"Yes, your music matters".
Do your students know you feel this way?
Yes, your music matters. Please share your music.
I'm currently listening to a 70 year old recording of a composer who existed 200 years ago.
What're you listening to right now?
Was it made yesterday? No.
It was probably conceived of years ago, then recorded then rerecorded then produced then packaged then sold.
And it is very likely that the version you're listening to is not even the original. So that means someone said, “Huh, I have an idea”, and then did it after getting permission from the artist, maybe resulting in a collaboration, then rerecorded it and produced it and packaged it and sold it.
In lessons, instructors rarely talk about the end result. What do you want to do with this skill?
I guarantee you that some of your students will never have heard that question. Some students don't have the agency to choose because of their families. Some students will be dumbstruck, and others will have specific pie-in-the-sky dreams.
I want my students to share their music. My intention is, “Your voice matters, your music matters, and I just want you to know that. I'd love to hear anything you compose”. And then I express that in All The Ways.
When we talk about pedagogy, this is what we mean—the ability to convey this type of sentiment in your instruction using age appropriate examples, with demeanor, word choices and gestures that are consistent with your intentions and in a way that your 6 pm student can receive—the delivery of which may be different from your 7 pm student.
By the way:
You—the instructor and studio leader and department chairperson—are included in this.
Please share your music. We are all the better for it.
The Piano Instructor Consulting Firm helps pro musicians become effective educators, thereby increasing student enrollment and increasing teacher retention. PianoLady88Keys@gmail.com
