10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN SELECTING A PRIVATE MUSIC TEACHER
If you are for a music teacher or are a PARENT trying to bypass hours of phone calls and months of useless lessons from a teacher that doesn’t resonate with your child-
YOU NEED TO READ THIS!
Listen to this phone call from a concerned parent looking to switch teachers:
“I spent close to $2500 on music lessons over the past two years. Recently, we had a family party, and I asked my twelve-year-old daughter to play something. Two years of lessons and she had nothing to play; nothing to show for those two years of lessons.
I was mortified”
Why do parents even bother signing kids up for music lessons? Is it just to learn to play an instrument? The real reason parents sign their children up for music lessons is because they want their children to:
- FEEL A SENSE OF EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING
- BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE
- ACHIEVE INDEPENDENCE AND SUCCESS
- TAP INTO THEIR OWN CREATIVITY
- FIND THEIR TRUE POTENTIAL
- LIVE A HAPPY, SUCCESSFUL AND FULFILLED LIFE
I honor you today for being here and being fully INVESTED in your child’s music education so they can gain all the benefit music lessons provide.
Music lessons offer not only the cognitive benefits of learning, practicing, and performing an instrument but also, life skills that will stay with them forever.
Hi, my name is Mark Weisman, and I am the founder and director of the Piano Workshop at Chester as well as the Piano Workshop at Bergen County. My staff and I know exactly what questions to ask, how to ask them, and what details and nuances to bring up that you’re already thinking of to find the best private music teacher possible!
Now…
If you want to skip this next step altogether, be my guest! Call me now at
908-955-3022 and my team at The Piano Workshop can guide you through the process of finding the right solution and teacher of your dreams.
We will set you up for a free trail lesson and start your musical journey either in-person at our Chester, NJ location, our Ridgewood, NJ location or ONLINE!
We have 25 teaching faculty between our 2 locations and teach over 300 families in the Morris and Bergen County areas in New Jersey.
Can you believe: I absolutely hated my piano lessons when I was growing up
Looking back, I rarely related to any of my teachers. I hated to practice, and honestly, I didn’t feel any of the teachers liked me or even tried to get to know me and what I wanted to learn.
Finally, when I was 12 years old, I convinced my Dad to let me quit piano. I lost my interest and even worse, I lost many precious years of opportunity to musically grow with a teacher.
Many years later, as a freshman of college at NYU, I heard someone playing the piano. To my ear at the time, she played the most awesome music pieces I’d ever heard! I couldn’t believe that she was only my age!
First of all, I’d never heard anyone my own age playing something I considered “cool” and none of the teachers I had previously ever exposed me to any of the pieces she was playing at the time.
I went over to this woman and started a conversation.
My biggest takeaway was her telling me about her “Awesome piano teacher”
It was at that moment that I fell back in love with the piano! I started my new musical journey and never looked back!
That’s why I’m here today! Over the 20 years, I’ve been teaching piano privately and growing our music schools. I’ve spoken to over 1000’s of parents over the phone and in person, inquiring about lessons for their kids or themselves.
From my standpoint, some asked a lot of great questions and I could tell they were very interested and invested in getting the right teacher for their child.
If this is you, call us now at 908-955-3022
and my team will answer YOUR questions and concerns to help guide you through the process of finding the right solution and teacher for your specific child.
Now, back to my story for second…..
The biggest differences between the teacher I gave up on when I was young and the teacher I intentionally sought out and started with while at NYU was the ability to feel my teacher’s passion about what he was playing and teaching.
Also, he made it FUN! I could tell it was important to him that I stay motivated. The motivation and fun got me excited to come back to each and every lesson. So much so that I stayed with him for years!
Imagine your child LOVING his music teacher so much that he compounds his learning over many years!!
Lastly, he told me at 18 years old, that if I wasn’t going to be putting in one hour each day of practice, minimum, not to bother coming back! Can you imagine?! His commitment to my improvement from the start made me ever MORE excited to practice at home and come back and show him how I’d improved on my own at home.
Our mission at The Piano Workshop is to give our students the tools they need to go on a lifelong musical journey.
There is no “cookie cutter” methodology that’s going to work for everyone.
Students, especially younger students, are unique and come in with their own
- Expectations
- Likes and dislikes
- Learning styles
- Personal goals
A good teacher will be able to tap into these and let their creativity flourish!
What degree and from what institution the teacher may have doesn’t matter as much as some might think. If your child is just starting out, music lessons need to be fun so they stay engaged and continue!
A 7-year old doesn’t necessarily belong with a conservatory trained, masters/doctoral level teacher who’s heavily focused on competition.
At The Piano Workshop, we’re fortunate because we have a number of different teacher that I’ve hand selected to work for our school… and they are AWESOME.
I don’t hire high school students to teach, nor do I hire someone because they are excellent performers with no educational training or experience. After talking to parents and getting a feel for their individual child, I set them up with a trial lesson to match them to the most appropriate teacher I feel will give them the most successful teaching experience and build the best relationship possible with the new student.
You might be wondering, “What’s the biggest problem you see?”
My answer is always that parents don’t know how to ask for help.
Parents don’t often know what they’re looking for and by the time they walk through our doors they’ve already spent hundreds and thousands of dollars and hours- now lost- trying different teachers to find the right one. What a waste!
That’s why I built this guide. I hope it serves you greatly today as you embark on deepening your child’s -or your own- musical journey.
If you want more support following this guide, contact us at 908-955-3022 and let’s schedule a trial lesson and get the ball rolling! We work with a number of both local and remote families, both in-person and virtually online.
CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE A TRIAL LESSON TIME SLOT RIGHT NOW
Thank you so much! Keep scrolling down to access my article on the 10 mistakes.
Mark Weisman
Owner & Founder
The Piano Workshop
https://www.thepianoworkshopatchester.com
10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN SELECTING A PRIVATE MUSIC TEACHER
MISTAKE 1: PARENTS PICK TEACHERS OR SCHOOLS THAT SPECIALIZE IN THE GENRE OR STYLE THAT APPEALS TO THEM RATHER THAN THE CHILD
Or, if parents ARE picking the genre their child likes most, the parents will call around to find a teacher solely based on those who specialize in the specific genre or style their child says they like.
If I had a penny for every time a student told me they “ONLY LIKE TAYLOR SWIFT”, yet as soon as introduced to new styles, they LOVE them and play those new styles for a lifetime, I’d be very, very wealthy!
MISTAKE 2: PICKING A TEACHER OR SCHOOL BASED ON THE LOWEST PRICE OFFERED OR BASED ON SOME FINANICAL GIMMICK
We all understand the necessity of budgeting. However, lessons are an investment in your child’s music ability, yes, and also in their overall well-being.
Here’s an example of what you could come in contact with if you don’t do your research:
One national music store chain began offering music lessons to enhance revenue. They had space in their megastores, and money to advertise. Prospective students came in, signed up for lessons and whomever was “on the sales floor” that day would become their teacher.
The music store was paying them a low hourly wage plus benefits anyway, so why not let them teach as well? Fact is, they were doing this regardless of their ability. In some cases, sales staff/teachers never even played the instrument they were assigned to teach!
MISTAKE 3: LEAVING OUT VALUABLE INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR CHILD’S WAY OF LEARNING
I struggled with one particular student for a few months. I suspected a learning issue that I addressed to the mother repeatedly. Later on, I found out she was uncomfortable and embarrassed to tell me initially, however, it wasn’t until months into lessons that she told me her son was dyslexic.
Numerous lessons, hours of training and frustration from both the teacher and student could have been avoided with one open and honest conversation.
My advice is to always volunteer ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, visual or auditory issues, spectrum issues or any medications up front to your new teacher for best quality service and experience.
Your child’s acceleration and satisfaction in learning music is dependent on this open communication between parent and teacher. When offered up front, the student learns with ease and the teacher and student can build a relationship that could last a lifetime!
MISTAKE 4: ASKING THE WRONG QUESTIONS
Instead of asking, “What is your teaching philosophy?”, parents mistakenly (and vaguely) ask: What should I expect to see in my child’s progress in the next few months?”
That question is O.K. but what would be even better is asking or stating things like...
“What’s the first lesson going to look like?”
“How does this work? Do they get a book?”
“My child’s goals are…”
“What we’d like to see them learn is…”
“What methodology will you be using, if any, in the introductory period?”
MISTAKE 5: ENROLLING IN LESSONS WITHOUT ASKING FOR A TRIAL PERIOD
Trial lessons offer the student and teacher a chance to get to know each other and what it might be like in the future to participate in lessons together. The student and teacher learn if there's chemistry there, or not.
If not, it gives the music school the opportunity to shift and be sure the student is starting out with a teacher with whom he or she will work best.
MISTAKE 6: “ You are allowed to go sit down at the piano and just PLAY!!! I especially have to tell this to adults. Who says every time you go to the piano it has to be work. ENJOY! RELAX! JUST PLAY!
For parents of kids as well: Give your kids permission to PLAY! Yes, they may need some structural guidance from you as to the difference between sitting down to PLAY, or sitting down at the piano to PRACTICE.
Keep reading for more clarification in the next two segments.
MISTAKE 7 & 8: USING THE “P” WORD: “PRACTICING”
(7) Expectations for practicing are sometimes way too high or are defined differently by the teacher than by the parent.
Have a discussion with your teacher about how they define adequate practice. Many times, especially parents of younger kids, ages 5-7, expect them to sit for 20-30 minutes at the piano when their first few assignments on their NEW musical journey may only require 5-10 minutes, especially in the beginning.
All of a sudden, the child begins to associate playing their instrument and practicing as “WORK”.
Once this happens it's very difficult to get the child motivated to practice on their own.
(8) “NO SUPERVISION”
Especially for ages 5-7. You want to sit with them!
Say “Show me what you did in your lesson”
Ask, “What about that piece your teacher said you worked on? Go play that for me!”
Remove the “P” word (PRACTICE) from your vocabulary. Otherwise…
it becomes a chore.
At the same time, a 6-year-old, for instance, may not have the maturity to read the assignment their teacher wrote down for them in their lesson book. A little supervision goes a long way, but it needs to be the right, encouraging type of supervision.
MISTAKE 9: NOT PAYING ATTENTION
Very often parents and prospective students call, or come in not having looked at the website, reviews, resources or not having read about the school’s mission or philosophy. Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know, right?
Start noticing whether or not the school’s mission statement is posted on the wall or on their website. Is it visible to the community or does it even exist?
Professional businesses run with a purpose and mission behind them. Make sure the school you seek out has one!
MISTAKE 10: HOLDING BACK ON OTHER RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO ADVANCE THE STUDENT
We already spoke about the importance of vocalizing about learning disabilities or issues, but there’s more!
Sharing as much information as possible is key to a successful start. Holding back information like the following can be detrimental:
- Personality Traits
- Student Preferences
- Things they like/don’t like
- And most important: Who’s idea was it to start music lessons?
By sharing whether or not the child is asking, or the parents are asking for lessons helps the teacher (if they’re good) direct the lesson for the greatest possible impact.
Why is it important to ask these things first?
In my experience, parents typically have too high an expectation of their child’s proficiency. They think they child is capable of playing higher level pieces than they actually are, and this causes a huge miscommunication to the child leaving them feeling very frustrated during their first few sessions.
The longevity and acceleration of the student is dependent on the teacher pinpointing where the student’s skillset is lacking the basics.
So, parents...be on the lookout for someone that is going to give them a strong skill platform from where they will feel confident to jump!
Call us now to schedule a free trial lesson at 908-955-3022
https://www.thepianoworkshopatchester.com