hi...let me introduce myself first...

i am a piano teacher...
started teaching in Nov 2003.
...after i did ALevel music (A!!!)and done grade 8 (136, the 2nd distinction i have ever got in my life!)
so bascially i have no specific teaching qualification/teaching training at all.
i started teaching piano at the very beginning because i thought it would be a good source of money , and, why not give it a go?

the number of students gradually increased from 1 to 8 -
(3 pairs of brothers/sisters, and the other 2 are neighbours)
(i got introduced to one student's neighbour; and for the others: an elder one started first,parents think i'm ok, then let me teach the younger one as well)
* this give 1 point towards ' i am not a bad teacher '.

out of 8 students (all started as beginners), 2 of them did grade 1 and both passed with merit.
* another 1 points towards ' i am not a bad teacher' (my students passed - i.e. they achieve sth in my lesson)

i mean, knowledge wise, i am sure i am good enough to teach them. i am very keen to look for the right material for them, keep checking whether they understood what i said etc.
but personality wise, i can be VERY VERY bad when i thought my students are not doing good enough or achieving what i expected them to archieve.
when my students made loads of mistakes when playing a piece, i tended to point out mistake straight away...volume increased...'angry' facial expression etc etc...these are all signs of me not being patient enough.
i managed to make 2 girls cried in my lesson, 1 boy to get upset (he is a cheerful boy usually, u can tell whether he's upset straight away). one boy would even describe me as 'shouting at him when he makes mistake'. - minus 3 points

i know i have a hot temper, and i know i have to be far more patient to be a good piano teacher. (i always wanted to be one of the 'dream teacher' - pretty, young and nice)
i'm aware of these 'misbehaviour', so i have been trying to improve.
as soon as i realised myself as 'shouting', i would quickly slow down and speak quieter and put a smily face on.
i have always been telling myself that 'they are only children, don't expect too much, don't be rude to them'..etc.
these little strageties seemed to have an effect coz i found most of my students are happier than they were 4 months ago.

at the moment i can say, my relationship with my students are good. apart from 'learning the piano' they would also tell me things happening in school, homework/projects they have done (e.g. Iron Man?!), things that they like to do (all girls are tying knots with pieces of plastic threads?!) etc etc etc. i even played a bit of footy/badminton with my students when i had time to stay...

since i received no proper teaching training - i just keep doing experiments, e.g.
- use another book if the one using seems too hard or boring -> worked
- handbook system - write down what i taught and expected them to play back to me next week clearly on a little book; so that they KNOW what they have to practise -> worked
- (handbook system) - tell students to write down the date that they practised and how long they practised for (my rule is mininum 30mins each time, minimum 4 times a week) ->a little girl keep telling me that she did practice but forgot to write things down
- reward system (for young ones only) - sticker/smily face drawing if i'm happy with their playing - 10 stickers, a tiny little present.

everything looks fine, parents are happy about their son/daughter's progress, student's have not said they hate me (yet).

the lack of patient+hot temper+shouting thing is the thing that i want to sort out the most!

1. what should u do when ur student made a mistake?
i mean, do u point that out straight away and tell them to redo the bar, or wait until they finish the piece/the phrase and tell them to play the whole piece again?

2. i think i have improved in terms of..i knew i had to stop shouting as soon as i realised i was shouting - but, are there any tips to help me control my temper a bit more? (e.g. no shouting at all - instead of shouted and smile)

3. one girl, 7 year old, turning 8 soon. she started piano with my brother (a proper qualified music teacher, passed some students to me coz he was too busy) and has been learning piano for nearly 2 years now. but she is still not remembering the notes right. when she's playing back a taught piece to me she very oftn put her hands in a complete different position. songs are seldom played perfectly.
what can i do with her? she has been dragging on like this over the last 6 months.....

4. any more tips about being a strict teacher without being too aggressive? parents do not (yet) have any problem with my 'under control shouting' - i think because they like me being a strict teacher. and they understand that u can't be too nice so that kids can take advantage of you....

5. i'm still in the middle of doing a degree (not music tho!) so i hardly have any time to do a proper teacher training course. is there any useful courses/books out there to teach me 'how to be a good teacher'?

6. what are the criteria for choosing the right material for ur students?
i know the material has to be age/level appropriate. recently i find out i also need to think about 'what technique that particular student need (to improve on) the most'...what else?

i love my students, i love teaching them. that's why i need to be an even better teacher. everyone please help me to improve !!!

many thanks!

Those are excellent questions, and probably ones that all experienced teachers frequently ask themselves. I'm in a bit of a rush now - have to teach in half an hour! - but up until last Sat the best 'teaching book' , in as much as there is such a thing, I'd ever read was 'A soprano on her head'. No, it's not about teaching singing - just about looking at things in a different way. See if you can get hold of it. It's by Eloise Ristad.

Then last Sat, at the RFH bookshop, I picked up 'The Perfect wrong note' by William Westney. I couldn't put it down, and read quite a bit of it . It was £18.99..but it's only £12 something on Amazon so I should be able to read it properly soon! He's based in the US - but then I discovered he's doing a one day course, including an Un-Masterclass at the RCM in June. Synchronicity.

Sorry, got to dash - good luck with your teaching.

QUOTE

what should u do when ur student made a mistake? i mean, do u point that out straight away and tell them to redo the bar, or wait until they finish the piece/the phrase and tell them to play the whole piece again?

Don't keep stopping them - it's really undermining and irritating for them. Let them play the piece through first, then do the "praise sandwich" - praise what was good, point out what needs to be improved, then end with more praise.

QUOTE

i think i have improved in terms of..i knew i had to stop shouting as soon as i realised i was shouting - but, are there any tips to help me control my temper a bit more? (e.g. no shouting at all - instead of shouted and smile)

Take several deep breaths when you feel like shouting, or pay a quick vist to the loo - you'll probably feeling calmer when you come back.

QUOTE

one girl, 7 year old, turning 8 soon. she started piano with my brother (a proper qualified music teacher, passed some students to me coz he was too busy) and has been learning piano for nearly 2 years now. but she is still not remembering the notes right. when she's playing back a taught piece to me she very oftn put her hands in a complete different position. songs are seldom played perfectly. what can i do with her? she has been dragging on like this over the last 6 months.....

Find out from her parents how much she's practising, and ask her to demonstrate, in front of the parent, exactly how she practises. She may just be playing through the pieces once and thinking this is how you practise - you need to show her exactly how to progress through effective practise.

QUOTE

any more tips about being a strict teacher without being too aggressive? parents do not (yet) have any problem with my 'under control shouting' - i think because they like me being a strict teacher. and they understand that u can't be too nice so that kids can take advantage of you....

You can be very nice without the kids taking advantage of you; what you need to do is find the balance between warmth and firmness; it's not an easy balance. Just bear in mind that most students progress far better through appropriate praise and effective criticism, with the emphasis on the praise. Never forget music is about enjoyment and self-expression - the vast majority will feel disheartened if they feel nothing they do is ever good enough. Heavy criticism is for the conservatoire, not the nursery.

QUOTE

i'm still in the middle of doing a degree (not music tho!) so i hardly have any time to do a proper teacher training course. is there any useful courses/books out there to teach me 'how to be a good teacher'?

I heartily recommend the CTABRSM course, but it'd be difficult to fit it in with a degree course, so meanwhile read up as much as you can about childrens' learning styles.

QUOTE

what are the criteria for choosing the right material for ur students? i know the material has to be age/level appropriate. recently i find out i also need to think about 'what technique that particular student need (to improve on) the most'...what else?

Give them a mixture - studies at and just above their level to help them steadily improve, ditto with their pieces, and fun pieces to play at their level or just below it. If they find everything they're playing slightly too difficult they'll get weary and disheartened.

It's great that you're so concerned about all this - it is important because children are very sensitive and as their teachers we're at least partly responsible for their musical development; get it wrong and you can put them off learning music for life. Get it right and it could be the best thing you ever do.

Good luck!

Violinia

QUOTE

1. what should u do when ur student made a mistake? i mean, do u point that out straight away and tell them to redo the bar, or wait until they finish the piece/the phrase and tell them to play the whole piece again?

If it is a small mistake, I sometimes ask them to repeat the phrase to see whether it was a slip or a mistake. If it was just a slip then they usually get it right second time. I make it quite clear to my pupils that if something is wrong or not good, then I will tell them. I think this is important to make clear from the start because there's no use in letting them always think they're wonderful!

QUOTE

2. i think i have improved in terms of..i knew i had to stop shouting as soon as i realised i was shouting - but, are there any tips to help me control my temper a bit more? (e.g. no shouting at all - instead of shouted and smile)

I personally wouldn't shout at all unless it was something terrible. My pupils know when I'm not happy, I don't need to shout or do anything. They just sense it.

QUOTE

3. one girl, 7 year old, turning 8 soon. she started piano with my brother (a proper qualified music teacher, passed some students to me coz he was too busy) and has been learning piano for nearly 2 years now. but she is still not remembering the notes right. when she's playing back a taught piece to me she very oftn put her hands in a complete different position. songs are seldom played perfectly. what can i do with her? she has been dragging on like this over the last 6 months.....

My question would be 'does she really want to learn?'

QUOTE

5. i'm still in the middle of doing a degree (not music tho!) so i hardly have any time to do a proper teacher training course. is there any useful courses/books out there to teach me 'how to be a good teacher'?

I would commend the following books to you:

The Music Teacher's Companion (ABRSM)
Instrumental Teaching - Susan Hallam (Heinemann)
The Sounding Symbol - George Odam (Stanley Thornes)

QUOTE

6. what are the criteria for choosing the right material for ur students? i know the material has to be age/level appropriate. recently i find out i also need to think about 'what technique that particular student need (to improve on) the most'...what else?

I think that this just comes with experience - there's no right nor wrong.

Good luck - your teaching sounds fine to me.
David

Hi Cathui,

I read with interest your account of difficuty with temper and impatience. I too am a fairly novice teacher, albeit a seasoned professional musician, having just finished a 24 yr army music career. Like you, I have moments when I just want to scream. But I don't. My advice (for what it is worth) to you would be..........

1. Always remember that we were all learning once.

2. Allow for mistakes, even repeated ones. No-one I know has ever played it wrong deliberately and as frustrating it is, as long as they know they have made a mistake and have some idea how to put it right things will click eventually.

3. I use a lot of highlighting the positives and what that does for me is to overbalance the negatives by having the student in a responsive frame of mind. Often, a difficult passage or couple of notes can be overcome without the student realising it. Violinia mentioned the praise sandwich. That is my primary weapon... (Gosh you can tell I was in the Army!!).

4. Do stop worrying about your self-imposed worries regarding your inadequacies. We all have them, especially when a pupil seems to not want to learn. We all look inwardly first. From what you have said I think you sound like a very keen concientious teacher to me!

5. I think that you have to accept as a teacher that people, young and old, take lessons for many, many reasons. Some will only be doing music to appease a parent or even to "get out of maths". As a music teacher we have to take those along with the really keen willing workers. I think that eventually they will decide whether you have turned them around with your obvious entusiasm or whether to tell Mum or Dad that it isn't what they really want.


Good luck with your teaching.

Dave

QUOTE (sillysaxist @ Apr 25 2005, 09:01 PM)

Hi Cathui, 2. Allow for mistakes, even repeated ones. No-one I know has ever played it wrong deliberately and as frustrating it is, as long as they know they have made a mistake and have some idea how to put it right things will click eventually. 3. I use a lot of highlighting the positives and what that does for me is to overbalance the negatives by having the student in a responsive frame of mind. Often, a difficult passage or couple of notes can be overcome without the student realising it. Violinia mentioned the praise sandwich. That is my primary weapon... (Gosh you can tell I was in the Army!!).

Regarding mistakes - you have the little bloopers that tend to reduce over time - with more repetition of the same piece, knowing it better, muscular memory etc. Also more experience of playing generally.

For the "mistakes" that arise because of technical challenge, problems synchronising hands etc - that is where the the teacher gets their big opportunity. My original teacher used to play a pencilled line under the segment in question and label it "EX"; i.e. That segment (in separate hands) became my exercise for the week. At my next lesson, she would go over all the "EX" bits before I played the whole pice through. You could try this approach.

Which leads to selection of pieces - another question in this thread. I actively seek pieces that will expand capability of the player. For example among the Grade VI ABRSM piano pieces, some can be selected for rapid passage work, some for song-like qualities, there is one fugal option, some have intricate ornamentation, several have excellent bass melodies, several build up jazz foundations. Select a piece for a reason.

I agree that to encourage is the most important thing of the lot. It must be fun. One hint is this - the minute you can see that attempt B is better than attempt A, say so. You have established a trend that the student may magically continue in their own time. Don't expect to hear the finished result at the lesson (although this can happen at a times)

Hmmmm i have the opposite problem Cathui! I think im too nice to my pupils! A lot of them are quite young and I dont want to discourage them by spending too much time looking at the problem areas. I agree that it is a good idea to just let them play their piece through and then comment at the end; a balance of praise and positive comments and drawing attention to weak areas. Ask them what THEY thought of the piece they just played and how they might improve it!?
It is hard finding a balance - too nice/overlooking and they wont benefit/progress but to shouty/picky and they will not enjoy lessonsand playing.
Have a nice cup of tea with you while you are teaching, and when they play something a bit too ropey for your liking - take a nice big sip of tea!

QUOTE (cathui @ Apr 22 2005, 05:06 AM)

but personality wise, i can be VERY VERY bad when i thought my students are not doing good enough or achieving what i expected them to archieve. when my students made loads of mistakes when playing a piece, i tended to point out mistake straight away...volume increased...'angry' facial expression etc etc...these are all signs of me not being patient enough. i managed to make 2 girls cried in my lesson, 1 boy to get upset (he is a cheerful boy usually, u can tell whether he's upset straight away). one boy would even describe me as 'shouting at him when he makes mistake'. - minus 3 points i know i have a hot temper, and i know i have to be far more patient to be a good piano teacher.

I am quite suprised that no-one has suggested a career change, or thinking about whether this is the right career for you. You have only 8 students, what if you take on more students and you get even more stressed than you already are.

Your right in saying you have to be very patient. I often feel like pulling my hair out, but i would not feel at all pleasant if I made someone cry and they went home and told their parents, that I had been shouting at them. not all students are angels. trust me! My students can tell when I am not impressed because I am not my cheerful, happy self. and you may also come into this sort of situation as a speech & language therapist, if this is what you want to be.

Just my view anyway!

All the Best!

whatever "balance" you look for between firmness and niceness, it must be a balance which doesn't involve shouting at your pupils. I remember when three of us in the school orchestra who had the same teacher all admitted to each other that she used to make us cry. This is something as a boy that you try not to do (or admit). She never shouted, but she used to conduct stern "interrogations". Even lessons where this didn't happen were overshadowed by the thought that they might. When one boy burst into tears she asked him if he had problems at home. The one to one nature of a music lesson, coupled with the difficulty of learning an instrument, mean that it is quite easy for a child to become intimidated. My teacher was a great teacher in all other respects, and is the one who really taught me to play and stuck by me when noone else was interested, for which I am extremely grateful, but 20 years later I still have a very very occasional bad dream about not being sufficiently prepared for a violin lesson with her. My lesson was on a Wednesday evening, and Thursday to me was like the start of a weekend - by Monday and Tuesday of the following week I was practising anxiously, and by Wednesday before the lesson, somewhat desperately. My personal view is that a music teacher has neither the obligation on the one hand, nor the right on the other hand, to try to bring on the child's progress at the expense of their natural happiness.

QUOTE

My personal view is that a music teacher has neither the obligation on the one hand, nor the right on the other hand, to try to bring on the child's progress at the expense of their natural happiness.

What a wise thing to say.

I'm grappling with this whole thing at the moment, with a bunch of pupils few of whom are really putting in sufficient practice at the moment; it can be quite demoralising. I think the Summer Term factor is partly to blame - they all seem much more dilgent in the Autumn term and I'm beginning to recognise a pattern here. A lot of them have the extra stress of exams looming - SATS, GCSE's etc etc - and there's a lot more pressure around those than there ever used to be.

Quite honestly I'd rather have happy pupils than anxious ones, and I'm trying to think of new ways to motivate them to practise more. Working on making a CD for family and friends can help, and I tried the board game for scales that somebody here suggested, and it got one pupil demanding to play his double G major scale 3 times in succession - definitely a first!!!

Motivation is a huge and complex subject, and "intrinsically motivated" students aren't really that common. It seems that a huge amount of would-be instrumentalists start out with a lot of enthusiasm which does tend to wane when it dawns on them just how much they need to practise to get anywhere.

I've told a lot of my pupils this week about the research that revealed that:

No talent + no practice = standstill
Talent + no practice = standstill
Talent + lots of practice = a great player
No talent + lots of practice = a great player.

(Secretly I believe talent + lots of practice makes for an exceptional player but I aint telling them that, because it probably isn't even that true).

When you tell them "no talent + lots of practice" makes a great player, their eyes light up.

This is because they're putting their lack of achievement down to not having much talent (no matter what I tell them to the contrary).

Their eyes light up because it makes them think:

"Hey! All I need to do is practise and then I can become really good on the violin."

And this is precisely the message you want to get across.

I'm waiting now with baited breath to see what happens.

Violinia

PS I've heard some truly horrendous stories of people being put off for life by harsh teachers. It is NOT the way. Even if the student gets through it and becomes a good player, music will always be tainted for them because of the bad memories.

Buy a copy of a book called 'The Perfect Wrong Note' by William Westeny, an American concert pianist.

Mistakes are vitally important as a tool for learning and perhaps you might be able to recall any times when you found something difficult and what that felt like. It is very easy to become disgruntled with students because we want them to 'get it right'. I wonder what getting it right actually means sometimes! Think about what they are trying to learn. Is it only about playing the right notes at the right time and everything being 'right' or is there more to it than that?

It si very easy I would suggest to put fear into little ones especially by the way that we are.

Try the CT course too if you can. It's an amazing experience.

Hope this helps.

QUOTE

Try the CT course too if you can. It's an amazing experience.

- Hammerklavier

Hammer is absolutely right there. It was the CT course that made me start thinking so long and hard about motivation. A lot of people choose "motivation" as the subject for one of their three assignments, and all that research makes you realise just what a big and complex subject it is.

One thing I learnt on the CT course thatw ent very deep was this:

If a pupil isn't learn always look to yourself (don't blame them). Work out their learning style (everyone has a different one) and tilt your teaching towards that.

I have one pupil who loves to play stuff he thinks no one else can play; he loves a tehnical challenge, so I have to keep finding things for him to play which he thinks are incredibly difficult but are also just within his reach.

Another pupil likes "evil" music, so I went and got him the James Bond series for violin. He loves it.

Yet another wants stuff with a rhythmic groove so I always make sure he has cool backing CD's to play along with.

None of them are complaining about being bored with their repertoire so I must be doing somehting right. However, as a lot of them aren't practising enough, this is my next challenge.

It's an endless challenge for the teacher, but always a fascinating one and always a rewarding one. We've got to help motivate them but without making their lives ###### by giving them one more thing to be stressed out about.

Violinia

QUOTE (Violinia @ Apr 30 2005, 12:39 PM)

Motivation is a huge and complex subject, and "intrinsically motivated" students aren't really that common. It seems that a huge amount of would-be instrumentalists start out with a lot of enthusiasm which does tend to wane when it dawns on them just how much they need to practise to get anywhere. I've told a lot of my pupils this week about the research that revealed that: No talent + no practice = standstill Talent + no practice = standstill Talent + lots of practice = a great player No talent + lots of practice = a great player. (Secretly I believe talent + lots of practice makes for an exceptional player but I aint telling them that, because it probably isn't even that true).

Some great innovative ideas her Violinia. "Intrinsically motivated" students aren't really that common, we don't like coercion so what do we do?

I have said it before - but I think lack of motivation and effort is possibly the biggest challenge of all, it always has been, and it may be more difficult now than ever before. I can think of countless parents who have told me "he learned for a year or two, but refused to practise, so we saved ourselves the money - it would be the majority situation of those who start I think.

I think it is tragic to see so much potential plus your teaching hours being written off so easily. Perhaps what we really need to do is find ways to help parents and students through plateaux where practice time is hard to find, or where the student for now believes they have more important priorities. Priorities change for all sorts of reasons, sometimes rapidly, and in some cases all that we need is to be ready to capitalise.

Also, I don't like complete geeks anyway. For example, physical exercise and sport are now being recognised as a big problem for the current generation and as with music, parents and students need to identify opportunities that will achieve goals in this area.

Also, bear in mind that to make equivalent progress, there is a huge gap between how much time the gifted student needs, compared with the average student, compared with the slower learner. For example the gifted child may learn to read the first time you explain the method - I have seen that. The slower learner can wrestle with reading through to teenage-hood and even beyond as a number of teachers have told us.

(I am similarly unimpressed when a parent says a child is doing 4 hours study a night - again because after a full day at school at age 12/13, I don't see how they can maintain peak performance for anything like that long)

If you want to retain the student (and the income stream!), I think it is helpful to explain these things to parents/caregivers. Assure them that highs and lows are normal, but that perseverance can pay off.

If practice is a reluctant thing, perhaps the student would respond better with two lessons per week - e.g. Instead of 1 at half and hour, go for 2 at twenty minutes - this can be a good way to support the complete beginner until they are more independently motivated. (I had 2 lessons per week for my early years, and my teacher of that time now tells me that she always taught that way to ensure that the early foundations were secure - especially in families where the parents had no clues at all)

Sometimes a parent makes the mistake of thinking a child is only learning skills to play an instrument. But at the best of times, its learning about MUSIC generically that they are doing in the first instance - the instrument is just a vehicle. The child who has done no practice may still sight read at lessons. Setting of fun theory can get a few going, but not all. Set some reading too! Aural work of all kinds can be productive. Recordings can be played. In other words the feeding out of relevant knowledge can be done anyway providing everyone concerned realises that patience is a virtue.

I had a strange problem with a pupil a short while ago.
He finished after his parents decided he wasn't really practising so it was not worth him continuing.
The trouble was, if he wasn't practising it really was, in this instance, down to them as he had to be taken by a parent into the church hall nearby to practice because he only had a mini size keyboard.
They had also stopped the lessons when he had one wrist in plaster even though, especially as he hadn't been learnig very long, we could have quite easily worked with one hand and done extra aural and theory related activities.

Not really sure who lost interest....

Just recently got an opportunity to teach an adult student on beginner piano - she's been learning for a year only and had stopped due to work schedule/busy etc. I met the husband and he asked if i could teach his wife piano so not to put the piano to a waste (sherman & sons =p) and b/c the wife really wants to learn piano.
This will be my first student - and i'm leaping at this chance b/c i've been thinking for so long about teaching and planning what i can teach. I realize of course i have to hear this new student play first to know her level and what she's capable of playing and knowing and then suggest supplement pieces/exercises etc. But before we commence lessons, i want to research on Adult beginner - intermdediate piano books. Anything good that teachers on this forum can recommend me? I don't necessarily need book names, i just want author/publisher names so i can go explore and discover - need someting to start with. I know about Alfred's.
But if you have a book name you highly recommend for adult beginners, please i welcome all suggestions. Thanks for helping everyone, and oh i'm in the STates, so anyone reading this from there and know something, pls reply too =)

another question. For adult beginners, or any beginners of any age to be exact, what is the most common first step to teach in the first piano lesson? I've never taught before, but if I did teach an adult starting from scratch, i would probably give brief background on the instrument itself first, explain the white and black keys etc., a brief explanation on how a piano score works, something simple but gives the adult student something concrete/concept to understand instead of just diving into the first lesson with learning a note.

i know a lot of young teachers start teaching kids or even adult learners on their fisrt days - the Middle C. find all the C's on keyboard etc. and come back next week and review etc. What's another approach if i dont' want to just be doing that on the first day - i think that is very confusing - i mean why learn Middle C on the first day? Around when could/do we introduce our students to notes/keys on the piano for both kids and adults?

thanks everyone!

I think that most people want to go away from the first lesson playing something.

I do tend to cover note names in the first lesson for adults (who usually quickly grasp the basics of how the 'code' works).
Adults can begin to read 5 notes in each hand fairly quickly once you explain how it works.
With children I usually get them to notice the pattern of black notes on the piano and then introduce the idea of note names, letting them find D from my description of where it is and the working out the rest for themselves.
Sometimes after finding that there are several notes with the same name it leads on to noticing that the sound of these is somehow related.
I also give a brief introduction of the first time values they will encounter (depends on age really how much we do).

QUOTE (Trinity @ Apr 29 2005, 09:14 PM)

I am quite suprised that no-one has suggested a career change, or thinking about whether this is the right career for you.

You may have a point there Trinity. We are all different and have different temperaments and different personalities. I know I would never cope as a doctor or a nurse. It sounds to me as if you don't have the patience to teach and work with young people. Its a bit like driving. I'm sure most of the 18 year olds and above on these forums can drive or are learning and while we can drive safely and confidently, many of us will never make a driving instructor becasue we just don't have the temperament for it.
The ability to teach is partly a natural talent, not something that can be taught 100%.

funny you should say that, my husband is training to be a driving instructor!

Good luck to him! There is nothing more scary than being in a car beside a learner driver. I took my brother out - ONCE when he was learning and it was the most frightening experience. I also went out with a friend which was less of an ordeal. Presumably I won't be quite as bad for him because instructors have dual-control cars and he can stop the car before he reaches heart attack stage!

QUOTE (noodle @ May 2 2005, 10:55 AM)

Good luck to him! There is nothing more scary than being in a car beside a learner driver. I took my brother out - ONCE when he was learning and it was the most frightening experience. I also went out with a friend which was less of an ordeal. Presumably I won't be quite as bad for him because instructors have dual-control cars and he can stop the car before he reaches heart attack stage!

I debated about becoming a driving instructor once.Idea was to do this during the day and then teach as normal. Whilst I think I would have the patience to do it,I realised I couldn't stand the strain of someone "kangerooing",stalling and driving up grass verges.

Having taught someone the one lesson who proceeded to drive at 70 miles an hour along a country road including bends I still haven't recovered from that experience.

When behind learner drivers I always keep my distance.We have all been there!!!

thanks everyone for all the replies, discussion, teaching opinion, recommandation of books

sorry i wasn't replying much coz i was busy revising for my exam (3rd, 9th, 10th of May)
but i did read the first few posts and tried to 'change' my way of teaching a little bit.

for the last 2 weeks, for all my 8 students, i tried to make myself to praise more and more. i used that sandwich thing - praise, point out mistakes, praise again. well i can't tell whether there is an obviously change in terms of their feeling about my teaching, but i could see that some of them were tiny little bit 'happier' or enjoyed the lesson a bit more, even when they had to do a really difficult piece and still made loads of mistakes
but the obviously change i could feel, is about myself - through praising my students, cheering them up, encourage them more... i was happier/less stressed and enjoyed my lesson even more.
(it might be owing to the fact that i have no uni at the moment and it's still sunny outside when i finish my lesson so i'm less stressed or depressed )
and of course, the most important thing, teaching them and see them progressing are always the most rewarding thing!

i only scanned throught the last few posted, but one thing strike me the most - playing is not just about getting the note and rhythm right, there's something more.... totally agree

for most of my kids, i usally verbally tell him how they should practice, teach them a new piece and expect them to practise and play perfectly next week, coz i think i taught them HOW to practise!
but, last week for some of them, i spent more them PRACTISING WITH them. that worked obviously very well with one of the girl - she keep getting stuck in one of the exam piece, and she said she spent a whole week doing it and still couldn't do it.....
in the lesson, i just spent 15mins with her, and she was able to do something she tried doing but couldn't do for the whole week.
how amazing is that?!?!?!?

about the other girl (who didn't progress much for the last few months)..
a few days before i post my first post on this thread, i asked her and her mum about her own thoughts about music.
interested? well she is really interested in music, all kinds of instruments tho.
but she's currently learning piano, recorder and violin in school. (she wanted to do flute but there was't a place so she went for 2nd choice doing violin)
motivated to practice? sometimes. flutuate i'll say.
it's shame to tell u all that, this little girl cried in my lesson again.
but seriously i didn't do anything!! i wasn't shouting or not even sounded angry - i was actually prasing her too..
i asked why she was upset, she said...the piece was difficult.
(but then i thought she did managed to do somehting harder then THAT, so i asked her to repeat again....)
and she said something like she found starting a new piece very difficult....
i kinda get the idea that, maybe she didn't understand that, it's ALWAYS gonna be difficult everytime when start a new piece?! it's difficult because you've never played it before!
i told her that she's doing fine bla bla bla
she did became happy again, smiling and enjoy the rest of the lesson.
[that day i had so much fun in her house coz she and her elder sister were teaching me the lastest hobby of all girls - tying knots with scoobydoo strings! i bet many of your young students are crazy about these things too!]
that little girl is really interested in playing...and she also realised she need to go further too (she asked her mum when she can do her grade 1)
i think i need to spend more time thinking abotu and experimenting on HOW to motivate her to practice more......

****
seriously i LOVE teaching piano.
and i love kids, i love all of them.
i reckon that i kept thinking about improving my teaching only because i care so much about teaching and i really want to teach well and make students enjoy learning from me.
the last thing that i did 2 weeks ago before blocking myself using the internet, was to get ABRSM to send me info about the CT ABRSM and other diploma courses....
i really love to do that - once i finsh my degree

a funny thought just came to me the night before i had my first exam: do i really want to be a speech therapist? would i enjoy more by teaching kids piano for life???? (probably because i was revising too much, stressed and depressed and kept thinking about i would fail my exam....)
this little thought is bad because it shows that i nearly forgot about WHY and HOW MUCH I WANTED to do this speech therapy course; but it was also a good sign because it shows how much i enjoy and care about teaching piano.

gtg now.
i would reply a bit more to the earlier posts (need to print them off, highlight important bits!) after my exams.....(a week later maybe)

THANKS EVERYONE SO MUCH!!