Thank you for considering me as a potential piano instructor. God has been very gracious in giving his children the beauty that we find in music, and I am very grateful for how He has enriched my life because of it. I am keenly aware of the tremendous potential each individual has for experiencing and understanding such an awesome gift. Consequently, I realize the tremendous responsibility I have to guide students in their musical development. It is because of this that I take my responsibility as a teacher very seriously.
Before beginning to study with a new teacher, it is important to me that you understand the goals that I will have for the student. I firmly believe that I must have a clear direction in my teaching or my students will not understand the need to have clear direction in their study.
There are three goals I strive for in my teaching.
1. The first goal I have is to help each student develop into a functional musician. This means that I believe all areas of music (sight-reading, technique, theory, transposing, improvising, performance, etc.) should be developed to their full potential. Often, I am asked to teach one of these skills independent of the others, but I must decline to teach in this way. I sincerely believe that these skills are only developed to their fullest potential when every other area of music is also developed.
When I say functional, I want my students to be trained in sight-reading, technique, theory, transposing, improvising, and performing. This does not mean I only want them to be mediocre musicians-far from that. I would gladly help my students aim for the highest goals in music imaginable. But I will always want them to be able to sit down to accompany anyone who asks them, or play a piece a performer has given them at the last minute, or explain in understandable terms the symbols in music to any individual. This is what I mean by functional.
2. The second goal of mine is to help foster a love of music in all of my students. I am well aware that it is impossible to make someone love something. But my goal is to help create an interest or curiosity that will encourage the student to want to learn. I strive to make lessons interesting and fun. Realistically, no student or teacher can expect that lessons will always be exciting. There will be times of stress and discouragement- this is a normal part of developing a skill. However, I try to be sensitive to these times in the student’s life. I also try to develop a well-rounded musical knowledge that is not limited to the piano. I think this enables the student to appreciate music to a greater degree.
One of the components crucial to the process of teaching others to love music is actually continuing to learn for yourself. I once read a quote that as a teacher, we should not seek to inspire, but to be inspired. That is why I am in school learning as much as I can from professionals in the field. Because of my continuing education, I am very excited about music and I notice my students are excited as well.
3. The final and most important portion of my philosophy is this: I want to teach my students to teach themselves. In effect, I would like to work myself out of a job. This is begun early as I train my students how to practice. I often notice how many students’ progress is stunted because they do not understand and have not been told how to practice.
I realize that a large responsibility lies with the student to do as the teacher has instructed, but I am very aware of the need for this type of instruction.
I hope and plan to continue teaching for many years. I look forward to the interviewing process with you as you seek to make this important decision in music education.
