Everyone Teaches Piano

Here's something I've noticed about more and more community music school websites these days.

Teacher #1: Teaches clarinet, saxophone, and piano.

Teacher #2: Teaches voice and piano.

Teacher #3: Teaches drums, trumpet, voice, and piano.

You see where I'm going with this. Over time, more and more teachers and school owners have made it okay for non-pianists to teach beginner piano lessons.

If you're a pianist who happens to also play saxophone, then sure. Teach piano and saxophone.

But if you're a saxophonist whose main piano experience is passing functional piano in undergrad, that's another story.

Because teaching piano is more than showing kids how to push the right keys at the right times. If that were all there was to it, then most people could become piano teachers.

Good piano teaching is something more.

It's proper technique. Good sound production, minus the tendonitis.

It's learning how to read the grand staff using a developmentally-appropriate approach.

It's knowing the dozens of common pitfalls that derail students for life.

And it's learning how to help students level up all their skills to approach more advanced repertoire without the frustration.

That's why every piano teacher should be a pianist who's at least done the thing themselves. But preferably who also loves teaching the piano.

Otherwise, we're just paying for non-pianists with a non-piano degree to teach our kids how to push keys.