Can Just Anyone Really Teach a Beginner?

The high schooler next door teaches piano - we'll just have Mikey start lessons with him for now. He's just a beginner, after all.

-Signs of the journey ending before it's even begun...

We have two problems facing beginning music students of the world right now.

The first problem is that the teaching of private music lessons is completely unregulated in the United States. It doesn't matter whether you have a doctorate in piano or you are a high schooler with a 51-key keyboard from the 1970's.

Both are allowed to advertise piano lessons, teach piano lessons, and collect money for piano lessons legally.

The second problem is the perception that piano is only about pushing the right keys down at the right time. That it is so simple. That anyone can teach these basics.

But, there is so much more. Just to scratch the surface, beginning students need:

• to learn how to sit at the piano properly.
• to learn the healthiest way to produce sound on the piano. (Pressing the keys is actually one of the worst things you can do.)
• to learn to move to music.
• to develop their ear through singing and chanting.
• to take a developmentally appropriate path to reading music (Every Good Boy has never Done Fine...)

And the list goes on and on. But, the average teacher of beginning piano students either doesn't know or doesn't care about these things. It's just playing the right keys at the right time, after all. 

There was a time I believed that college teaching was the most profound level of pedagogy one could attain. I was completely wrong. 

Teaching beginners requires the most skill by far. The younger the student, the greater the teacher's skill set needs to be.

These teachers usually come with a premium price tag. But, please don't be deterred. Whatever the cost, the value you receive will be worth 10 times that.

On the other hand, selecting the wrong teacher for a beginning piano student can have dire consequences. 

If the student lasts long enough to change to a proper teacher, it takes so much more work to get them on track. Not only does time need to be spent building foundations, but there is also the challenge of bringing a child's excitement for learning back.

Not to worry, though. We've got your back.

There are two questions that can help you in your quest for a qualified beginning piano teacher. A teacher who knows what she is doing should be able to answer these without a problem.

1. What is your teaching philosophy?

This question alone will clear out the deadwood right away. Many average beginning teachers rely on the method book to do the teaching without much thought beyond this.

2. How do children learn music?

If you hear an answer that you are happy with, hold onto this teacher for dear life. You've found a good one. Even many experienced teachers have not delved into the science of how children learn music. 

Incidentally, we're big fans of Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory at SSPS.

Music's biggest competition is a lack of parent education in the field. We hope this post can serve as a small step towards correcting this. 

It breaks our collective heart when a student ends up quitting because he was paired with an unqualified teacher. And the saddest part is, the parents have no idea. And why should they?

As a profession, we have a responsibility to educate parents on these things so they can make informed decisions. This is how we will make music a regular part of society again.

So...who wants to join us?