Overwhelmed, that was my initial feeling when I considered the idea of starting this How to Teach Piano podcast, blog, and YouTube channel. However, I was confusing the feeling of being overwhelmed by so much available information with the overwhelming feelings of becoming a content creator, entrepreneur, audio and video editor, and all those other roles that come with this process.
I still laugh a little when I think about words like entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, or side hustle. I was supposed to be just a pianist and a piano teacher. Now, on top of my practicing and teaching activities, I spend hours researching video and audio editing software and techniques, podcasts/blogs/YouTube channels about the future of education, digital marketing, content creation, and all sorts of topics related to creativity. All I can say is that I love it.
As pianists, we all want to communicate the music we play to different audiences. As teachers, we try to teach this process of communication to our students. Sometimes I hear other teachers say how they want to teach or share their love of music with their students. In my experience, most students already come to us with their own form of love for music. It might not be the music we like or the music we want to teach them, but the interest or love towards some form of music is already there. Sometimes our love or our students’ love is not towards the music but towards the piano itself.
We experience music not only in emotional, philosophical, and psychological ways, but we also experience it physiologically. There is something about the sensation of the keys under the fingers that can’t be described with words. If I just wanted to listen to classical music, I would have just played recordings for the rest of my life. No, I didn’t just want to listen to music. I wanted to make those sounds myself. Then there is the other side of our story.
¿Somos maestros, artistas, o dueños de negocio? ¿Estamos enseñando piano porque amamos el instrumento o porque amamos la música? ¿Estamos enseñando piano porque queremos hacer dinero? How to Teach Piano includes many skills that we must acquire if we want to be professional piano teachers.
Can we really teach our love for music to other people? Is that really what we are doing? Or are we just teaching how to produce sounds, interpret the music of different periods, and efficiently use our bodies while playing the piano? Is it possible to make sense of the creative process that comes along with being a pianist and a music teacher?
In the How to Teach Piano blog and during each podcast episode, I will discuss how to organize your own teaching philosophy and develop your own teaching strategies. I will also be sitting down with fellow musicians to discuss their teaching process and how to make an impact as a teacher and a musician. The purpose of doing this is to help you add value to your own teaching process and the development of your own business as a professional piano teacher.
Aquí es donde comienza el viaje.
Visita las páginas de recursos para recomendaciones.
