Hands off teaching

By Kathie Younker
Originally published in the MMTA Newsletter, April 2012

I once had a student who, whenever I took over the piano at a lesson, acted a little annoyed. I couldn't figure out why, because everyone knows that demonstration is worth a thousand words, right? I was at the peak of my performing ability, and I had a lot of skills to impart. I knew how it should sound, I knew the historical framework of the music, and it was a time saver for her to listen to me and do what I did. I had gone to wonderful workshops and master classes where the master played and the student (sometimes after a few tries) duplicated the style, the touch and the expression, in fact every nuance, exactly as demonstrated by the master.

I didn't learn from my student that I should try a different approach, but it always weighed on me in my subsequent teaching. As I began to teach more and more advanced students, I realized that I had to make a choice: either I had to teach only those pieces I had under my fingers or I needed to be willing to teach pieces I couldn't play as well as my students could. I am a person who bores easily of teaching the same pieces all the time, so I chose the latter, and thereby made an amazing discovery. I discovered ways of teaching that transcended my technical skills. I became the orchestra conductor who doesn't need to grab the oboe and show the oboist how to play, but rather, respects the oboist enough to realize that he will figure out the means if he is inspired by an idea.

Therein lies the challenge: how does the teacher impart the knowledge without taking control of the piano? How does the teacher relinquish control of the piano and still earn his/her salary?
Imagery, gestures, stories, lyrics, and singing are all wonderful ways to get the students' creative juices flowing. Imagining what is going on in the piece (what story is it trying to tell, or what impression is it creating?) is a way to really get the student actively involved. Gesturing a phrase with the arms, or dancing the dance while the student plays, helps get the feeling of the forward motion as well as the rhythm and accent of the dance. Gesturing the type of touch in the air or on the keyboard gives them a strong visual idea of how the muscles and joints move to create a given sound. Writing some extra dynamics or even a breath mark can spark their expressive imagination.
Improvising lyrics and singing them while students play also helps them feel the drama or the humor, while at the same time gives them an understanding of where the piece has to breath. A little history lesson can help a lot to give them a sense of the style of the particular period or of a particular composer. The more I did this type of teaching, the more I discovered new ways to impart my ideas creatively, and the more descriptive and alive I became with my teaching.
I discovered that a 'hands-off' style of teaching validates both the student and the teacher:

• It shows respect for the student's creative ability and recognizes the student as a partner in the learning process.
• It helps you the teacher (or the adjudicator) be a little more open to the student's interpretation of the music, since if you aren't spending your teaching time drilling the student to learn your interpretation, you will be spending more time listening.
• It gives you the teacher a guilt-free-but-effective alternative teaching style when needed, for example, if you are ill or incapacitated physically, if the piece the student is learning is not under your fingers, or if you have a student who prefers to keep control of the piano.
• It gives students confidence and a feeling of independence as a musician, which goes a long way in making them confident performers. There's nothing more confidence building than the feeling that they can play a piece better than their teacher.