How I Became a Piano Teacher (with tips for aspiring teachers)
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- čas přidán 1. 05. 2017
- Happy 2023! 😃I'll be releasing some new videos this year, so be sure to subscribe to the channel for updates!
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Happy practicing!
-Allysia
I love this, I'm a piano teacher myself who was also working minimum wage jobs but by chance I met a guy who needed to train piano teachers because he had way too many students, I never knew I would love it this much!
instaBlaster...
Awww that's so cute that she gives you pomegranates 🐱
do a 'my favorite pieces' video :D
If anyone is interested in playing piano the greatest success that I have had was by using the Turbo Piano Secret (i found it on google) definately the most helpful system that I've followed.
It reminds me to my piano teacher, I really trust her and I enjoy going to her lessons , that has made me learn a lot more with her than in 5 years with other shitty teachers.
This is great. I have a piano performance degree and I can say I’m good at piano, but I feel like I’m so awkward, anxious and shy. I mumble and sweat when parents sit in even though I know what I’m doing. Once I even choked and spoke gibberish coz I was so nervous. I wish I can be as open and natural as you. Still working on delivering and interacting freely.
Yesterday I just registered my daughters (age 8 and 6) for piano lessons at Kawai Music School just across the street. I hope the teachers are as good as you. Huge fan. Keep going!
i just found you on youtube and i love your videos!! being a piano teacher , your sharing is very encouraging !
Thank you so much! I was looking forward for the video :)
Thanks for the talk & the words of wisdom!
Thanks! Very kind of you to share your adventures! Take care.
Thank YOU so much for sharing so much with US!~! You are amazing!
I like this video thanks for the tips. You go girl let your light shine
Thank you for sharing ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I've been teaching piano for about 6 months and appreciate this video! 😁
This was SO helpful! Thank you! I just moved to a new city- Atlanta- and I'm working on building my studio. Great tips!
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed listening.
Thank you so much for this comprehensive and valuable information. Really appreciate it. All the best for your career!
Very interesting journey! A gourmet chef and piano instructor extraordinaire! You would most definitely be my choice for a piano teacher if I lived anywhere near you. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think you are a really nice person with a great personality and with a great deal of skill and insight as an instructor. You are really cutting edge with your online instruction course. Keep up the great work as you actually are my (online) piano instructor.
Loved this video, thank you!
Thank you for sharing your story Allysia! I am a piano teacher as well, and I also got into teaching because of one of my teachers. I would love to see more videos about piano teaching! Maybe... your favorite method books, favorite teaching aids, or most used resources??
Thank you for sharing your musical story - hearing it was a pleasure and an enriching experience and I am all the better for it thank you this video made me happy
Thank you for this video Allysia! I just started teaching piano kind of spontaneously some time after deciding to take a break from my psych degree. Months after sending out job applications to music schools one of them actually got back to me and hired me lmao I hardly have any credentials in music similar to how you started so hearing your story is really reassuring. I've been following your channel for years and bought your DIY piano course...actually remember watching this video yrs ago for fun and now I'm taking notes! You're awesome, thank you for sharing your passion and this amazing content 💙💙💙
Awesome advice❤
I'm so grateful for this particular video as I asked two people recently who have teaching experience how they started teaching and they could not even recommend books for beginners or tell me how they got started. I will look more closely at the books you have mentioned. I wish I had discovered your channel prior to July.
Hahaha that Vietnamese woman sounds like how my mother would feel having you teach her. Thanks for sharing your journey on job searching, it's inspiring!
Very enjoyable story. Interesting insight into your journey. I had lots of flashbacks to my various music teachers, good and bad, along the way.
This is a valuable video, thank you.
Just love you. Teaching in Edmonton in my own studio
thank you!
Inspiring video. I'm thinking of getting into music teaching soon and a friend of mine just started with a couple if students. It's great to hear of your experience.
Thanks for your great insight. This really put my piano teaching into perspective. Your comment about the ultimate goal of piano teaching being giving kids the joy of playing music resonates with me a lot. I feel that I may have turned a lot of kids away from loving and appreciating piano because they feel bad about themselves and and get stressed out whenever they come to me. Oh god, I am literally a witch! Poor kids.
I found this so helpful! Thank you for making this video! I’m gonna be teaching a pair of siblings and I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little panicked about it. But this definitely helped ease my nerves. I love my instrument, I love kids, and they already kinda know me. And within this whole pandemic it’s gonna just be a fun way to break up the week.... even though I’ve never formally taught a lesson before. 🤦♀️ oh boy...
fantastic !!
i want to be a teacher too! at first i think i am quite late just because im 33 and all the student at my class are better and younger! but last few month i tought that i should start to do what i love which is music. i play guitar since i was kid, but for me piano are more relaxing. (i still play guitar in death metal band, haha!)
i hope i can be a good teacher just like my late father, giving them more than just education. wish me luck!
Don´t do it. It sucks.
If you love it man and it gives you energy doing it and seeing others grow from your knowledge and are ready to learn from your students, you’ll love it.
I found this video quite useful, thank you. I'll use some of the tips you've spoken about in trying to be more proactive with students who struggle to find time to practice. I've been teaching for almost 4 years now (And I'm only 20! Started teaching when I was 16....I don't know how that happened either lol). The problem I am having is I don't feel like I have enough students. I have 8 at a company and 8 of my own who I go to their houses. The company I work for always seems to be on my back over these things lol. Always inspecting how many I have and asking why I don't have more (even though they give me the students and very rarely pass any on to me) which I struggle with a fair amount. Even when I get given a few students the always seem to be the ones who don't really want lessons.
The company I work for sells instruments and they give out free lessons to people who buy an instrument so I always feel like they've just been forced into trying the first lesson without actually wanting any lessons in the first place which just makes me look bad to the company.
The question I have is;
1) What would you do in this situation? Is there anything you can really do for students who don't want to learn piano but have been forced to try by this company/parents?
And
2) How often do you get new students? I quite often have huge periods with no one new (Maybe even 6 months or more) which makes me really question the viability of me being a teacher
I'm sorry for the long comment....
Thanks,
Jack
Hey Jack! For your first question, I really don't think there is much to be done there. It doesn't matter how awesome you are; if the kid or parent isn't interested in lessons, they're not going to take lessons. Personally that would drive me crazy! I do my whole two-interview screening process because it specifically eliminates people like that, and it means the vast majority of my students truly want to be in lessons.
For the second one, if I want new students I usually just have to put up a flyer, but to be honest I haven't done that in over a year. I usually get a couple new students at the beginning of the school year via word of mouth, which usually works well as it replaces people who are leaving. Otherwise my student base is pretty stable. I also go through periods of 6 months or more without new students, but I'm not actively pursuing them. If you feel like you need more, experiment with various advertising methods and see what happens. Good luck!
This is awesome. I took violin lessons for 6 months as a kid and I was always involved in choir, musical theatre and dance. I started studying piano in my late 20s (in 2019) and I LOVE it! I want to become a piano teacher myself now but I am upset that I came to it so late (even though I was always very musical as a kid- but my primary instrument was/is voice). I don’t know if I will be able to teach because I started really late (as an adult) but I have learned a LOT in the last few years. I want to keep learning and hopefully I can teach when I am older.
It is interesting that you weren’t dedicated to the piano when you were already a teacher and were able to take a step back. I was studying linguistics in 2015 and I liked it but I became stressed out (daily panic attacks) and had to step back and re-evaluate my choice. When I took a break from uni that is when I started getting interested in piano (my sister in law had purchased a beautiful upright from an auction house) and taking lessons. I feel that music is my true passion in life.
Just discovered your amazing channel. Keep up the great work. I wish I could have you as a piano teacher ! Cheers
I admire your self-efficacy, how you blaze your own path. It's not like there were clear steps to getting to where you are, you just had the guts to figure it out as you went.
And i'm not sure if it's silly or courageous (probably both), but your willingness to drop something that's working just to try something new is something we can all learn from you.
Keep getting out there and doing new things! You're affecting more people in more ways than you know
Thanks for your kind words! :)
Omg thank you so much I'm a 18 years old girl and just became a teacher to a 5 year old kid and i wanna do my best you helped me a lot thank you love you
Probably the very best primer l've ever seen about the critical skills, attitudes and understandings of being a good, happy, respectable and productive piano teacher. I found it useful, hopeful and realistic. Thank you very very very much.
Very Informative and Inspirational, almost the same experience as you do
Awesome video! . . . and love your "technology terror moment" at the very end!!!
Great video! Thank you, I found this very helpful. I am just starting out. I have 3 students so far. 😊
Very helpfull and valuable 🎶✨
Dear Alicia,
Thank you very much for your video. I really appreciate it and it has been very useful to me. I took some piano lessons when I was a kid but I jsut got a very basic level back then, which is nowadays non-existent. Anyway, today I am a translator and a languages teacher. I work with English, Portuguese, Spanish and Galician. By the way, I am writing you from Galicia (North West of Spain). Tomorrow I will be teaching an English lesson to a student who is a real piano teacher in the School of Music of our city. You video hase provided me with very useful words and topics to discuss in English with her. That will be out speaking lesson tomorrow "How and why she became a piano teacher and her experience". Thanks.
Best regards,
Anxo PS
I'll not made compliments about your technique, good contents or nothing, I'll only say this thing: You are special, the way you talk about music is special. Even when the subject isn't something I am searching, I just could not close the video, because is very inspiring to see someone talking about her passion with all that enthusiasm. Excellent job! And aal this with funny, with funny! rsrs
Hi Allysia(@pianoTV), you are the best. I hope you post a video about what are the bad habits of being a pianist and playing a piano. that would be great.
This is surprisingly one of the best videos I have watched on this channel even though I don't have any teaching skills.
:)
i have started to teach Guiatr and later on i have started to teach Piano, no RCM at my area so i have needed to build my confidence that my skill is at the currect level
Ah! I finaly have the answer about where you live! I don't know why, but I've wondered that for a while! :)
The part about credits just makes me reminds that I have my last lesson with my teacher this week end. I'm really sad about this. He was an incredible teacher (ok, this is the only I've had, so I have no comparison, but he was both challenging with the pieces he brought to me, and supportive, motivating, having useful advices, ...) and I wish so much he would not move out of town! (What is that idea of doing a bachelor degree in jazz piano after a one in classical piano anyway? :P (I'm kidding, of course. I think I'm lucky to have had a teacher interested in both styles).
I'm really hoping the future one will as motivating (and will bear with me with my project of doing a level 7 exam next year! It seems a little bit exagerated, since I've been playing for 18 months, but I think it is faisible. I'm really excited about that project!).
There are several ideas for how to learn piano
Try practicing for 1 hour a day, or even half an hour if you are very busy.
Do extra practice whenever you have more time. For example, on weekends you can do more than 1 hour, maybe 2 or three, or even more. This is useful because it pulls you out of the routine of piano playing, and lets you practice more and perfects the pieces you play.
(I discovered about these and more from Denelle Piano Lesson website )
I have cried at a piano lesson. Lol. I have also made a student cry. Not being mean he was struggling with understanding a concept. My most dedicated student was 63.
Thank you for this video! I’m 15 and I only have one student so far. My first lesson is on Tuesday and this was very helpful!
Alyssa Evans I’m 15 too and I’m also thinking of starting a class but the thing is, I don’t know where to start?
@@marjorietoo5240 i would say ask your parents if they have any friends' sons/daughters who want to learn piano
Im not grade 8 but I am trying to teach the basics to some persons
Thanks for this video Allysia! It was so inspiring and helpful, and congrats on your journey thus far! I just wanted to know, how you decide what kinds of books to teach your students and what direction you go into usually? Like if a student has never learned piano before what books do you start with and when do you decide to go into RCM or the Connection books?
For children beginners, we almost always start with the Piano Adventures primer. Once we finish that, level 1, 2a and 2b, I like getting them into some Grade 1 material (like Connections 1), but oftentimes we'll simultaneously do that alongside 3a. I find my students really love the PA books and are reluctant to leave them behind, so we keep doing them up to 4 usually (which tends to correspond with grade 2/3).
For adults, we usually do the first two Adult PA books, and then get right into Grade 1 stuff. Can you tell I like Piano Adventures?
You probably won’t even see this, but thank you for telling us your experience, I’m now pursuing my dreams, learning to play the piano and one day reach that K8? If I’m correct. I’m currently trying to get a teacher, this inspired me as well
hello allysia super super video .I found the books which you suggested were extremely good.I started on konrad and kabalesky and the benefits are enormous.
can you please do a video on the the vaious pianos less than $1000.
eg yamaha etc
A few interesting things my piano teacher said about teaching adults: they seem to be passionate about playing the piano. However, a number of times when she would demonstrate new pieces in class in a group session and expect the students to practice them, her students tend to listen attentively like she is the entertainer and they are the audience. Some may even be recording her playing in class but not a lot of effort put into actually playing the same pieces.
In my family seems like everybody is preoccupied with work & other things. Hardly anybody shows an interest in playing music. 1 man has a collection of CDs while a few are contented listening to Classical music on the radio.
Thank you for this video! I'm actually right now still in school and I played piano since I was a kid. And i started just recently teaching piano to a couple of people. I have no diploma or anything, but hey I'm still doing what i always wanted to do and make some money besides going to school. To anyone out there trying to figure out a way to make money with what you love. Just do it, thats really all it takes. I printed out some papers with my phone number on it (nothing fancy) and basically hung the papers all over the city and guess what people started calling me and they asked me for their first lesson.
Well, being taught by The Virtuoso Chopin is an incredible honor. haha...
hi! I just recently subscribed to your channel and I love it! My children and I take have been taking piano lessons here in Mexico City for 5 years know. We are going to move to Ottawa in the near future; we'd like to continue with our piano education. Are there any piano academies in Ottawa that you'd recommend? cheers!
do you have a video on your site for adult students, my big problem is nerves, silly i know but there you are!
Selena's voice omg
18:21 teaching from home
Really enjoyed this! I never aspired to be a piano teacher but when I was younger I entertained thoughts of being a piano tuner/technician. I ended up being a flight instructor for a few years and your insights made me think of how I related to my students. So far, I've investigated two different music schools and both want me to take lessons every week. I explained that I travel for a living and I can't attend every week at a certain time but I still want at least some training. No one is interested in taking me on therefore I gave up and I'm teaching myself. What is your take from a piano teacher's perspective?
That's cool that you were a flight instructor - is that why you travel for a living? And for your question, music schools can sometimes be more stringent on things like weekly attendance, but you might have luck with private teachers, who can sometimes be more flexible. I have an adult student who attends sporadically (he works 12 day shifts), but we stick him at the end of the evening so that it doesn't interrupt my schedule and it works fine. I'm sure there are other teachers who do that!
Yup, when I travel I have a side window and a front window. I asked these schools if I can book a lesson with the same teacher whenever he/she had an opening between students but they were not happy with this idea either. I'll be on the lookout for a private teacher. Thanks! :-)
4:05 - "... I've seen it all ... like I've made kids cry before; that's actually not entirely uncommon!"
You monster!!!
I'm just kidding, you're hilarious! I'm not an aspiring piano teacher, as I'm still trying to figure out how to play, but this was very entertaining ... and you didn't make me cry once.
I currently have grade 8 in Piano, Grade 6 in Theory. I also studied the performance module of my Music degree up to the 2nd year. The only issue is, due to physical health issues and deaths in my family I only completed 2 and half years of university, meaning I have a diploma of music oppose to a full degree. Am I still capable of teaching? I have always loved the idea of teaching piano, but I worry I am not good enough. I worry I will steer pupils wrong. I know I have a deep knowledge of music, but I am concerned how well I will be able to relay that knowledge and teach effectively, I have never done it before.
Any advice from anyone would be useful! Thanks!
Am actually a new piano teacher... What do you advise???
Note that the method book I started with is John Thompson...
From Sask, eh? A real Prairie Muffin!
I took ABRSM. Do you have to go to music school to be a piano teacher. I only have my certificates, no music school experience.
HELLO, good day, i learned a piano since childhood, i was a churh choir musician(organist) I want to teach piano, how can I star and I want to learn more and willing to be trained much more, can you help me?
what is "Ka Ji Ji"?
I have grade 6 (AMEB, 8 is the highest) do you think it is okay for me to teach beginners? I want to be a primary school teacher and I love playing piano, so I think piano teaching is an effective way to share my passion + get experience. Is it fine to teach with just a Grade 6?-beginners most likely only to be taught?
Do you use a similar rubric/program for all your students? How do you know what exercises or repertoire to work on with different students?
RCM has a syllabus that we follow.
So, you are Canadian!
I love your videos and passionate enthusiasm about piano. Interesting journey. I'm writing a comedy about witch and vampire, maybe I will put piano teacher into it as wall.. Just watched your recent upload comedy piano tips. "Do this Not that" was very funny. You seem very young to have had so many students and experiences, you look only in your early twenties. But wish I had your intelligence when I was that age. Instead of so many wasted years. I gave up trying to learn piano having spent lots of time and money with various Internet teachers on You Tube , that also sold courses. I smashed my piano up with sledge hammer compassionately of course; because the lady that sold it me said it was good one, she just had it tuned, she was elderly person used to be a nurse, But the piano tuner said, he couldn't tune it needed looking at, give me piano repair man's number. But the piano repair man said, you can be sure this piano has not been touched in years. Notes were missing. Middle C was missing as well. When the lady played it for me she must have played at higher register. I liked the sound of the piano was sweet but he said it couldn't be fixed would cost too much. Next time phone him he would find me a good piano. He walked off with all the key notes, said he could use them. I let him have them for his time and advice. Now I'm learning with you, but only have electronic key boards by Yamaha my late mama bought me. She always wanted me to learn to play it. Thank you for the chat was very interesting. It was mean of that demonic student calling you a witch but you would make a great witch in comedy film, you are Ace.
Hello I am Greg. I can play pretty well by way of reading sheet music. How do I move from playing songs by way sheet music to playing without sheet music? I can play with both hands at the same time. Please and Thank you Greg. p.s. Have a great day!
Focus on memorizing one bar or one line at a time and taking your time with a piece. With memorizing I focus on memorizing one line at a time.
time stamps pls for each titles 16:47 piano teacher evolution
The culinary school in Texas, did it happen to be in Austin?
What do you mean?
Yes it was! Natural Epicurean.
Wow you look so serious in that video...
What’s the salary like?
How I know when I have a good Piano Teacher?? Can you provide some tips???
I know its 2 years too late. But 3 things I loved about my piano teacher was he was very inteitive to details, he was passionate about my learning, and he was very intelligent. When I started young he seem kind of boring but as I grew older I've grown to be really fond of him and i take every critique and try to perfect it for next time.
25 student a week or a month??
Alyssia....interesting. One question, please, when you started teaching around age 20, at such a young age, you were able to teach with grade 8 RCM?????? Do u not usually require grade 10 plus to teach ? I totally "get it" with the experience aspect, but not sure how you were able to act as a teacher for a large music school with less than grade 10???? Does that normally mean u can only teach beginners? I've never known a teacher who had less than the grade ten plus ACRT (is that the correct acronym?) Just curious. Take good care.
No offense, I thought so too. I thought it needs at least an ARCT performance or piano pedagogy thing in order to teach.
I believe you can teach up to grade 7 with RCM grade 8 but you keep improving and keep working towards higher certificates.
remember to be realistic - you'll have to put in a bit of work whatever plan you choose for learning to play piano I have spent months studying teaching yourself piano and discovered an awesome website at Turbo Piano Secret (google it if you're interested)
I have no grades in it :(
Since you decided to tell your story, if being an individual piano teacher makes you perfectly happy, thats fine. It is a nice and perfectly respectable profession. However you have a potential that you could better exploit. If music and teaching are your passion, you could and should get grades above RCM10, if for nothing else, to boost and deepen your skills and utilize that potential. And maybe become a real teacher (which you already are anyway).
What happened to the woman that loved music?
how can I start teaching piano?
Hello Julio, if you are interested in taking piano classes, with an excellent methodology, I could guide you, I have been using it for more than 10 years, it is excellent
Thank you might consider at a future point
"Witch" 😂
🤣
Umm, this is random but would you be willing to collaborate with me in writing a song? I have a great idea but no skill in writing music.
What can I say to my students if I'm a piano teacher?
Say "Not quite my tempo" as often as you can.
April Teniente Say "Wrong interpretation" as much as you can
April Teniente say "I have no time for begginers" as much and as loud as you can
Wait a minute! Are you a fan of Chopin?
April Teniente im the one and only
Appreciate video content! Apologies for chiming in, I would appreciate your thoughts. Have you researched - Chiveard Awesome Speaker Framework (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is a smashing one off guide for learning how to master the piano minus the headache. Ive heard some great things about it and my cousin got excellent results with it.
It's like SELENA GOMEZ is talking
do you know your personality type?
credentials is the word for the letters after a name
I am super sarcastic, guess I need that to be toned down
She will learn that teaching Piano will sadly not pay the bills.... Not hating here, shes young and still has time to recover...
This isn't true at all! I've been teaching for years. Teaching a full studio can be very profitable!
I keep hearing Michael who is he? Your boyfriend? Flatmate?
Husband as of next week!
wooooooooooow congratulations!!!!
Haha canadians accents always betray them when they say aboet.
How could you be so sadistic to vegetables? Okay, they are not musical at all, I see.
You can do better than Michael. Like me.
😂😂 When the loneliness consumes you
Been teaching Guitar for 14 years now, and i hate it. I only do it for the Money because i dont have an alternative. Music sucks.