IMSLP Forums

Hello everybody,
I just started teaching piano at a conservatory of music, and I have many students, many of them see playing piano as an annoying thing they have to do to please their parents...
Can you help me find ways to make these students love piano and/or classical music? and their for be more efficient?

any advice would help!
Thank you

Get them playing chamber music with other students, ideally of the opposite sex and roughly the same age. Works every time!

Or chain them to a piano leg. Seems to work for the Russians

Philidor wrote:Get them playing chamber music with other students, ideally of the opposite sex and roughly the same age. Works every time!

that's a very good idea, I will try it, but still, beguiners are still the main problem, they are the one who need to like it, and they cannot play chamber music yet

aneshnash wrote:

Philidor wrote:Get them playing chamber music with other students, ideally of the opposite sex and roughly the same age. Works every time!

that's a very good idea, I will try it, but still, beguiners are still the main problem, they are the one who need to like it, and they cannot play chamber music yet

Sometimes it can be of help to give them their favorite game-music but as far as I know that's not available as public domain music only for some very old game-music because game-developers used classical pieces years ago. Still very hard to play most of the time. Another solution could be to use some software for learning to play like playing a game.

As someone who's taken piano lessons, I will say that it is rather useful to know your way around a keyboard, but as a Trumpet player and Composer, I've found the piano to be, well, rather over-used and consiquently, boring, as well as alot of the music writen for it. Now I say this, because, perhaps alot of your students would rather be learning another instrument. As for making them like classical music, a music history proffessor would do a better job with numerous recordings, backgrounds of the music, and such. It's probably not the best advice, seeing as I'm a college freshman, but hope this helps in some way.

ZacPB189 wrote:As someone who's taken piano lessons, I will say that it is rather useful to know your way around a keyboard, but as a Trumpet player and Composer, I've found the piano to be, well, rather over-used and consiquently, boring, as well as alot of the music writen for it. Now I say this, because, perhaps alot of your students would rather be learning another instrument. As for making them like classical music, a music history proffessor would do a better job with numerous recordings, backgrounds of the music, and such. It's probably not the best advice, seeing as I'm a college freshman, but hope this helps in some way.

Thank you, unfortunately I've never encoutered a proffesseur who knew some music history let's say classical music is far from being a big thing where I live. From my point of view, piano is the best instument someone can ever discover, it could be boring for beginners who get discourage by its difficulty, but as you learn more techniques and to read notes faster, you then can enjoy the "interesting" and amazing pieces.

aneshnash wrote:Hello everybody,
... many of them see playing piano as an annoying thing they have to do to please their parents...
Thank you

I'm willing to bet that in 95% of cases, the parents do not play any type of musical instrument. (Piano lessons are seen as something you send your child to in order to show everybody what a civilised and cultivated person you are and what a genius little Tommy or Sally is developing into...along with the ballet classes, after-school coaching, five different kinds of sport and a foreign language.)

And of those that do, probably very few spend time playing with their child and just having fun (as opposed to breathing down their neck saying "is that what you're supposed to be practicing for your lesson?" and "you got that wrong - play it again!")

Or giving their child any other opportunities to play with their peers or benefit a social or community group.

When I was a child having piano lessons, as soon as my fingers were coordinated enough I was recruited to accompany my parents' enthusiastic amateur singing endeavours and my brother's efforts on the violin, to play hymns at church, perform at charity fundraisers/ aged care homes, and encouraged to play in small groups with other kids around my age. Later on came high school band (when I started learning the flute), and high school choir (where I would fill in for the regular pianist when she was away, and where I met husband - who sang bass even in those days).

The social aspect is so important. If we want children to enjoy music, we must enjoy making music with them!
One of my friends has found a music teacher for her son who teaches both the child AND the parent at the lesson, and the parent is encouraged to join in when the child plays at home.
And how about finding out which kids (out of your son/daughter's circle of friends and schoolmates) are having music lessons, and inviting them all over for a party with their instruments, and any favorite music that they want to try out, at the home of someone who owns a piano? IMSLP could be a great resource for something like this.

Just a few random ideas.

AJ

aneshnash wrote:...many of them see playing piano as an annoying thing they have to do to please their parents...

I totally agree. Music is not just another subject from school we must endure. I hate that parents would make kids play an instrument. The best pianists I know weren't forced to play for the most part.

What I would say is to show them the benefits of learning music first, before they actually get started. Showing a kid others who have prospered from deciding to learn music would encourage them to learn more than a parent would ever be capable of forcing them to do... in my opinion, of course...

daphnis wrote:Or chain them to a piano leg. Seems to work for the Russians

Maybe I'll try that sometime! It sounds like it would work.

aldona wrote:

aneshnash wrote:Hello everybody,
... many of them see playing piano as an annoying thing they have to do to please their parents...
Thank you

I'm willing to bet that in 95% of cases, the parents do not play any type of musical instrument. (Piano lessons are seen as something you send your child to in order to show everybody what a civilised and cultivated person you are and what a genius little Tommy or Sally is developing into...along with the ballet classes, after-school coaching, five different kinds of sport and a foreign language.)

And of those that do, probably very few spend time playing with their child and just having fun (as opposed to breathing down their neck saying "is that what you're supposed to be practicing for your lesson?" and "you got that wrong - play it again!")

Or giving their child any other opportunities to play with their peers or benefit a social or community group.

When I was a child having piano lessons, as soon as my fingers were coordinated enough I was recruited to accompany my parents' enthusiastic amateur singing endeavours and my brother's efforts on the violin, to play hymns at church, perform at charity fundraisers/ aged care homes, and encouraged to play in small groups with other kids around my age. Later on came high school band (when I started learning the flute), and high school choir (where I would fill in for the regular pianist when she was away, and where I met husband - who sang bass even in those days).

The social aspect is so important. If we want children to enjoy music, we must enjoy making music with them!
One of my friends has found a music teacher for her son who teaches both the child AND the parent at the lesson, and the parent is encouraged to join in when the child plays at home.
And how about finding out which kids (out of your son/daughter's circle of friends and schoolmates) are having music lessons, and inviting them all over for a party with their instruments, and any favorite music that they want to try out, at the home of someone who owns a piano? IMSLP could be a great resource for something like this.

Just a few random ideas.

AJ

I totally agree with you,
Im planning for them to play one by one or in duets in front of the other students+their parents, in order to get them excited and cheered (both the students and the parents), I'll let you know how it goes
thanks

One thing I can think of: remember that the songs they are given to practice should be musically also fun. This is very subjective of course but I am sure you have some idea at pieces on whether they are fun to listen to/play. For example when I was a beginning student at some point there was a funky bluesy piece (not too hard) that I had to play, I never practiced so much before I played that! For me as a young boy this was perfect, it may depend per student what kind of music they like, and how hard the piece should be.

I know this thread is over a year old, but I'm sure teachers are always looking for new ideas...
When my sister didn't want to practice her violin I would play a challenging violin CD I knew she liked. It was probably a soundtrack, or something I knew she liked, not strict classical. It worked every time. I think it was mostly subconscious and put her in the mood to play violin.
I think each musician needs to have a favorite piece for his instrument that he listens to regularly to motivate himself.
If I were in this particular situation, I would probably introduce them to Vitamin String Quartet or Igudesman and Joo. They make classical music exciting because it is useful. I think people (especially young college students) lose interest in music because they don't have a way to use it. They don't relate to it. I remember feeling that it didn't matter if I learned a classical piece because hundreds before me had, and there were multiple recordings better than I could perform; however, when I realized that I could rearrange it, layer it with another piece, create something new, that was when I embraced classical music.
Find and utilize their pre-existing musical interests. Use those to challenge them.