Angela Chan's Random Musings on Piano Pedagogy
As a music teacher, I feel privileged that I may share my passion for the arts with dedicated students. It is also an exciting and edifying process to co-explore topics regarding learning and pedagogy with fellow music teachers and students. This exchange not only affords me the opportunity to share my artistic perspectives, but also to participate in the development of the budding careers of young teachers. It is one of the most rewarding experiences to realize that we have indirectly, yet positively influenced a larger population of students through sharing insights on the art of pedagogy.
In this column, I would hope to share some of my thoughts stemming from my work with some of my pedagogy students.
One of my young male piano students was recently given an opportunity to work as a substitute teacher in a music school. Even though he had pursued many years of private piano study with me, he had virtually no experience in teaching. Feeling apprehensive about undertaking this temporary position, he asked for some pointers. Here are a few suggestions I offered to this young teacher, of which some are more concrete and prescriptive, while others tend to be more philosophically inclined.
1. Be Respectful – For new teachers, especially young male teachers, I recommend them to be more self-conscious and to avoid any physical contact with their students. Although musical performance is a physical act and requires the transmission of movement and touch, I still recommend a certain level of physical distance to be maintained. I have encountered many students who feel uncomfortable with physical contact. It is important to maintain the privacy of one’s personal space by keeping a distance. This will also prevent potential complaints of physical violation.
2. Professionalism and Etiquette - Attire is something that has often been overlooked by many young teachers. Despite individual differences, it is important for teachers to maintain a professional appearance in order to command respect in a learning environment. Parents may have doubts about the professionalism of a young teacher when he is in an oversize t-shirt, baggy pants and with his base ball cap worn backwards. The proper dress code helps establish a level of professional distance between teacher and student. This clearly defines in the mind of both parties that a serious artistic / academic exchange is in progress.
Punctuality is also something that has often been overlooked. Some teachers believe that it is acceptable to start the lesson late, as long as the student receives the full duration of the lesson. I know of an outstanding master teacher who claims that as an artist, one should not be bounded by the artificial parameters of time. As a consequence, lessons start hours later than they should. Backlogged students had to wait at the door for more than 3 hours, feeling completely helpless and frustrated.
In some instances, teachers offer students extended time for their lessons out of sheer devotion and generosity. Upon their willingness to sacrifice for their students, they also believe that they are entitled to ignore the aspect of punctuality. As a teacher, I believe that we should set a good role model by being punctual. We need to be sensitized to the fact that students and parents may run a tight schedule, and punctuality is certainly something that will be appreciated.
3. Empathy - The teacher serves as the role model for the student. In a position of authority, a teacher can cultivate or break the confidence of the learner. In this instance, I am not only referring to the use of decent and proper language, but rather communications between teacher and student need to be respectful and empathetic.
I believe that comments to students should be delivered through positive and constructive language. This highlights positive emotions and can be directly translated to a pleasurable learning experience, hence generating productive work. Rather than focusing upon errors and mistakes that the student has made, we may focus on what they have accomplished. Effective teaching involves the skilful art of human communication. And the key to such is sensitivity, compassion and empathy. As a teacher, one of the most effective ways to help build an enthusiastic learner is to put oneself in the shoes of the student, and to see from their vantage point.
I had a teacher who was former prodigy and a remarkable concert artist. Despite her exceptional performance skills, she was unable to truly understand the difficulties experienced by her students. On one occasion, she remarked at my futile struggle in achieving a correct rhythm commenting, “I really don’t know why you still can’t get it right!” Out of sheer helplessness, I responded “I don’t understand why you can’t understand my difficulties …” From the perspective of a teacher and a pedagogy student, I think it may be instructive to reframe the question into the following, “How can I tap into the experience of this student so that I can help her solve this particular problem?”
4. Creativity and Resourcefulness – While it is important to provide clear instructions to students, a good teacher needs to be adventurous, and be willing to experiment. I often suggest to my young pedagogy students “when in doubt, don’t consult! Construct.” In the simplest terms, the best solution is one that works. We also need to be aware that solutions are situational and individual specific. Hence it may work in one context, and not in another. So, consideration for context is crucial.
As I advice my students, “If you draw a blank in teaching, go sit at the student’s bench, and imagine how you would prefer your teacher to handle this situation. What actions from your teacher will make you feel encouraged, and what can make you feel uncomfortable? Many of my students find the change in seating position to be highly effective, as this helps re-orientate their mindset.
Apart from young teachers, I have also worked with teachers who have been in the private teaching profession for a number of years. The questions I received from this group tend to me more specific. Amongst the myriad questions, here are a few frequently encountered ones: How long should I require my students to practice? Which method book should I use for young beginners? How should I teach scales and arpeggios? What is the best fingering for a particular passage?
While offering prescriptive information may be helpful, I will also make use of this opportunity to help my students explore options. Often times, a tangible solution from a higher authority tends to make us feel safer - whether that be a method, system or approach. However, I find that the most effective solution is probably one that is devised specifically for the situation. I am not aware of any method book that addresses students with seriously double jointed fingers. Nor are there any prescription approaches regarding how to handle performance interferences effectively. Difficulties and problems stem from individual differences in physical and mental organization, as well as the music and the performance context. So, what should a teacher do in situations where there have neither been guidelines nor precedence?
The reality is that we are left to our own devices. We must rely on our experiences and ingenuity. I often suggest to my pedagogy students “Be bold and daring. Trust your intuition and it will guide you towards the best solutions.” Ultimately, a teacher is working with a “live” individual in a dynamic setting. Books or methods are intended to offer a perspective, but that is static knowledge. Situations are alive and dynamic. They evolve with time. The role of the teacher is to adapt and device solutions that bring out creativity through wonder and exploration, rather than searching for cut and dried solutions.
4. Self Evaluation through Introspection – Introspection is an important aspect to learning. As teachers, we need to examine our work both objectively and subjectively.
In many instances, I suggest pedagogy students to video-tape their lessons with their young students, so that we can co-examine the teaching process. This is helpful towards reviewing specific difficulties encountered in context. Review of videos also helps prompt teachers to re-examine aspects that they may have overlooked due to time constraints during class.
One of my pedagogy students brought in a video of her student recitals, and watching that together opened up a series of in-depth discussions ranging from practice and rehearsals, stage deportment, repertoire choice, development of artistry, overcoming stage fright, to understanding the acoustics of the hall.
As a teacher, we need to ask a lot of questions. We have to constantly ask questions about ourselves, about our students, about what works and what doesn’t. We also need to ask the right question at the right moment. Through introspection, we can help ourselves observe the situation more closely and in context.
For me, determining what questions to ask, when to ask the right questions, and how we may draw from these questions still require a life time of exploration to master…
(c) Copyrighted by Angela Chan October 2008
First publication on Musifax Magazine (Journal of Quebec Music Teachers' Association)
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