Should I teach piano?

[roisin]

In our area there are very few specialist piano teachers. DS2 was on waiting lists for almost a year and no vacancies came up. He has now started lessons and is doing absolutely fantastically [proud mummy emoticon]

I have to admit to being a bit of a musical snob, and wouldn't dream of paying for lessons for my children from someone who didn't have diplomas, degrees, specialism in that instrument, etc., etc.

I play piano myself - not fantastic - did grade 6 as a young child, but still play every week in church and am 'reasonable'.

BUT I think I could do a decent job for beginners' piano lessons, especially for primary aged children. I have a passion for learning and education (I work in secondary school), and am I think certainly competent to teach the early grades at least. And given the lack of piano teachers in this area, I wouldn't be upsetting anyone by setting up in competition.

It's not something I would contemplate for a couple of years at least, as I have enough on my plate at the moment. But do you think this is a completely unreasonable thing to do or not? Or the height of hypcrisy and devaluing standards of professional musicianship.

Do it.
I know someone very similar to you in terms of passion for music (as a singer, she too is a competent but unqualified pianist), love of education, interest in children etc, and I would have loved her to teach ds had he shown the slightest musical talent :)
If I recall you are miles away from the nearest conservatoire and therefore the usual supply of experienced and cash-hungry music students, so I think this is a great idea roisin. Most parents want precisely what you could offer initially - kindness, patience, innate musicality - diplomas and contacts in the world of professional musicianship would come later, and only for a minority of children.

FioFio you could defintely learn piano - it's never too late. My brother, who is 43, is learning alongside his daughters and absolutely loving it.

roisin, it's prob worth looking into, because to be honest with little beginners, I think that the style of teaching and ability to communicate is the most important thing. From my experience with piano teachers, there are quite a few highly qualified but bitter and twisted old sods who are hopeless with kids. When they're starting, it's important to enthuse them, if they get good and want to carry on they can go to a specialist teacher.

Like lots of things it will take longer to learn now, but there's no reason why not.

The key is frequent, regular practice. 5 mins twice a day is better than half an hour twice a week. Are you disciplined/motivated?

How's your co-ordination? Can you drive? Touch type?

Fio, I au-paired for a woman in France - who was learning alongside her son and she didn't care a fig for concepts such as self-indulgence. Go for it! The City Lit in London does a roaring trade in classes for adults learning to sing or play for the first time, it's a great idea. I'd have done likewise had ds not been interested only in "thrash guitar" in his band Toxic Sausage :)
(he can't play or sing you understand but has strong views on their trousers and haircuts already)

Georgina, you piled in there where I feared to tread. I think there are a lot of unsuitable teachers out there of all ages, agree totally

Ooh thanks all
I'm feeling really inspired and enthused now!

As an ex music teacher and parent I so agree that the right teacher to start with counts - our schools employ nice but frightfully dull people (I'm thinking of one woman in particular here) who don't have the right attitude with children. Sure, if you discover the next Mozart you may want to pass them on, but enthusiasm and the ability to inspire children is what's needed with beginners.
I stopped because I found the time commitment hard - children need to learn when my own brood are at home and I wasn't prepared to give up my time with my own children.

roisin, if you want to, then go for it. If you weren't going to start for a couple of years, (and don't take this the wrong way at all ) would you think about having a few lessons yourself, simply to make sure there aren't holes in your technique? (Please don't think that sounds patronising, it's not meant to be at all!). I do think enthusing the children is the main thing at beginner stages, but having confidence in the technique you teach them is important as well.

I've been teaching for nearly 10 years, and don't have any formal 'teaching' qualification, though I do have the performance qualifications - I find having lessons every now and again really revitalises my teaching and gives me more inspiration for all my pupils!

Good luck with it - it can be really frustrating, but has its rewarding moments!!!!!

That sounds like a good idea tortoiseshell ... but for some reason I feel utterly intimidated by it! I'll mull it over.

I really struggled to find a teacher at all for ds2, but it may be that his teacher could squeeze me in for an odd lesson when someone is ill or on holiday, rather than on a regular basis.

Definately go for it. I agree with earlier posters that your patience and ability to inspire the children is far more important for beginners. When your pupils get to a certain stage you can pass them on.
Have you thought of playing piano for a primary school or maybe doing some lessons for them? With the wider opportunities in music initiative in primary schools at the moment they are crying out for people like you.

DD2 was taught flute by a family friend who had learnt up to about grade 4 or 5 in her youth but hardly played at all any more (due to having too many children and not enough time ) until she took on DD2 about 13 years ago, purely because we couldn't find a good flute teacher locally.

She started having lessons herself at the same time and as DD2 took Grade 1 she took Grade 3 or 4 again, and so on, until after grade 8 she also took the teaching diplomas. She is a fab teacher with a lovely manner and now has lots of pupils (who all think she's wonderful) and runs a flute group.

So go for it, roisin, like the others I think you have the perfect personality for it and all your little pupils would love you too . (You could also consider taking lessons yourself and progressing as she did?)

Roisin, When ds began piano his teacher had only done grade 6 herself (and like you a long time ago). She taught up to grade 4 before passing the kids on. While there is certainly some snobbery in music over who teaches you it never worried me at all as:

1. I never expected him to continue playing for more than a couple of years.
2. She was very encouraging and made learning fun.
3. The cost was less. He now has lessons through school with a properly qualified concert pianist who told me after the first half term that ds had been very well taught and had aquired no bad habits. We may well have been lucky, but it seems to me that ability to enthuse the youngsters and generate raport with them is more important than qualifications in the early stages. I often think if ds had started with a better qualified but less encouraging/enthusiastic teacher he might well have given up after a couple of years as expected.

So I'd say go for it...

do agree you should try to get a few lessons before you do it to check on your technique.

Roisin that would be enough for me, especially for younger kids and complete beginners, if you go for 'reminder' lessons you would get some idea of the structure of lessons too.

Best teachers our kids had didn't have ARCM's etc - just good solid techniques and an easy rapprt with the kids. When DD's violin teacher moved away we found a fully qualified teacher but he was "dry" & she gave up :( She then took up flute, again a friend taught her & then went to MUsic college. This time we took a lot longer finding a child friendly teacher to take over.

I would say "go for it", as I don't care what qualifications anyone has now if they can do the job.

roisin - I teach piano. I am not a qualified piano teacher and I never did any grades myself. I teach children whom I used to teach in primary school. It was well-known I played as I did the hymns in every assembly and played for the choir and orchestra. I was asked by the parents if I would do it as their children were interested in learning but didn't want the pressure of exams to take, wanted the reassurance of someone they knew and wanted the informality and flexibility I had to offer as I started when dd was 6 months old. It has been fab and I really enjoy it. It has been abundantly clear that I am not qualified from the start and that half an hour of 'babysitting' is sort of involved for the parents while the lesson goes on, but they love it! So, considering you are looking at something a bit more formal than what i am doing - I would say, definitely GO FOR IT! I would just see how you stand advertising if you are not qualified and probably not going to teach exams (I believe you have to be qualified to do this but am unsure...) but as long as you make it all clear on the ads, I'm sure that would be fine.

Can I just recommend the \link{http://annbryant.co.uk/keyclub.htm\Keyclub Piano course} for your beginner players. I looked extensively at different course books and found this the best as it has children playing two hands together very quickly - some books didn't have kids doing this by the end of the first book! as well as chords AND teacher pieces to accompany to jazz up those initial 2-note wonder pieces..!

As a secondary school teacher, do you post on the TES forums? In particular, the \link{http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/list_threads.aspx?path=%2fmusic%2f\Music forum} might be able to offer good advice and thoughts on this.

Definitely do it. Good luck. Have fun!!

just a note - you don't have to be qualified to teach ABRSM exams, but they do run a good course for teachers, and there is lots on their website for teachers.

tortoiseshell - what tutor do you use for beginners (littlies)? My SIL teaches a lot and she recommended Me and My piano (Fanny Waterman - Faber), which ds2 is using and I like a lot.

I used to work for OUP Music Publishing, so I know quite a bit about the different methods available. I like the OUP ones (Piano Time and Tunes for Ten Fingers) but they're not my favourites. I think Faber do a new one with an accompanying CD, but I haven't actually seen a copy yet.

It's a great idea roisin! Why ever not?

Ours uses \link{http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/060322/details.html\Alfred} - DS2 got on very well with it.

Unless they've changed it though the terminology is American (quarter-notes etc).