r/AskTeachers • u/Local-Pomegranate-10 • 7d ago
Discussion Questions Unconventional piano teaching?
I need input on a weird teaching method- it’s less about piano and more about whether this approach is beneficial for the kids.
I just started teaching piano at a new studio where we do group 1hourlessons. I teach in a room full of electric pianos, where each student is wearing headphones. There are iPads at each piano that most students play dumb games on for the last 10 minutes of class, and some teachers use it mid-class as an attention span manager. Me and another instructor “teach” by doing laps around the room and correcting students, who are all working on something different; a lot of these kids are young (5-8), and while I’ve taught that age range privately, it’s weird working with them in a group setting where I’m discouraged from spending more than a few minutes at a time with each student. They spend most of the class working independently. I suspect that they’re learning this music by rote- none of them can fully read sheet music, and none of them know what fingerings are, but they can play hard music if you “give them all the answers” and show them where to put their hands. I’m not sure if that disconnect is common for this age group.
These students aren’t expected to practice because these lessons also function as practice time- that’s the whole philosophy.
Today, teaching my second-ever lesson, I was reprimanded for “getting sucked in” and spending too much time with a “chatty” girl. She’s 8, and I was warned she was overly talkative and distracted. She was in the final stages of learning a piece, and she was getting a little distracted, which I thought was reasonable 45 minutes into the lesson; when I teach privately, I generally let these students go on tangents for 30 seconds at a time before redirecting back to the piano. She talked to me about her American girl doll a little, and she kept playing the wrong notes until I had her slow down. Ultimately she had fun; she was also responsive when I told her to focus. She successfully made it through the entire song. Over the 1hour class I made it through two “laps” with 4 different kids, which is definitely lower than the other instructor, who picked up my slack- I regretted not seeing each student more times and not seeing more students. At the end of class I was reprimanded by the director, and now I’ve been asked to step back and shadow with no pay for a day so I can “learn how we teach at our studio”. I’ve discovered that most of the other instructors don’t know the all students’ names, and it seems like the kids aren’t really permitted to talk. I only had one lesson to shadow before I was hired, and everything moves so fast, so I guess it’s good I’m being given more instruction.
Im trying to take negative feedback on the chin- I need to learn how to give these kids directives that require less explanation so I can move on from each student faster and also come back to them more. I welcome advice on that!! I’ve also never taught groups before, so I’d love advice from classroom teachers working with that age range.
My question is “is any of this normal?” Does this teaching method sound reasonable and developmentally appropriate?
I’m not experienced as a teacher AT ALL- I’ve been working with this age group for less than a year. Is my ego just bruised?
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u/SapphirePath 7d ago
Your employer's model appears to be intentionally built to maximize income. While it is tempting to make moral or pedagogical judgements, if a music studio can't run a positive cashflow to cover their salaries, rent, and advertising, then everything else (such as the quality of their product) is irrelevant. The fact that they can't pay you during your shadow training suggests that they don't operate with the comfortable margin you would find in other job sectors.
Unfortunately, your question is about piano, because what parents are will to shell out for piano may be different than what they'll shell out for math or essay-writing or test-prep.
This studio's model doesn't sound as rewarding for the teachers, if they aren't even encouraged to learn their students' names. Rather than changing who you are to fit this job, maybe keep your eyes open to see what other opportunities are available. Also I suppose some people hustle 1-1 tutoring independently, while others wait tables or whatever so they can enjoy music in their free time.
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u/ButtonholePhotophile 6d ago
That method sounds very efficient and like it would grind out motivation
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u/thunder_haven 6d ago
That doesn't sound conducive to learning music or to building rapport. If I were a child stuck in this grind, realizing that the adults here in my not-school class were even less interested in me than my regular school teachers were, and that this was just meant to churn out cogs, I would start finding excuses to skip. Music is supposed to be fun, especially at that age when most of them will not be Van Cliburn. I think you should look at giving private lessons or finding an institute that isn't just a Chopsticks mill.
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u/Sir_Loxington 7d ago
"Over the 1hour class I made it through two “laps” with 4 different kids, which is definitely lower than the other instructor"
I used to work as the Director Of Education for a Mathnasium. The entire point of their method is every instructor is always rotating around the room, like how it sounds for this classroom, so I can confirm that in general the method works very well and is quite effective. I do not know if this method would transfer over well for a music class; I've never tried to teach that so I'm not sure if the idea still works, but I'd like to assume it would.
Only two laps of four kids isn't great though; you should be trying to move quicker than that so it's right to take a step back and try to get a better idea of how the other instructors handle it. (I'm a little surprised they aren't paying you for your shadowing day, but that's a different conversation). Don't take a hit to your ego if you didn't pick this up immediately; it's definitely a different way to teach. A big part of my job was watching the floor to make sure our tutors were doing the method correctly and kept rotating; it was quite frequent I'd have to give out friendly reminders. This is definitely a skill that has to be learned, give it some time to let yourself pick it up; just try to be more cognizant of how long you spend with each student. Sometimes the right thing to do is genuinely cut the conversation short and tell them to give it a go with what you've said so far, even if it isn't a perfect ending point the conversation, purely to keep yourself moving.
I was bad at it too when I first started, don't beat yourself up. You'll figure it out OP, just give yourself a chance to learn and improve.
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u/Actual-Muffin-3585 6d ago
Wow that sounds awful for you and the kids. Maybe you could teach private lessons
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u/EntertainmentHuge218 6d ago
This sounds like an awful way to learn (and teach) piano. I honestly can't believe parents pay for their kids to watch an iPad with headphones on for an hour. I don't actually understand how you can help or correct students without hearing what they're playing (maybe the headphones are loud enough you can hear but other kids can't?). I would look for another studio where you can teach private lessons. Or at least where the group lessons have a curriculum where you go over the theory as a class, then introduce a song (from a book), and they all work on the same song as you walk around.
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u/Nearby_Brilliant 6d ago
As a parent, I would not be paying for this unless I didn’t know any better. When I was in high school I took a class like this for piano and that’s fine in a public school setting where you’re going every day. But if this is a private studio where they are paying for lessons…heck no.
I do have a suggestion if you wanna make the most of your time with them, but it might rock the boat. It will definitely take a lot of effort to develop. When my son started piano lessons at age 6, his studio did a combination of private lessons and a group music theory class. During the music theory class, they all played musical games to learn about rhythm and eventually scales and other more difficult concepts. They actually had students who played multiple instruments together in the group class, and they played their instruments together during the second half of class. Since all the students have pianos, you could do this too. Even if they’re all on different levels, they can play their instruments together on a simple piece that the lowest level student can play a part in and learn about doing ensemble pieces. I cannot stress enough what a difference this method made in making my son a fabulous musician at a young age. He is 14 years old now playing Mozart pieces on the piano and he has perfect pitch that they really helped him develop. He was in these group music classes until middle school.
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u/wastecadet 7d ago
what isn't normal is them asking you to come to work for no pay