r/pianoteachers

I have a 10y/o student that plays with a very bouncy arm. Like his elbows are flapping when he plays and his wrists are bounding up and down. I continue to remind him and try to show him the right technique, and he will do it for a note or two, but with a very bad attitude, while insisting his way is better and it's easier. When I get him to play with better technique, he plays comically badly on purpose to show me that his technique is better. I try to explain to him that with all the bouncing his hand will move around a lot and it will be very difficult to play the right notes without looking at your hands, but I'm having trouble making headway with him. He's only been playing for about 6 months, so I don't want to be too pushy and make the experience unenjoyable, but I think this way of playing will only cause him harm in the future and should be corrected as early as possible.

It's not that he can't understand what the right position is, it's that he thinks the right way to play is stupid and I'm getting pushback. Anyone dealt with something similar?

I teach many people from kids to adults, and something I realized is, especially among adults, getting them to play with a metronome is very hard, and many of them don't ever practice with one.

I understand when you are first learning a piece and getting the fingering and muscle memory down, playing with a metronome is hard and trying to focus on the rhythm when you don't even have the right notes/fingerings/chords, etc down can be very challenging.

But I have students who, after practicing a piece for a couple days and are able to play it from memory, still don't practice with a metronome. They say its too hard and makes them play worse.

This is very concerning for me. I truly believe practicing with a metronome, especially as a beginner and even intermediate player, is going to improve you abilities dramatically, make you sound more professional (since nothing screams inexperienced more than someone with tempo all over the place when unintended), make practicing easier as you can gradually increase difficulty of practice, etc.

If I hear someone play a piece, I can EASILY tell if they've practiced with or without a metronome.

How can I drill the importance of this to my students and get them to overcome this fear of the metronome? Alternatively, am I just making a big deal out of something that doesn't matter and actually, a metronome isn't as helpful as I think?

Curious if you have one and what it is, and whether your students follow it!

Hi everyone. I'm a teacher. I started writing this mini-essay to help me think through what I think is really the ultimate question about music practice. But I've realised I can't answer it satisfactorily, at least for now. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if you are a piano teacher too.

The practice feedback loop:

Are you the type of piano student who runs their fingers along (approximately) the right keys, and then turns around to look expectantly at the teacher, waiting for feedback on whether it was good or not? Or are you the type who gets feedback not from an external source, but from YOURSELF?

Although it may sound counterintuitive, the best kind of feedback is the kind that comes from your own ears, not from your teacher. You are a musician. This not only means that you can play the piano (to a greater or lesser extent), but also that you have the deeply human intuition for music. You understand what sounds good on an instinctual level.

You must USE this instinct in your practice!

If we can practice with open ears, listening to the sound we are making in real time, interspersed with hearing the rich sounds of our imagination, then we are really practising. This better kind of practice consists of repeating passages of music with this feedback loop running, not on a conscious level, where we are explicitly analysing whether the notes, rhythm, dynamics, and articulation of our playing was accurate or not, but on the level of REALLY hearing what we are playing, feeling it emotionally, and noticing how easy it feels, and how pleasurable it is to listen to.

When we can access this deeper level of practice, two things happen. 1) we may find that we enter a flow state of heightened focus, where practice no longer feels tiring and overwhelming, and instead we find we can practice for long periods of time without losing concentration. 2) we may find that our relationship towards a teacher changes completely, rather than being reliant on them for every little detail on how to play, they become more of a guide towards accessing more complex ingredients of music. They will also thank you enormously for making their job a lot more fun.

But the question is - how do we make this shift?

I know it’s not kosher but I’m just curious. Since Reddit is anonymous maybe this could be a safe space for us to discuss what we’re charging. I know a lot depends on location.
I live in central Utah and I’ve been charging $110 per month for 30 minute lessons for the past 5 years. I have recently felt like I’m undercharging for how expensive everything is these days. I’m moving at the end of the month and I think it’s a good time to bump up my tuition a good amount. I’m thinking of going up to $150 per month.

My new home will have a designated teaching space which will give a much more professional feel. The neighborhood is also really nice and new and I get the sense that there is money here. I feel I might be able to get away with charging even more, but that would run more risk of losing my current 20 students I already have.

Thoughts? What do you all charge? Is this an appropriate jump or is it too much?

Hi all. I’m 27 and I’ve just started learning to play the piano. It is not my aspiration to become a world class pianist. I am learning the piano because my 24-year-old brother (autistic) has been learning for the last six years with the support of my mother (who is godsend) despite not being musically inclined at all.

My brother has worked hard to obtain the simplest motor skills (holding a pen, opening a can of coke) - so playing the piano was a huge feat for us. He requires a shadow for most things. Nevertheless, he’s on Alfred Level 3, and has gone through a few of Faber classics as well. Technique-wise, he maintains tempo with a metronome and a lot of practice, but struggles with playing keys “softly” or “fortissimo” style because it’s a real challenge. Like, we’ll model the way to strike a key, and he’ll do it instantaneously, but then ignore it while playing the entire piece.

I want to be well versed enough to carry him through most pieces such that he progresses. He’s been going to a music institute since he started and was always supported by a teacher and he’s incredible. He identifies notes by sound and can play music from listening without sheet music! He is incredibly smart and his pattern identification skills (better than your average genius) have gotten him this far.

I live far away from my brother but will be his permanent carer one day. I would like to be as good as I can to train him through pieces and push him (teachers are great but don’t really push him as much as we can as family). What are some things that can focus on at the moment? I’ve picked up Alfred Adult Level 1 which has been digestible.

I feel like I should learn how to play well to anticipate difficulties and explain (in a way digestible to him) techniques, etc.

Playing the piano is a blend of different worlds so would appreciate some guidance.

P.S. I plan on getting a teacher after I’m halfway through Alfred Level 1, feel like I can independently learn the basics.

Studio teachers, how do you handle the post lesson workflow stuff?

I am curious how other studio teachers handle the after-lesson work. The notes, practice goals, student progress, the admin and tracking of what you covered with your student.

My parents have been teaching for 20+ years and have different systems. Either by memory or by a binder full of notes.

What does yours look like? Do you write notes during the lesson, after, or end of the teaching day? Anything you’ve tried that didn’t stick?

Asking out of curiosity and partly because I’ve been building an app for my parents(IOS app called ForteAi). Trying to get more input from other teachers.

If anyone wants to try what I built, link is below. Also more than happy to give extended access for feedback. Just DM me.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forteai/id6753263331

Good afternoon to everyone on r/PianoTeachers!

Over the last few months, we wanted to encourage more engagement between teachers, students, parents and the wider Reddit community, to expand our scope beyond the existing B2B focus of this Subreddit. This was in response to feedback from our members.

The decision was made to trial two new features in order to achieve this: a “Certified Teacher” user flair that that would be held by community members to identify them as working professionals, and an “Ask A Teacher” post flair, which would permit members from outside the community to post on select days.

We felt that it was important, to maintain the integrity and credibility of the community, to ensure that only those with a Certified Teacher user flair would be able to respond and give advice on posts tagged under the Ask A Teacher category. With Reddit posts and comments across the whole site increasingly becoming populated with Generative-AI responses and misinformation, we felt that it was crucial to check that those responding to an “Ask a Teacher” post were, in fact, teachers, and we tested an AutoMod script to streamline this process.

In order to do this responsibly and, most importantly, lawfully, we would have needed to implement our own robust Data Protection and Privacy policy. Verifying employment, qualification certificates or evidencing of professional standing would require us as a Mod Team to process and store (even temporarily) the personal data of our community members who wished to carry the appropriate user flair.

We identified requirements to comply with Data Protection law, ICO Guidance, and alignment with Reddit’s own Terms and Conditions. It was important to us that if we were to verify community members as certified teachers, that we did so ethically and in accordance with all of the above regulations. After facing several obstacles in this regard, we came to the conclusion that this kind of data processing would not be practical, given the time we have to spare as community moderators.

Based on this, we have made the decision not to continue with the plans to implement Certified Teacher user flairs.

We do recognise that the Ask a Teacher post flair will provide valuable engagement, and so moving forward, we will retain this weekend posting event on a regular basis, however we will be adjusting the AutoMod controls on the community to allow all our members to respond without requiring verification. There may be an adjustment time for the new settings to be actioned, and we greatly appreciate all of the messages and patience from the community in the meantime. This also means that we will all need to be mindful of the responses that come up on these posts to spot misinformation early, and work together as a community to provide positive and accurate replies.

If you have any questions, please reply below and we’ll do our best to get back to you as quickly as we can.

With love!

Mod Team

Hi all. I am a 17 yr old pianist (completed grade 8 a few years ago) and about 6 months I started teaching my girlfriend’s little brother (11 yrs old) piano. He had been playing for a little bit before but without a consistent teacher, which has now become a bit of a problem as I have become aware of gaps in his knowledge. I’ve been working with him on his grade 1 pieces, and we plan for him to take the exam at the end of this year. His playing has become really good, and he’s managing to play with expression and dynamics really well which I think will make him stand out a lot in grade 1. However, he really doesn’t know how to read music much. When I started teaching him he was already playing with his dad’s help, but he’s just been memorising the notes with his and my help (which I’ve realised was a big mistake). I try to encourage him as much as possible to read the notes himself (which he can kind of do if I give him the starting note and he counts up and down from whatever line or space it’s on), but he tends to get frustrated, which is understandable. I’m starting to get really worried about sight reading, and I was thinking about making him work through the Pauline Hall Piano Time book he has (I learnt from them and they are great) but I think it’ll be a little patronising for someone his age, especially when his playing ability is much beyond that tbh. I’m gonna talk to my piano teacher about this and I’m sure she’ll help me but any tips/resources from here would be amazing

Hi! I’m thinking of having a baby and own a music studio. I would love any and all advice as to how to make it work (or if a career switch may be needed).

I see 38 kids from Monday-Thursday as well as perform harp at weddings and other gigs. I would love to hear how other women have done it while maintaining their career. Were you able to teach while having your baby in the room or was a baby sitter necessary? And how did it work at Older stages? Once my child is in school I’m afraid I would never see them if continue using to work afternoon/evening hours (but maybe not teaching Friday-Sunday makes up for that).

Please share your experience with me :) thank you!

I asked this a week ago using the ‘ask a teacher flair’ but for some reason couldn’t read any of the replies so posting again - hopefully it’ll work.

Looking for suggestions for follow up books for an almost 12 yo student, finishing up Faber 3B (the full 4 book set). There are some theory gaps due to previous piano teacher lack of focus on the area and student’s resistance to learning theory, but seeing some improvement with the latter.

Probably some combo of method and repertoire would work best but open to ideas. 🙏

We live in New Jersey and my son has been learning piano at a local music school that also supports him to appear for RCM exams. He has completed level 4 and is now training for Level 5. We pay approx $430 per month. This is becoming a burden for us and we want to start looking at other options.

Should we look at online coaching for RCM exams? are there any?

Can he switch from RCM to ABRSM so that we can find teachers more easily?

Any advice here from piano teachers is much appreciated. Thanks!

I started lessons about 3 months ago, and have made a lot of progress and been really enjoying it, but last week, my teacher didn't show up to the lesson. I didn't recieve any texts saying she needed to cancel. She just didn't show up. It turns out she has the flu, which i only know because i happened to overhear 2 other teachers talking about it at the music store. I texted her, saying i hope she's feeling alright, and I said, "I sent you payment for May on cashapp. Also, are my texts coming through? I haven't heard anything from you, and it seems out of character for you to just not show up to a lesson without saying anything, so I'm wondering if there's a technical issue with one of our phones. If that's the issue, would you mind sending me an email at (my email), whenever you get a chance just so i know what's going on and what to expect for next week? Thank you"

It's been almost a week, and she hasn't responded, so i tried calling her a couple times today and left a voicemail, just trying to figure out if i have a lesson tomorrow. I called the music store, and the owner said he had heard from her and she said she was feeling better and said she'd be back soon, but he didn't know exactly when.

How should I handle this? I feel bad that she's sick, but this is still really irritating, especially since i prepaid for the month. I'm thinking about requesting my money back on cashapp unless she confirms that she did attempt to cancel last weeks lesson, and that she hadn't recieved my texts and calls. Am I overreacting?

And missed lessons/cancellations.

And what age ranges are they?

For me, I’d say most of my adult students usually go on for a few months to a year, while the kids last 1-3 years.

I have a music degree but unfortunately they didn't prepare me for the difficulties of actually building a studio. I started building maybe a month or two ago, I currently have 6 students. I got those students from giving flyers to local schools. I'd need closer to 14 students to feel stable in it, but I'm worried about growing the studio during the summer. Is it possible?

Genuinely, any advice appreciated. This is my passion and I want to learn how to grow the studio in a sustainable way.

SO this is something I haven't really encountered much.

I have a student who came to me for piano lessons and eventually shared with me they wish they could learn to have a better ear, but have effectively given up on training exercises and hope that one day they'll just "wake up and have a better ear after years of piano practice".

Honestly, I have had students that have had that experience - under-developed ear for years and then after 3-4 years, it sorta just clicked.

But what's unique about this student is they can perfectly sing back a melody to me when I improvise a melody for them. They get all the pitches so spot on it actually surprised me.

but then when I ask them to tell me the intervals they just sang, they struggle with this. and where things get interesting is if I ask them to tell me the direction of pitch shifts, they can't really do that, even though they are quite literally singing it.

This made me realize, perhaps there's something not allowing them to connect what they're singing to what it is, if that makes sense.

It's like they can do it with their voice, but they don't know what they're doing.

Has anyone ever worked with a student like this? How can I help them recognize that they know far more than they do? Should I let time take its course? Just ask them to keep singing melodies and hope one day they make the connection with what they're doing and what it is, etc?