Linda Pritchett

I suggest that the selection of a good piano teacher is much more than a matter of “luck” or happenstance. Indeed, as with any discipline, there are specific characteristics and qualifications that may well be shared by all competent teachers. Such characteristics and qualifications indicate a passion for both the music and instruction in the art to others. First (and this may seem a bit obvious), the teacher should be able to play! A competent teacher must be a competent pianist. The teacher should be able to play with a style, verve, vitality, and musicality that is easily recognizable, even to the “untrained ear.” Further, the teacher should be able to sight read unfamiliar music without hesitation. Likewise, the teacher should possess a broad repertoire of memorized music. Only a teacher who is a skilled practitioner in the art can adequately instruct in fingering, touch, phrasing, and dynamics. When selecting a piano teacher, have the prospective teacher play for you. Second, the teacher should have teaching experience. If you expect to learn, you shouldn’t be among your teacher’s first students. Drawing on that experience, the teacher should be able to verbalize his/her expectations of the student, and should be able to understand your expectations of a teacher. An experienced teacher will be able to help you understand if your expectations and the teacher’s expectations are a good “match.” Third, the teacher should have well-established methods of communicating to the student, and in the case of young students, communicating with the student’s parents. Carefully review the “tools” by which the teacher provides important information about assignments and practice. Fourth, the teacher should provide a suitable studio. Most piano teachers teach from their own “home studios.” Even so, the studio area should be clean, safe, and attractive, conducive to concentration. The teacher should provide an excellent instrument, properly maintained and well-tuned. Fifth, the teacher should be serious about teaching. As with the first point, this may seem obvious, but there always remains the possibility that teaching piano is an “afterthought,” lacking both discipline and direction. For “real” results, find a “real” teacher. Have you ever heard the old saying, “Those Who Can, Do; Those Who Can’t, Teach?” We have probably all heard someone say it; perhaps we’ve even said it ourselves…But is it true? I think not. Beethoven had students. Chopin had students, Franz Liszt had students. The great Renaissance painters had studios full of students (although they were probably more likely to call them apprentices). The arts have a long tradition of master artists passing their art and their craft down to the next generation. Some are highly selective, picking trained students who come to them with a proven record of practice and achievement. Others prefer to work with young beginners, in the hope of instilling competence and artistry from the start. Some work with both beginners and the more advanced. The history of artistic endeavor is also the history of teaching.