I am myself all the time too. I've always had parents in, so I forget about them.

I also get grandparents, aunties, uncles...

thinking about another thread about putting up prices - it helps if the parents see what you do - and both Steve and I have posted about how we find putting up prices isn't difficult for us. So maybe there is a connection.

I've never had parents sit in during lessons and have yet to have a problem with fees.

Anyone see the article in the EPTA magazine (Sept 2005) about involving parents in music lessons? It was based on a survey carried out by Jenny Macmillan of a small group of teachers, pupils and their parents. She lists the advantages and disadvantages for the teacher, parent and student.

They are only to happy to become 'part of the wallpaper' unless invited by word or gesture to take part. The again, ringaringa, maybe this is because we have become adept at 'parent control'


.....friends.....friends of friends.....the hitchhiker they picked up on the street


Perhaps, although lots of our colleagues have no trouble here either.

I tell you what I do notice. The 'parents from h-e-l-l' (sorry about that; the AB software insists on replacing the word with #####) are never those who sit in on the lessons and observe me teaching. Ditto the pushy, "When is the next exam" parent.

In fact, thinking about it the only parents I ever have difficulties with are those who do not watch me teach. Granted, I do not tend to have difficulties twice, but that is a different story

Steve

That's actually why I started insisting on parents attending below a certain age. One boys father would sit in the car, whilst his son looked around the room, clicked his fingers, talked back to me and generally ignored me.

I put in my newsletter a reminder that parents were always welcome and it was more comfortable on the sofa in the studio than in a car. I also added that I had noticed pupils who brought parents moved through the books faster.

Well the next week I had a queue! the boys father was at the front of it - and at the end he did the "so how is xxx progressing?" conversation - you know the one where they sound so bad at home the parent assumes the teacher must be awful.

So I truthfully said xxx had acheived more in that one lesson than in the rest of term. His dad suggested attending once a term - missing the point. So I said that he had to come to every single lesson.

I now enjoy teaching this boy, and his father can see how hard I try.

This reminds me why I started inviting parents in early on in my career, a story I had forgotten.

A little girl would come to her lesson and play me absolute rubbish. Her hands would roam around the piano playing notes at random. Every 'performance' would be different.

I took this for a couple of weeks, patiently re-preparing the material with her. After a couple of weeks, I asked her mum to make sure she practised the piece\s I had given her. "She does. 30 minutes every night. I sit with her."

I explained that the child was not playing the score as written. "Yes she is" insisted mum. The same the following week, so I cracked and told her that either matters improved or I would refuse to carry on teaching the child.

Mid-way through the week, mum appeared with tape in hand of daughter at practise. We listened to it; 30 minutes of random note playing that mum did not recognise as rubbish (and it was rubbish; we are not talking high-level improvisation here).

Mum sat in and listened intently to the next couple of lessons before the light dawned - her ear needed a bit of training too. Finally, the lesson arrived when the child played a recognisable approximation to the score.

A grim faced mum explained, "I finally worked out that she was making things up as she went along and have made her read the music."

Parents often need education too

Steve

Been reading the last few comments with interest. Have to say I invite parents into lessons and find it constructive and I'm glad others have experienced the same as me.

As for the "he-llish" ones ....yep...a little parent control is needed.I snapped recently with a parent recently,but now that is sorted,although I received a phone call at the weekend during dinner with her asking whether the girl should use her index finger when finding the lines & spaces!!!

Steve....can you nlot sleep?....anyway great idea asking the parent to record the pupil's "performance" at home. Don't you just get fed up of hearing they can play it perfectly at home????

Anyway just logged on again for a quickie as now I have 2 school runs to do!!!!

Charging parents over £200 per year for the school bus is outrageous and I can't afford it in one chunk.

Some interesting replies must have come to mind


Usual thing; rocket awake at 5.00 am with no chance of going back to sleep. I should be galking tibberish by the time I finish teaching tonight. What awoke me with a start was the realisation that the reply I posted to a query about the Waldstein sonata was absolute rubbish. I gave it a few minutes to see if sleep would return, but I kept visualising the poor contributor actually trying to play the nonsense I had proposed. After a few minutes, I snuck downstairs to edit the post in the hope that nobody had noticed


I don't mind so long as it does not happen for an entire evening. The smile becomes a tad strained then.


£200? Ouch.

Steve

An Italian dialect spoken by Romans living in the region of the great river Tiber?? Wow - I am impressed - I can't even speak Italian!!

Many find tibberish difficult to master until they discover The Big Secret.

Fluent tibberish always results from sufficient altaking of incohol.

Unbelievable. Did she not remember you telling her she was supposed to use her big toe?????

Oops...just read my very rushed posting this morning....lots of gibberish and spelling mistakes.

Still rushed as now I'm setting off on the second leg of school run.Have to get there early to find a place to park and watch the school buses zig zag their way,but it's nice to relax and read a book.

Noodle...Hello! The big toe eh? Hoiw about 2 fingers.... Said pupil and mother first lesson today. One pupil...boy age 4...we gave up,but sister is doing very nicely...still thinks I play the piano with my nose. I showed him how to play 5 Cs all at once. In my younger days I could play 7.

Now work that one out!!!!! Ouch

I'm pretty flexible, so I think I'll try that. But perhaps I'll try it when I'm not 36 weeks pregnant.

Wow. I was never that supple