Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum I'd like to teach but not sure where to start..

I've just started playing piano again after a break of about 10 -15 years. I've never had lessons and play mainly by ear; popular music, show tunes, jazz etc. Anything non-classical, basically. I can sight read a little bit and have some knowledge of music theory so I know all the scales and arpeggios. I can play a melody without the written music after hearing it a few times, and I only use sheet music for the chords.

I started playing like this about 25 years ago, after playing with a guitarist who was learning jazz we played together from vocal/piano/guitar scores. I learned to relate the guitar chords to the piano for the harmony. I played the melody from memory and just improvised the left hand bass bits using runs, arpeggios etc.

I'd liek to pass on my knowledge and I have had several people over the years who have asked me to teach them. But I'm not sure how as I do a lot of it by ear and feel.. and instinct!! I'd be wiiling to take some lessons to learn myself and a teaching qualification. I also have people I can practice my teaching methods on - including my 10 year old stepson. If anyone can advise me or give me any useful links to books/online videos I would be grateful, thanks.

Take on an adult student who is willing to be a guinea pig, and give you teaching feedback while you give him or her lessons. Don't inflict this on a family member, or a child. And be sure to charge a lower fee, or teach for nothing, during your apprenticeship.

You might blossom at this.

Be up front with the student about your qualifications.

Why should Jane charge a lower fee, or nothing at all? Why not charge what the market will bear, as long as she's upfront about her qualifications?

The best way to learn is to observe lessons taught by a great teacher.

Continuing to develop as a musician yourself is important too. Maybe if you connect with a good teacher for you, you could arrange to observe that person teaching others.

(Observing lessons is very different from receiving them -- you can focus on what the teacher is doing and why, without being distracted by having to play the piano!)

Hello Jane,

Anyone who wants to teach really well should be an active learner themselves. Those 'teachers' who merely pontificate about what they already know but are not actively learning as well make for unimaginative and dull teachers. So my first bit of collegial advice is to actively learn all you can and improve your own abilities (if only for your student's sake) as long as you are alive.

You ask what you should study to prepare for teaching. The short answer is you should read and observe everything you can possibly lay your hands on. Take note of how beginner books of all types proceed - that does not mean you should necessarily follow their lead, but when you observe a variety of methods by others it gives you some points of reference. There are a couple of books published about how to set up a music studio for teaching. I do not endorse them necessarily, but they present some generic information you should know - a quick google search or amazon search will bring those books up and you can assess if they might be of value to you. That will at least get you started thinking about how to organize your teaching method and presentation.

Having been taught by eight major teachers (not including theory, composition, etc.) I have an experiential reference of eight different teaching styles to draw upon to determine which approaches do or do not work, yet all of those are of lesser significance to the artistic values I live and teach born of my own development. If you did not have extensive experience with years of lessons, consider rummaging through YouTube for examples of piano lessons. It is easy to be sidelined on YouTube because it has literally millions of videos, but you will find your way to what you need that can provide some objective references to consider as examples to help build you own teaching approach.

Pianostudent 88 asks a reasonable question: why do I maintain that Jane should charge a lesser fee at first, or teach for free?

Jane can charge whatever she wishes, but clearly she deems herself at most a tentative beginner at teaching. She's not even an apprentice teacher at present, just someone kicking around a vague idea. I figured she would gain a bit of security if at first she concentrated on gathering a few skills, not on earning income. And of course it's fairer to the real piano teachers in Jane's community, most of whom are probably struggling to earn a living.

Good on you, Jane. I say be upfront about your training and learn as you go. It sounds like you're passionate and that goes a long way in my opinion. An adult student who is happy to be your guinea pig is a great idea. You may find my blog helpful for teaching tips and ideas - especially as a new teacher (link below).

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm not even thinking about fees at the moment to be honest. I do have some willing 'guinea pigs' in my family - my partner is a music loving, creative person and is learning guitar and would like to learn some piano. His son (10) is also creative and is interested in learning piano. So I think this is a good thing. I have bought the first John Thompson book for teaching piano as I looked in the local childrens library and online, and liked this look of this series. Don't know if any of you have come across it. I will look on Youtube for teaching videos and try to find a teacher who is willing to let me observe a lesson too.

Oh yes, some of us have heard of it.

My, oh my. Is that the ultimate understatement of the century??

Many of us have used it, survived it, ripped it to shreds. And then moved on to something vastly superior.

If so, then it should be an adult student who has been given a solid foundation by a prior teacher. The shaping of someone's first playing should not be done on a guinea pig basis, and adult beginners are especially vulnerable. They have no advocate (parent) and they have had the courage to invest in a dream at an age where "it's not usually done".

I very much like the idea of guidance on teaching through an experienced and competent teacher.

Jane, the lengthy discussions on John Thomson may be archived by now - if not they are worth reading. In a nutshell, JT uses extensive finger numbers. On the short run, it appears on the surface that students will "advance fast" because of these numbers. But it creates a dependence on reading numbers, which interferes with the ability to read notes. Note reading is especially challenging for piano, because of the many notes that a pianist plays.

If JT stays in 5 finger position in a "home key" (I don't know if it does) then you get a second problem together with finger numbers. The student will associate C with the RH thumb (1), D = 2, E = 3 etc. Of course these notes can be played with any finger. This association can create confusion later on, and again interfere with true reading.

In summary these are the precautions that were voiced in this forum in the past.

Keystring - both your posts are outstanding advice.

I took my first student when I was eighteen after ten years of formal training and after completing a Grade X Royal Conservatory exam ( first class). I charged about half price based on other "real" piano teachers. And made it very clear that I hadn't yet completed my teaching diploma. Only when I completed my ARCT a year later, did I dare to ask the regular fees. After another degree in Solfege from the Quebec Conservatoire and a graduate degree from Juilliard, I raised my rates to the upper levels.

Some time ago, I gave a lecture for "Career Night" in a local High School and when I had finished a sassy student suggested teaching music would be an "easy way" to earn a good salary. I grabbed a piece of chalk and tabulated the years I spent practicing, the exams and competitions I entered to finance my studies in the best schools and told him that if he wanted easy money, he'd better avoid studying brain surgery AND piano teaching.

"Real" teachers spend years and years acquiring not only their formal education, but the knowledge and sensitivity it takes to teach well. It isn't a hobby ... it's a vocation.

You can find a lot of suggestions on teaching and choosing a teacher on my website, which I've devoted to furthering musical education.

HappyPianoMuse, Well said.

I also enjoyed your website btw. If I lived in Hawaii, I might have been knocking on your door

I would most definitely NOT be knocking on the door of any half-baked want-to-dabble-at-piano-teaching persona.

(I am a student)

That, and the fact that JT assumes every kid is a prodigy and can play a classical sonata by book five.

However, to his credit, JT does have a nice ear for tunes. I've supplemented my students with a couple of selections from JT books.