When you decide to embark on your musical journey around the piano, it is important to be ready yourself. Ready to wait for the progression to follow its course, to be patient and persevering despite frustrations.
You should also know that the environment is very important. Your immediate entourage (family, friends) but people outside your circle- your audience- are essential pillars for success in musical life.
The piano teacher is on the border between the two. And as time goes by it takes up more and more space and importance.
It is therefore very important to choose your piano teacher because you’re going to have a potentially long road to go together.
Here are some tips that you can follow to find the right piano teacher in Vancouver BC.
What Is the Ideal Profile for a Piano Teacher?
We will not go so far as to say that there is a typical profile of the particular piano teacher. The choice must be made according to the characteristics sought according to the character, level, and personality of the student. A piano teacher may suit one person, but not another. This does not cast doubt on the teacher’s skills, but it’s all about the connection between the teacher and student.
Are Certifications Important and What About Experience?
No matter how good a piano teacher is, many people would like to see a certificate to confirm the teacher’s expertise in the field.
There is technical, theoretical, and also pedagogical knowledge to master to make an ordinary musician a good piano teacher.
Piano experience alone can be enough to be a good teacher, provided that the teacher has sufficient mastery of the instrument and its requirements to be able to transmit the concepts necessary for learning the piano. After acquiring the necessary knowledge, the next step is to share that knowledge with whosoever interested in absorbing it. A piano teacher needs to be expressive. He/she must have the ability to explain something that may seem complicated.
The diplomas are a pledge of skills. Multiple competencies allow the teacher to detect more quickly the capacities and the margin of progression of the student.
Therefore, you must choose a piano teacher with confirmed and reliable technical skills along with adaptable human and pedagogical qualities. Jennifer West of Kitsilano Piano Studio is a certified Royal Conservatory of Music piano teacher and is a member of the BC Registered Music Teachers Association. She boasts a 100% pass rate for her students in the RCM exams.
What About the Age of the Teacher?
Like the question of experience, there is no right age of the teacher. It depends on the students and their characteristics and of the teacher’s character especially.
Piano lessons are divided into two very distinct categories: autonomous, and dependent. An autonomous student doesn’t need an authoritarian teacher, but he/she needs a companion who can open up with the student like a friend. An independent student will learn faster. The primary concern of the teacher with a student of this type is, in the long term, to maintain some sort of discipline and structure in their learning. They need to help prevent the student from going all over the place. Because for everything else, the autonomous student already has all the right reflexes to accelerate his/her progress as much as possible.
But, for a student who is used to a classic and strict school environment, autonomy is not preferred. In such cases, a teacher who can command a disciplinarian approach is essential, as he/she will take the student completely under his/her wing, and guide the student as much as possible.
What Should a Piano Teacher Bring to the Table?
A piano teacher is not a schoolteacher, as he/she does not bring academic knowledge, but brings other skills, which are also important.
An Organized Learning Process
Playing and learning the piano is a methodical process. There are stages to be crossed and stages to pass. All these passages require logic in the work, and a very particular organization in the approach, the realization and the sequence of the pieces played.
The teacher greatly influences this. He or she will immediately find out which piece makes it possible to hit the bull’s eye so that the student progresses as quickly as possible. All thanks to their skills and experience of course.
A Taste for a Job Well Done
It seems obvious, but a piano teacher has to be a perfectionist because they are setting a standard and example for the student. Only then will the student be able to acquire maximum skills and have an idea of what to strive for.
So, what exactly makes a piano teacher good?
The notion of quality is a very abstract idea. It is all a question of feeling between the teacher and the student.
When the qualities of the trainer are in line with the characteristics of the student, we can expect a constructive and fruitful relationship between the two.
Choosing a piano teacher is therefore not a trivial choice. It determines the musical future of the student. This future can be dotted when the relationship is complicated. So don’t ignore this decision because if it turns out to be positive, it can transform your monotonous life into a colorful one.