Advice for Music Teachers

When I first started teaching music lessons, I was 14 years old. My dad wasn't comfortable letting me work during the school year (I can still hear him say, "School is your job, Kate!"), but I somehow managed to convince him that teaching 30-minute lessons a few times a week wouldn't distract from my studies. Convinced I'd outsmarted the system, I set to work drumming up students.

To say I didn't know what I was getting myself into would be an understatement. I had no one to teach me how to teach, so experience and self-reflection became my guideposts. As the years went on, I was fortunate enough to take pedagogy classes, observe my own instructors, discuss best practices with friends and colleagues, and do my own research on what it means to be a good teacher. 15 years have passed since I began teaching music privately, and I've learned more than that high school freshman eager for some extra cash ever could've imagined. Here is some of the knowledge I've gained:

Teach what the student wants to learn

This may seem glaringly obvious, but it still needs to be said. The first thing I try to find out in every lesson (if not before the first lesson ever happens) is what style of music the student likes and envisions themselves playing. Technique and music theory transcend genres; in other words, I can work on many of the same things with a student who is studying Bach as a student who wants to play Taylor Swift. If I try to only teach Bach (or Taylor Swift!), though, I will end up alienating students. Once a student feels separated from the music, they will lose interest and quit altogether.

Be a lifelong learner

There can be a temptation as a teacher to feel pressured to provide an answer to any question a student asks. No matter how widespread our musical background is, though, the reality is that we can't know everything. Instead of living in dread of the moment when a student stumps you with an obscure question about Schenkerian analysis, use these moments to demonstrate what it means to be a lifelong learner. You can say, "Wow - what a great question! I don't know the answer to it right now, but I can do some research and get back to you." This can even be an opportunity to show your student how to find answers to their own questions. If you take the time to empower them, this will only grow their love and curiosity for music.

Share the positives first

Shortly after each lesson starts, I ask my students to play what they've been working on for the week. As they play, I'm listening for two things: what we should keep and what we should change. The "what we should keep" group often comes across as positives (e.g. "I love how you used a dynamic change in the second phrase"), whereas the "what we should change" group can feel more negative (e.g. "In measure 13, there is a C#, not a C natural). The first words your students hear after playing for you, their teacher, are extremely important. Because of this, I make a conscientious effort to ALWAYS start with what the student should continue doing. Fixing what needs to be changed may take the rest of the lesson, and if you start with the negatives first, you may run out of time for the positives. These positives are every bit as important as the negatives, and if you are only focusing on one of these categories, your students won't grow as much as they could.

Keep practicing your craft

Teaching takes time - a lot of it. There's the actual lesson time, the prep for the lessons, the aftermath where I often find myself analyzing how the lesson went, and various administrative tasks. Before you know it, you've lost valuable time that you might have otherwise used to improve your own craft. While it becomes harder to find time to practice your instrument, it also becomes more important. Everything you learn in the practice room can someday be used to help your students. The more you know, the more you can teach.

Remember the power of words

I've heard countless horror stories of music teachers telling kids and adults that they don't have what it takes to play a musical instrument. This is wrong for two reasons. First, while some people are certainly predisposed to be musically talented, music is a skill. It can be taught, fostered, and encouraged in anyone so long as they are willing to learn. In other words, if a teacher tells you that you're unteachable, it's a reflection of their skill level as a teacher, not your ability to learn. Second, the impact that this type of comment can have on a student may stick with them for life. A few years back, I taught the most wonderful student. She was a mother of two young boys and had decided to take up the guitar as a hobby. The first teacher she saw was impatient and essentially told her that she was wasting her time trying to learn. When she switched to taking lessons with me, this message was already implanted in her psyche; we had to work extra hard to overcome that negative self-talk imparted from her previous teacher. Her former teacher ignored her work ethic, eagerness, and commitment, focusing only on her so-called lack of natural talent. I'm thankful she didn't let his words stop her, but all too often, students are discouraged from continuing with music due to similar situations.

Remove the words "perfect" and "but" from your vocabulary

Continuing with the power of words, I do my best to avoid using two words as a teacher: "perfect" and "but." Any student who's studied with me for longer than a few months knows that I always say, "There's no such thing as perfect - except my dog Jolene." The reason I say this (other than the fact that Jolene very much IS perfect) is because musicians can easily get hung up on the search for perfection in their playing. While there are right and wrong things when it comes to learning a song, much of what we do as musicians is up to interpretation, and interpretation means opinions. What is "perfect" to one person may be deemed "wrong" by another... and that is okay. Having different interpretations of pieces is part of what makes music beautiful. The other word I try to avoid is "but." It's very easy to completely undo a compliment when you follow it up with that pesky conjunction. If you say, "That was really good, but..." the student will likely only focus on what came after the "but." Challenge yourself to flip the narrative with, "That was really good! Now let's try and polish this section here." This breaks it into two statements ("what we should keep" and "what we should change") with equal importance.

Practice what you preach

This is arguably the toughest part of teaching for me. It can be applied to many different areas: technique, musicianship, practice habits, self-talk, performance etiquette, performance anxiety, and more. As teachers we need to model good behavior. If I tell a student that they shouldn't avoid working on the hardest part of their piece, that probably means I should follow my own counsel. In other words, if you won't follow your own advice, why should your students?

Realize not every student will want to be a professional musician - and be okay with that

I've taught students that went on to study music in college. I've also taught students that had no aspirations whatsoever of being involved with music professionally. Both are important. You may be tempted to try to persuade every student into making music a career, but this is simply not realistic. It also isn't what's best for society to function. We need engineers, doctors, real estate agents, and writers just like we need musicians and artists. Instead of thinking of "wins" in terms of how many students you have that go on to study music professionally, focus on creating lifelong relationships with music for your students. Personally, I want to live in a world where the CEO of a business goes home after a stressful day and picks up their guitar to unwind. This type of appreciation for music's restorative qualities from the layman will come back to support the music field tenfold.