Piano Teacher’s Thoughts

I wonder how many piano teachers can relate to the article in Saturday’s Guardian – “what I’m really thinking: the private music teacher.” I certainly can.

Unfortunately, I currently have several pupils who practise very rarely or – in some cases – not at all. Of course, I have tried talking to their parents about this – explaining that if the child doesn’t practise, the parent will not get value for money out of the lessons. The parents accept this and agree with me … but nothing changes! The worst thing is, I can tell that many of these parents are really struggling to afford the lessons (for example, some turn up saying they’ve ‘forgotten’ the payment … and when I eventually receive it, it’s in the form of a load of loose change – as if they’ve borrowed from a child’s piggybank). So why do they bother?

I suppose it’s natural to want the best for our children (especially if we feel we missed out ourselves) and I guess some parents just hope that by some miracle their offspring will learn enough in the half hour lesson time to become a successful pianist. Others probably have the intention of encouraging and monitering their child’s practice – but just don’t get around to it.

Of course one of the main problems is that children themselves have far too many other (and less taxing) distractions these days, with all the technology available to them. If parents were brave enough to ban all these devices, maybe their children would suddenly find their musical instrument a little more interesting.