Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Can you affect your students playing with your thoughts?

I always wonder, while my students are playing, if somehow my energy in the room, or my thoughts can affect how well my students play. Like if I stand in a certain place, or move in a certain way, or think certain thoughts like "you can do it!" or "I hope you don't mess up". Does that have an affect on how comfortable they feel and thus how many mistakes they make?

Or they're 3/4 the way through a difficult piece and you almost want to freeze and stop breathing so you don't break their concentration?

Or have any of you had this - your student is hesitating on the next note for a few seconds, and right as you're telling them what not to play in your head, they hit it, at that exact moment - like they heard your thoughts.

Just wondering if other teachers think about this stuff, or if I'm just going mad

I think that you are asking a question about " cause and effect " which is different than your thread title which seems to imply you are wondering about if your thoughts can control students' emotions.

We are animals, mammals and primates with more than tens of millions of years of evolution deep in our genes -- where during most of that time we were not communicating with language. Then as now, in the same way as for any other animal, non-verbal communication is critial. In fact, today it is estimated that more than 80% of our communication is non-verbal -- whether or not we are consciously aware of the non-verbal signals we are giving off or receiving. (Which also explains a good many of the misunderstandings and petty arguments on pianoworld, since people can only read the words rather than look people in the eye.)

Therefore, your expectations as a teacher, and how you express those expectations in terms of tension you are holding, your facial expressions, your body position, etc. etc. all can have a (potentially big and negative) impact on the student.

Your student cannot read your thoughts directly. However, many students, especially those with high levels of emotional intelligence, can read your thoughts indirectly through your behavior and your non-verbal signals -- whether or not they are consciously aware of it or not.

I agree with TheJourney. I think that it's far more likely that this appearance of 'thought reading' is a result of subconcious non-verbal communication (patterns of breathing, posture, expression, possibly even heartbeat) rather than metal telepathy. I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of mental telepathy on a-priori grounds, but other things seem a whole lot more probable.

I will often make noises and move while a student is playing. I also type their assignment sheet while they play. I do this on purpose to help them be able to maintain their focus and not think "what is she doing? what did she just type about?"

I do think that music itself is a form of communication, and the audience can receive and send just like the performer can. I try not to make lessons like performances, however, since our purpose is to correct errors and learn new ways of improving. I also think that when a lesson becomes a performance, that heightens tension and you can feel it in the air. This tension makes the student even more afraid of making a mistake, when in fact, we want to make mistakes at lessons so that we can address them.

Not by your thoughts directly. Maybe by physical manifestations of your thoughts. But don't worry about it. Just show them some good fingerings :-)

I think that if you have a positive attitude and vibe then this will rub off on your students. I also think that where you sit when they are playing helps as well. Students wouldn't like it if you stand over them, like we wouldn't like it if somebody was standing over our shoulders whilst we performed.
I also think that it's important to not fidget around when somebody us really concentrating as this would put people off!

I hope you all don't mind if a student posts here on your forum. But anyhow I definitely notice the body language of my teacher (in my peripheral vision) when I am playing for her. Her posture, facial expression, eye movement, where she stands or sits, if she walks around, etc. It all has an impact on how I play. I see her glance up, and I think "Did I accent that chord note too much?" or something along those lines.

That's why I often sit out of my students' range of vision.

For those here who genuinely believe they can affect outcomes merely by thinking, consider taking the James Randi $1,000,000 Challenge.

To date, no one has collected the money.

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+1

How many times do we hear a student saying, 'I played this much better when I was practicing'?

I often sit well back, and try to give the impression of almost being dis-interested, or focussing on something else.
That is when the student usually gives their best performance.
I would hate to have someone crowding me, or trying to project positive vibes, whilst I am playing, and would be the worse for it.

That's exactly how I feel. When I have especially nervous students, I'll let them play through it once just to get used to the piano, and I tell them I'm not listening and go do do something, maybe even leave the room. Then I return and have them play. I stay out of their peripheral vision for the most part.

This is a topic close to my heart - I had a mean, mean, teacher who you could tell was not only seething inside with every error but trying to anticipate my playing. It's called 'magical thinking' by Freud and is the worse type of behaviour a teacher can indulge in.