May 30

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The Right Answers

Our schools worship the right answers. Most of the work revolves around just that.

The quizzes.

The tests.

Whether the essay followed the ever-present yet extremely-outdated five-paragraph structure.

Answering the teacher's questions in class.

But, think about it...has anything significant happened in your life because you knew the right answers?

Has anyone changed the world because they knew the right answers?

Learning music, there are certainly no right answers. Maybe that's why so many quit. It's hard to learn music with its complexities and nuances in a right-answers kind of world.

But then, in life there are no right answers.

Heck, most of the time we don't even know what the question is.

What about teaching students to seek out the wrong answers? Challenging our kids to come up with 1,000 ideas, no matter how absurd they may be?

Daring them to solve problems that aren't even written about yet.

It's harder to grade than "right" or "wrong," of course.

But this is the teaching and learning that will change the world.

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For parents, students, and anyone else who believes that music can and should be a meaningful part of everyone's life.

About Jonathan Roberts

I am the founder and director of the South Shore Piano School, and I have been teaching the piano for nearly 20 years. My work centers around bringing music to the lives of kids, parents, and adults in an enriching, meaningful way. At the South Shore Piano School, my incredible colleagues and I accomplish this through skill-based teaching, community, and an innovative, people-first business model. You can read more about me here.


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