When the Teacher Needs Teaching

When it comes to customer satisfaction, my piano parents seem to have been very satisfied this last school year.

   75% of my piano parents took my Teacher Survey at the end of May. Among them I rated an average of 9.3 out of 10 in parental satisfaction, and 8.3 out of 10 in student satisfaction. And under the question, "What did you think was the worst part of your children taking piano lessons from me?" only one dad had something to say for that answer: driving in the winter. (He lives in Spruce Grove. For a parent coming from Onoway or Alberta Beach, it's really a very straitforward drive with no dangerous roads.) 

   But there was a different standard that I was holding myself up to. 

   As I wrapped up the year, I thought of the two very best teachers I had in my music education. Now, I had a lot of good teachers, and I certainly don't mean to put any of them down! But the two best teachers were distinct. They taught me that making music was about more than striking keys on a piano in a specific sequence. They went beyond the scientific, straitforward definition of music. They delved into the art of music. Their main goal was to teach me, not how to get it right, but how to get it expressive, beautiful, artistic.


   That's how I want to teach music. 

   As a co-worker at my summer job put it, "If it's not beautiful, where is the art?"

   I appreciate the positive feedback I received from parents and students. I'm thrilled to see smiling faces show up every week in the studio. But I think I could do more. And my real goal is to teach my students how to produce the beauty, the art, not just the sounds.


   All that to say, I'm resuming my own music lessons. Tomorrow. 

   I'm thrilled to be studying again under my former teacher, one of the two mentioned above. I know that as he helps me develop my inner artist, I can then become a better teacher. 

   A teacher like him.

   P.S. Incidently, there's a Christian application here too. It's easy to meet any standards that humans can devise. It's easy to make people satisfied with who we are. But how do we compare with Christ? Just a thought. 

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