Stop Teaching Beginner Piano Like This! 

I'm 15, I give lessons to an 8 year old. He is really interested in Marvel, especially Spider-Man. He is lucky because I am to. He started in February, and around May he wanted the learn the Spider-Man theme because he thought the movie was really cool. He was already doing great after 3 months! Then he asked his mom at the end of the lesson if she could send the song he wanted to learn. Well that version was way too hard for him. But I went into Musescore and made an easier version for his level. The next lesson he hugged me because he was so happy he could now learn his favorite Spider-Man theme. Now I give him 3 lessons a week because he likes it so much. His parents are very proud and I will continue to make Marvel themed songs in musescore on his level. My whole question is, is this a good method to keep my student motivated?

Haha at anyone who raised their hand about being frustrated at students learning stuff on RU-vid while they watch a RU-vid video about teaching

Thanks for this - so great to see a positive response to some of the 'challenging' issues we often find in piano lessons. It's so easy to come out with the simple, short and slightly jaded response (often accompanied by a stifled sigh). This reminded me of the importance of really listening to my students and responding to their aspirations. Keep up the good work.!

This really reminds me of teaching languages as well. And most of the time they are taught in the worst possible way. They actually teach you how to read in language classes first. They teach you letters, syllables. This is like teaching people the notes on the sheet, and readding them without showing them where they fit in music. A lot of people are terrified to say anything for months aafter language classes. Just like a lot of people are terrified to play aything after taking classes.

Thank you for this! I've been playing for the majority of my life, and it was suggested by my teacher recently that I should consider taking on some students this summer. This was really helpful with giving me an idea of what and what not to do with aspiring students

Love this video! It's so funny and says so much. It's so important to meet students where they are, at the music they find exciting. And yet balance parent interest in support for lessons because parents can be concerned with examinations and level charts because that's sometimes the only way they feel theres progress.

That is so super important and also correct from the didactic method point of view. It's all absolutely critical to know before you even start teaching, but oh so rarely seen in real life. Good job!

Thank you Tim! I really appreciate your positive approaches to common teaching issues and will try them!

Absolutely fantastic video. Thank you.

So funny! Thanks for making this video. I am looking forward to your masterclass in MTNA and I hope you have a minute to chat afterwards!

Love this! Laughed so hard!

This was really helpful thank you!

Thanks so much! I’m 26 and just became a piano teacher and need some guidance/structure/methods on how to teach children in a professional way 😊 over time do you think I’ll get better and more confident? I want to put all my effort and passion into it! Thanks! 🎹

The end😂😂😂😂 "Lucas, it's time to go!" "YESSSS!!!!"

Hi Tim! I found this video very helpful. I’ve been reluctant to let the student’s interest guide the lesson, but I’m starting to think the overall experience might be better that way.

Thanks for giving som advice on this topic! I had one student but she quit without letting me know.. she was my first student and i did things good but also not so good. So i build report, i asked what she wanted to play (she was an adult) but she didn't know. So, i wondered why she wanted to play piano... I gave her some inspiration and said she could listen to yiruma or einaudi ... just to see if she liked that kind of music. But as she was a beginner i thought her to read with a very simple beginner book just the way i started. I asked her if she was oke with that because else i would look for some other method. I said to her that teaching was new to me so i had to see what works for both. She was oke. But after a few weeks she just quit without communicating to me what went wrong. So, now i'm left with no feedback. Anyways, it's not going to hold me back teaching...

I like your approach to all of these situations. It's especially important to roll with the students creativity with optimism and positivity. Now, where can I get these cool t-shirts you're always wearing?!

Excellent video--you put in 15 minutes what it took me 20 years to figure out

Yes, yes and yes

great video !

My niece has a Russian piano teacher and I finally sat in on one of her lessons and oh my god this lady was so MEAN lmaoooo Russian piano teachers are incredible in a scary way. I told her like you know my piano teacher is really nice to me…..

Such awesome advice. This is the direction I'm going in as well.

Suuper helpful

Brilliant! I was laughing out loud. Well-said.

Thank you

How would you address these for a group class?

One second into the video and I am already running to the door to see who's knocking😭 The embarrassment when I finally realised after a whole minute.

Hi Tim this was really beneficial and solution-oriented, thank you. I wonder if you could put up a video or direct me to your response I am struggling to know as a teacher what scales/warm-up exercises to do and how to make the student understand more on keys, harmony, chords and interrelationships in scales. I fond myself getting the student to play a lot of different C major scales but don’t really have a clear direction I am just teaching it because I was taught this way! Appreciate your thoughts :)

Really good video and I laughed during the first sketch. That said, I'd respectfully disagree on your first point (Obviously the sketch is exaggerated, no teacher just puts a book and says "this is C" before he even feels the keys) . I'm not saying your methods or the likes of 'Suzuki' are wrong as every teacher does things differently, but for me teaching a kid how to read music - either through a score or just presenting chords on a paper, simply works better due to the *multimedia effect* - it is empirically proven that people learn better when they see / hear / touch the keys and connect in their brain how the visuals, and sound and the touch align (unlike the antiquated notion that's called 'Learning Styles' which unfortunately I was injected with in Uni ad nauseam). The other purpose of sheet music for a learner is to reduce congnitive overload. I would agree that for the very young, sheet music is tiresome and should not be used for the entire lesson. I like to spice up lessons with fun piano games, percussion instruments and music trivia etc. to "sweeten" it for the kids. As someone who speaks 4 languages (2 fluent, 2 intermediate) I can say - In fact, I started learning a very difficult language less than a year ago and people are amazed at how good I am considering the time I've been practising. This is because the first thing I did when I started was to write down every single letter (and there are 44!) + the equivalent English pronounciation etc. Still I congratulate you on your video and I'd pretty much agree with everything else said... Subbed !

Never ignore childrens musical interests

LOL! The mean parts at the beginning made me cringe. :)

Bro I love this video I love u😂

I'm trying to teach my 5 year old and I notice I get REALLY obsessed with getting his hand posture relaxed and correct. 😓. Should I not worry so much at such a young age? I don't want him to develop bad habits but I know I'm not making it fun....!

You look like Hugh Jackman’s little brother or something. Great video.

Have you ever been asked to teach a child two or three lessons per week instead of the standard one session each week that we have in the West?

I have a young student who is a perfectionist and has a meltdown if I correct a mistake. How can you teach without correcting mistakes?! I ask questions but the child is so defensive.

Oh dear, no wonder I hated piano.

whoa.. and ewww, never done these

You are not a music teacher. You are a psychologist!! ❤

Can he learn on the real piano??