there's no one watching it just falls apart under any stress.

This isn't the same as stagefright - there's more at stake. I should be able to do this. I expect this thread to be invaded by those wagging a finger and saying I'm not fit to teach - but that's not a financial option (though I'm on the verge of throwing the towel in over this) - and my pupils do do really well in their exams. Has anyone any advice?

How about playing something fairly easy but playing it really beautifully? Beginners don't usually have the knowledge to criticise and they don't know how difficult or easy a piece is. You could choose something to illustrate a single point - say a nice rich tone.

Before I am shot down for saying this is hoodwinking beginners let me say that I think every pupil has a right to know how far their teacher can take them the and I am sure you are totally honest with your pupils. I tell my flute pupils that it isn't my first instrument and I make no bones about the fact that Grade 5 is my absolute limit and I can only do that with the distant help of Atarah ben Tovim. Without her my limit would be Grade 4. and even then I am pushing it a bit. Why don't they go elsewhere? Well my latest flute pupil who had started in England got refused by all the local music schools because he lived outside their catchment areas and he couldn't find anyone to take him on privately - except me.

Anyway Alicia, by teaching you learn - so just do your best and go for it. Don't be nervous - I'm sure your pupil will enjoy your playing.

At the ripe old age of..well...look at my profile .....I still get a little shiver when a pupil asks me to play something.

Of course, I'm talking about that piece the pupil has brought along and suddenly shoves it in front of me and says "show me how that goes"

I'm a pretty good sight reader, but last week, a pupil had brought a book of piano arrangements of well known standards and asked me to play "S'Wonderful" by Gershwin.

I looked at it and suggested that as it was so complicated (well out of pupil's reach) I would give an impression of it

He was more than happy - and I got to borrow the book for the week

And let me tell you that many a pupil of mine has gained merit or distinction without me playing the piece(s) for them.
Mind you, much of my theatre organ/electronic organ teaching is based upon improvisation so it's often never EXACTLY the same twice.

Why not make a point out of saying that you will play THAT section and then discuss it, and then perhaps THIS section?

Mind you, to play a piece entirely is desirable but perhaps not ALWAYS essential.

Now we'll both get wagging fingers

I never heard either my first or my second piano teacher play! I'm not necessarily saying that's acceptable; just stating a fact, so it musn't be entirely uncommon for a pupil not to hear a teacher play. Personally, I don't like playing ad hoc in that situation, because I feel under pressure too. What I say, if asked, which isn't often, is that they'll hear me play at the next student concert, and that I'd rather wait till then as I don't like playing something half-baked. If you don't hold formal concerts, it might be worth organising small-scale events at home, because as well as giving your pupils performing opportunities, it gives you the opportunity to show that you can play - but on your own terms!


Same here. It's useful to be able to play WELL particular sections that have particular technical requirements, but the ability to perform higher grade pieces yourself on demand at Distinction level is not necessary. Sightreading them at around about a bare pass level is actually possibly counterproductive, if you want them to know what's required!

Hi ,do you play the exam pieces so that a pupil can decide which one they might like from the choice? I assumed that you would have to, but not sure why (I don't play , it's my daughter who does). My daughters teacher always plays all the pieces for exams so that she can decide. Just a thought, not a criticism. It helps her to get a view of the piece.

Personally, I don't like playing ad hoc in that situation, because I feel under pressure too.


do you play the exam pieces so that a pupil can decide which one they might like from the choice?

I need to feel that I could if necessary. In practice I often delay doing this until the pupil has had a chance to 'sight-read' a few bars of at least some of the pieces.

Phew. And thank you for all being so nice about this.



I advertise as teaching piano to grade 5. My piano sightreading is very good - I can play all the exam pieces up to grade 4 at distinction level and I can give a good impression of the grade 5 pieces - enough for someone to choose - but I've never worked in that way. My pupils get to learn all the pieces for each grade and then choose to do an exam if they like, working on their chosen pieces to a more polished level than just the tools for technique building as I treat them. I really don't believe in learning three pieces and then moving on. Perhaps that's why my pupils all get top marks in sightreading.


I was a pupil of Atarah's too

As an adult learner I think I'd be happy with you plaing me a grade 4 piece well.

Just playing something well really. Maybe you need to get some similar standard music or the same pieces not in the grade 4 book, half your problem is just that it will hve grade 4 written on the front of it. If it didn't people wouldn't know what grade it is.

Yes, you should be able to play your instrument but I am well aware that often the best players are not the best teachers and just because you can't play a grade 8 piece in front of a pupil confidently doesn't mean that you can't coach someone else to play it. They are 2 different things.

When I learn an instrument I need a teacher not a soloist!

I suspect quite a few teachers suffer from 'performance' nerves, including myself, especially in front of our students who respect us and expect a lot from us. The most important thing for me is to be able to deal with it.

I think some good points have been made my Aquarelle and diapason, but I do also think that it is beneficial to have a piece or 2 up your sleeve to demonstrate your playing ability, should a student or student's parent ask to hear you play. I know it is hard - I face this every lesson with my more advanced students who ask me to play things for them, but I always make sure I have a couple of contrasting pieces of my own prepared and ready to bring out. (it helps that I am also a pianist, as well as a teacher, so I have pieces prepared for recitals and festivals most of the time that I can draw on).

My sight-reading is good and I play to a high standard, but just as with stage performance nerves, lesson performance nerves hit me inexplicably and when I first started teaching, I made a couple of mistakes in a very basic piece that I demonstrated to a pupil. That really threw me, and I decided to always be prepared for lessons, however basic the pieces are. So I now make sure that for my students of grade 2 level and above, I always play through their pieces a couple of times a week. I know they are simple, and they don't need any work at all, except that I am comfortable with them, which eases the situation in the lesson.

If a student presents me with a new piece, asking me what it sounds like, I usually say that we should stay on track this lesson (they usually present it when we're about to do something they're not keen on anyway!) and I will show it to them next lesosn, when I have had a chance to look at it, as I am not familiar with the piece. I don't feel that this is copping out and it gives me a chance to run through it in the safety of my home before presentin it to them. If however I find myself in a situation where I have to play that new piece right then and there for whatever reason, I think sometimes you have to 'suck it up' and just do it. I have found that a lot of the time it is OK if you consciously tell yourself that you are doing it for the benefit of the student. I just take a deep breath to calm myself and play it. I might end up having to stop half way through if nerves are really kicking in, but I just say that I don't want to play the whole thing, because I want them to work on it themselves. (I have a lot of very musical students who if I play them a piece, they will not read the music ever and just work it out from what I've played).

Although this is how I deal with things, I do think that ultimately, I/one has to work on the nervousness problem and solve it. Because personally, I don't think that it is acceptable or viable to continue teaching with this worry of "when is a student next going to ask me to play something?"! I work on it everyday, using meditation, affirmations and creative visualisation and I sight read a lot everyday and play through as much music as I can get my hands on, just as I would tell my students to do, but I am doing it for confidence, rather than to improve my skills. I am also pushing myself to accept every challenge/opportunity to play in front of people. This is easier to start with in front of my little 6 and 7 year old students, because I don't feel that they are going to judge my playing, they are just going to enjoy the music and the fact that it is me playing the piano for them.


I'm sorry that this has been a huge post, but I completely empathise with your situation and just wanted to suggest some ways to deal with the problem. Hopefully you will be able to overcome it, as I am trying to do. In terms of the immediate future with this student, I would spend as much time as possible this week practising that grade 7 piece, and play it to someone (partner/children/friend) so you have something to show him next time and are slightly more prepared.

C x

P.S. - My teacher is a brilliant pianist, regularly performs in public and I have heard her play many times - I know her well and she doesn't have stagefright in the slightest (so envious of her!). But she doesn't like playing her own pieces (rather than exam pieces) in lessons and at student recitals for a different reason: She always wants to perform beautifully and says that she finds it hard to mix business/work with personal performance/piano playing. She feels that she can't switch her head between the two different types of playing, so either her performance would be compromised or she wouldn't be able to concentrate on teaching the lesson.

I do this sort of thing as well, if it's beyond my being able to play it well at first sight - and I think that's reasonable. I play through all the exam pieces up to Grade 5 or 6, depending on what it is (I'm not wonderful at sightreading faster Baroque music, for instance) in order to help them choose, but for Grades 7 and 8 I suggest the cd! And I'm perfectly honest about why - I wouldn't do all the pieces justice without practice, my time is not unlimited, and I'd rather they heard them at the right tempo, as they should be! They all seem happy to accept this. But I do think it's important that they hear me play things I have practised, hence I do my best for our concerts twice a year.

But I really don't like the "Play me something" scenario!

Yes, I really don't like this! But I am improving - I have 2 pieces that I choose from when asked to play (I know a lot more! But somehow playing only one of these helps with the nerves, as I have played them to students before). I usually get asked by adult students, especially beginners and I know its not really because they want to know whether I'm any good (they have already agreed to have lessons, so it can't be completely that) but I believe it has a lot to do with them wanting to be inspired - which is part of my job in teaching them! So I do try really hard to do this. I usually play a short Rachmaninoff elegie (always goes down well) or I also am quite comfortable playing a Liszt piece that I have known for ages. But I am thinking of taking a couple from the grade 7 or 8 syllabus for next time, because they are quick for me to learn, are short and don't require me to spend a lot of effort on them.

I was pleased to read this thread (not in a mean way to the OP!) to know that other teachers experience nerves in lessons - because I find this really difficult to overcome and it is frustrating when I feel that I am letting down my students, however well I may be teaching them otherwise. I feel that interacting with them by me playing as well as them playing is very important and it was a huge source of inspiration for me when I was learning to be playing with my teacher and to hear her play. And all because of my own low self-confidence.

Am I missing something here?
Surely if you can play all the pieces up to grade 4, some of them must be in books which /don't/ say "Grade 4" on the front?
You didn't specify which instrument the new beginner was learning. But if it's flute, the new "grade books" are so recent that the bulk of your music must pre-date them and they have only some of the exam pieces in anyway.

Even for piano, you must have /something/ besides the grade books - there's the alternative pieces, non-exam pieces, etc.

My own flute/piano teacher has a huge selection of music for both instruments, not just the exam pieces. She's able to show me books I might be interested in buying for myself (for exam pieces or otherwise). She has loads of music she studied herself plus lots of books appropriate for students of different standards.

I've known very good teachers who could no longer play well themselves (because of arthritis or similar), so I wouldn't necessarily be too bothered by a teacher not being able to play. I'd imagine your pupils would understand performance nerves in a similar way.

The skills which make a good teacher are not necessarily those needed to be a good concert perfomer: clearly you need to be able to demonstrate the techniques a musician might need, but that is worlds away from producing concert performances. I've noticed as I've advanced that my teachers will perhaps qualify an attempt to play a chunk of my music - "I'd need to practise this to do it justice" - but still have that tone, control, ability to articulate and shape things in a way which makes me melt - I might well be able to bash out the notes in the right order and at speed, but can still sense their superiority when it comes to overall management of the instrument, and it gives me an idea of what I'm aiming for. I'd also agree with diapason on the business of playing short sections - there is more you can teach and your pupil can learn from by doing this and stopping to discuss what's been played than if you just plough through the whole piece.....and you can tell them so too .

If it does so happen that the only music you have is in exam books, for whatever reason, then you could photocopy the specific piece for the purposes of that one performance, couldn't you?

Thanks for the support and suggestions. It's a difficult subject and I'm comforted to know that I'm not unique in this - although I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

It's piano, Teigr. Flute would be no problem. My pupils are all adults - I started as a support teacher to adults with learning disablilties and have seen amazing successes with music opening doors to untapped potential in other areas. The new pupil is a middle-aged business man with a posh car. I thought asking me to play it was a test but I might just be being paranoid.

I only have LCM piano books up to grade 5 - beyond that I have the LCM books and various copies of things which I bought with the same music in because I wanted to explore other things by the same composer, which I play for my own pleasure - but only ever in a fragmented way as I simply don't have the time. I'm going to press on with my grade 7 piece and learn my lesson about having performance pieces. I might abandon it after page two and say it's too long and I want to get on with the lesson, or better still, discuss it. I'm going to rope various people in to perform at this week, including my more established pupils.


My fault - I just edited the first post to point out it's on piano. Sorry.

OK, so now we know it's piano, why not just play one of the 18 grade 4 pieces that aren't in the LCM Handbook?
Your business man with the posh car isn't going to have studied the syllabus, so he won't know what grade it's set for. And as you can already play them all well, that would probably be safer than playing something you've just polished up this week, especially if you're feeling nervous about it.
A grade 4 piece played really well would give a better impression than a grade 7 piece which might be a tad uncertain.
You could still polish up the g7 piece but save it for future use when you've had more time to prepare it and/or don't feel under so much pressure.

I'm often asked to "play something" - but that "something" depends on the pupil...some want me to play something that they are capable of - but want to know what it sounds like when played "properly".

Some want me to play a particular piece that they like - and if I don't know it, and they have the music for it, I will have a bash at sight-reading - while explaining that it's sight-reading - and then maybe practice it up for the next week.

And some want me to play something "impressive" (their interpretation of that however, is different to mine, so I can get away with stuff like "The Heart Asks Pleasure First"!)

I actually don't mind playing them something, and making mistakes. I often find that pupils (particularly adults!) get so frustrated with themselves if they can't play something perfectly - they will plug away at it and stop at the first wrong note and want to start again.

I'm quite happy to play something, make a mistake - but keep going. Often, they won't have heard the mistake - and I'll tell them where it was, and that they didn't notice because they didn't know the piece well, and because I carried on as if nothing went wrong. I think that teaches them a valuable lesson

And if something goes drastically wrong, and I have to stop and get back on track, then they just learn that I'm human too and it's OK to make mistakes - and that another lesson is, if you don't practice regularly - things go off the boil

What is it that the pupil wants you to play?

He might not be expecting a big flashy piece. I don't see the problem with playing from a book with a grade number on, I'd think it was just something you had lying around, you could even have the book on the piano the next time they arrive.

Just play what you are comfortable with, a piece played well is far better than a difficult piece without practice.

At the end of the day you're are being paid to teach not perform or accompany so relax.

Daughter's Piano Teacher accompaning her for G7 Oboe asked for pieces in advance to practice them. It's not a big deal

Reminds me of my daughter's trombone teacher who was playing a fiendishly difficult (but not at all tuneful) modern piece and my other daughter said "You know what Mummy he can't really play any better than my sister"

More seriously, I think it does depend very much on who you are playing for. My oboe teacher always plays the Harry Potter theme tune to would-be 10-13 year old pupils (and asks them to identify the music). Then he plays them a bit of a sonata or a concerto.

I assume this man is an almost-complete beginner. In which case, to some extent, anything with more than about 2 notes at once will probably qualify as 'impressive'. I remember, when I started playing the piano, I was extremely impressed by some pieces a friend played that were probably no more than about grade 3. If you're worried about him seeing the number on the book, have it on the piano's stand right from the beginning of the lesson so he never gets a chance.

Some of the greatest teachers of the past demonstrated all the time - some never touched their own instrument during lessons - every teacher has their own teaching style. Some don't play in lessons because they don't want their students to become mere carbon copies of them but develop their own unique style.

Like everybody else seems to be saying, probably a good idea to have two or three well-rehearsed pieces up your sleeve for times like this, of about Grade 4-5 standard, so as not to be caught on the hop!

I've got an adult student who likes to produce difficult pieces of music and plonk them in front of me for me to play. I was a bit taken aback when he first did this, but did my best to play what I could - emphasising that I was sight-reading. He hasn't much of a clue really, and continues to produce ridiculous pieces of music. Nowadays I just laugh and say 'no' more often than not. He hears me playing things to demonstrate them to him often enough to know that I am reasonably competent. I acquired him as a pupil after he spotted me playing the pianos in a music shop.

It is a bit of an unusual request, but don't get too flustered by it. He may not be testing you at all, but just want to enjoy listening to a 'proper' piece of music. I find that adult pupils quite often want to hear me play the piece we have just spent 20 minutes pulling apart. They enjoy listening to the 'finished product' every so often. I'm sure one of your safe grade 4 pieces will be quite good enough for now.

Yes - I often get a request for this exact reason - to hear how it is "supposed" to sound. However, I sight-read for a living so I'll give anything a go!

Or because they can't sight-read.

Sorry if someone's made this point already, but there isn't always an exact correlation between the difficulty as defined by which 'grade' a piece has been assigned to and how easy (or difficult) it is to sight-read.

And of course some styles / textures / periods are easier to sight-read (or to bluff) than others - and this will vary to some extent from person to person.

True.. I'd much rather be asked to sight read a grade 8 classical piece than something like "microforms" from the old grade 6 list C pieces Then again I'd rather be asked to stick pins in my eyes than play that kind of piece

Yes - when I say sight-read, I often really mean bluff...

With those kind of pieces I will give it a rough go and say "It goes something like that - bit rubbish isn't it... " and then hope they agree with me and don't choose it

(does this make me a bad person? )

I've occasionally been known to say, "gosh, there were some interesting harmonies in that, weren't there?"

What impresses me the most about my piano teacher is not the fact he can play concert pieces like a professional performer (which I've never heard him do anyway), it's the fact that he can make my Grade 0 pieces sound like concert pieces. So maybe you could demonstrate to him that just because the pieces he's working on are very simple, it doesn't mean that they can't sound musical - that's what inspires me, the fact that he puts so much musicality into my very simple pieces

If he's not satisfied, then play him a Grade 4 piece and tell him that this is what he could aspire to in due course, provided he practises and does what you tell him If he produces his own music for you to play, tell him he can leave it with you and you'll play it for him next week if there's time, but "we need to cover this, this and this today so that you can practise them and play them for me next week, otherwise you're never going to be able to play this piece you've given me yourself".

Incidentally, I used to ask my former clarinet teacher to play something for me but he always refused, and in three-and-a-half years, he only once ever demonstrated how beautiful the clarinet could sound when played by a "proper" musician



PS. I think the trick is not to play it as if you're "on trial", but to treat it as part of the lesson - go through the music with him, pointing out what lies ahead for him, how when he gets a piece of music he'll learn to look out for the rhythm, the beat, the dynamics, articulation (eg demonstrate what you mean by articulation), and eventually how he'll learn to put expression and feeling into it, and his own interpretation... at which point you can give him your own interpretation Doing it this way means you can break off at any uncomfortable point in your playing to "illustrate" what you meant earlier...

PPS. I'm quite excited now just thinking about it, can't wait for my lesson later

Snap - me too

"Bit weird, this one, innit?" is a good comment. The one type of thing I really can't bluff at all is contrapuntal music. RH melodies with LH chords or broken chords is usually fine (Thank God for the sustaining pedal... ) but I do often end up playing tricky Bach or Handel or similar with one hand at a time to get the tempo as it should be. I do think this gives a better idea of what it's like than halving (nay, quartering...) the speed to get the two hands going.

Does anyone else find, by the way, that teaching a piece means that you're learning it yourself, and a couple of months down the line can play it much more fluently, without actually having practised it yourself? You've just got so used to looking at the score in front of the pupil! Weird....and sort of implies that sightreading is more down to how much your eye can take in rather than how quickly your fingers can react. What do you think, folks?

No surprises there - there is research to show that reading music through and imagining yourself playing it reinforces the neural pathways in the same way that actually playing it does - I tell my students to study their music on the plane/train - it works! Good if you are injured or unable to access an instrument.

I find that without meaning to, I learn all the pieces I'm teaching by heart. Throughout the day all these dozens and dozens of pieces are going through my head, reinforcing themselves there whether I want them to or not. The brain seems to have an infinite capacity to retain pieces of music, which is surprising really as I thought that as you got older the capacity would start diminishing...

Makes me feel as if I'm going mad sometimes, though.

The best description came from one of my students, a lady in her seventies.... "Hmmmm... sounds like the tune the old cow died on"

*Update*
& Phew, a success presentation of my G7 piece - Christopher Nortons "Homecoming".
The nerves gave it a delicacy which it usually lacks. I did make a slip but only I knew. New pupil was impressed though.

He said he'd asked me to play because he was so nervous in his first lesson he thought it would take up some of the time. Perhaps I should do special lessons for very nervous people where neither of us has to play an instrument. We can just talk about it.

Well done - I love that piece - I had a grade 7 do it some years ago

Well done, Alicia Ocean.

I must confess to similar feelings - being put "on the spot". If I'm asked to demonstrate a piece unexpectedly - a piece that the pupil wants to play next, I'll go through at my "sight-reading speed" which is almost always moderato (even if the piece is marked vivace!) and then I'll explain that I'm sight-reading and that it goes much more quickly, and attempt a few bars at the appropriate tempo.

I haven't yet been asked to play something out of standard repertoire (ie what all the pupils are playing). It's a good idea to have something up your sleeve - I shall have to work on it - not being a performer by nature! My last teacher was a retired professor and he would always play something appropriate to the lesson at the very end, and send me on my way suitably inspired.

Thanks everyone.



That's something to work towards. I think it really does inspire to hear something technically beyond what a pupil can see themself playing any time soon. It's useful to be able to say what grade something is though.

I try not to demonstrate how things go until a pupil has had a very good go at it by reading the music - especially a tricky rhythm. I want them to learn a strategy that will help them play something they've not heard before rather than just mimick me. Then once they've learned the piece if I were to play it at that point it would be like saying their version is not good enough.

This is quite an interesting point. I have a pupil who is quite able and is now working on grade 4. A while ago she had been struggling with one of her grade 3 pieces. So I played it to her one lesson, and she went away, and by the next week it had improved by leaps and bounds. She likes to hear what it should sound like. I've no objection to this especially after she'd been getting the notes under her fingers for a few weeks. She didn't copy exactly what I'd done, but it seemed to make everything fall into place for her and then we were able to put finishing touches to the piece. (She has no one at home who can play the piano to help her understand what it should sound like.)

Well done Alicia Ocean - I hope you feel really proud of yourself.

As someone who suffers from 'teacher nerves' myself, I know how difficult it can be!

Thanks

I quite often ask my teachers to play for me

I'm 14, and have been involved in music for about a year. I'm grade 5 flute and grade 2 piano.


I LOOOVE hearing my teachers play, it's one of my favourite things- you get your own private concert.

I often ask them to play the pieces I'm learning, so that I can see how it's supposed to sound, and can aspire to it. Plus hearing them played professionally puts such a different spin on the pieces, it stops it being a grade 2 piece which I have to plonk through, and becomes a piece of music I can delve into and try to make it sound good.

My flute teacher is blind, and so I don't get to hear the pieces I learn very often. It's getting better, because some of the pieces I'm learning she actually plays in concerts, so knows them. When I pack my flute away at the end of the lesson, she sometimes plays a piece for me which she's working on. I love it do much, it's what I can look forward to sounding like, and makes me practice harder

You could always play a grade 4 piece, and say "I chose to show you this piece, because it's one of my favourites, but can be something for you to work towards. Within a couple of years you could be at this standard" and it will give them something in the near future to look forward to being able to play.