What should I look for in a “piano teacher near me”? Choosing a virtuoso pianist to teach your child isn’t the best idea:
- Learning piano, for these teachers, came easily in childhood. This means they’ll often have problems understanding why your child struggles with something the teacher thinks should be easy. This can lead to a lack of patience.
- They never had to learn to teach themselves, so they’re often not very good at teaching others.
- In addition, sometimes these teachers will do concert tours that’ll interrupt your child’s lesson schedule. For many of them, teaching is just a gig to pay the bills before they make it big. So, their primary focus isn’t on your child.
Having spent years talking to other piano teachers, both online and in-person, I’ve seen it time and again. This type of teacher tends to blame student struggles on a lack of practice, even when the parents know their child practices.
Daniel Coyle, in The Talent Code, states:
It’s the most basic common sense: if you want your child to start a new skill, you should search out the best-trained, most John Wooden like teacher possible. Right? Not necessarily. (The Talent Code 172)
According to Coyle, there are teachers who are “talent whisperers” who can consistently get the best out of their students:
- These teachers are usually musicians who initially showed promise, but somehow failed to measure up.
- Then, they figured out what went wrong and can translate that experience into their teaching.
- Looking at a piano teacher’s education is a good start, but you’ll also need to consider the instructor’s teaching track record.
Read the next section to see what Coyle has to say about what makes a good teacher for young students.