Tips For Choosing The Best Piano Teacher For Your Child

Oct 4 · 5 min read

When it comes to choosing the best piano teacher for your child, there are certain things you need to keep in mind. A good piano teacher should be able to establish a connection with your child, and it's important that they be able to adapt their teaching style according to each student's personality. Think about what type of feedback your child responds to best: does he or she prefer criticism or praise? Are they more motivated by competition or collaboration? And how much time does he or she have available for lessons every week? Once you know these details about your son or daughter's personality and learning style, you'll be able to find the right teacher for them—and ensure that they continue making progress on their instrument!

Personality Match

Personality is important. You want your child to feel comfortable and connected with their piano teacher, so that they can fully engage in the lessons. To ensure this, look for a person with whom your child can relate.

The teacher should be someone your child can trust. You don’t want them feeling nervous about coming to lessons or hiding some of their mistakes from their teacher in fear of being judged or ridiculed in front of others—that’s not going to help anyone!

Your child needs someone who will make learning fun for them! It might seem like a small detail at first glance, but when you're constantly sitting behind a keyboard playing scales while staring at sheet music (or worse yet…numbers), it's easy for things to get boring fast! If there isn't an element of excitement injected into each session then students will lose interest quickly which means less progress overall over time because they aren't motivated enough by what's being taught right now anyway...

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The teacher should match your child's ambition level

This is a very important factor because the piano teacher will be the person who helps your child reach his or her goals, so you want to make sure that they are compatible. If you have an ambitious student and he or she is learning piano as a hobby, but you end up with a teacher who has no ambitions for his or her students and just teaches them whatever they ask for, then this could lead to frustration on both sides. On the other hand, if you have an ambitious student and he or she wants to play at Carnegie Hall one day and yet ends up with a teacher who only teaches beginner-level lessons because he thinks it's good enough for most children (even though he knows that it isn't), then this can cause problems too! It might seem obvious how easy it would be for someone like me (a professional musician) to tell whether or not someone else is ambitious about music ... but actually I've found that my experience doesn't always translate into knowing what will motivate someone else—even if we're both musicians! So how do we assess another person's ambition? One way would be by asking them directly: "What does success look like for YOU?" Another way would be through observation over time...and yet another way might be just saying thanks but no thanks when encountering potential candidates until one comes along whose level matches yours :)

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Does your child want to have fun or improve?

Does your child want to have fun, or improve? This can be a tricky question to answer, but it's also one of the most important questions you'll ever ask yourself as a parent. If your child is learning piano, do they want to learn for the sake of learning and improving themselves? Or do they just want to play their favorite song on the piano so their friends will think they're cool?

If you're not sure which category your child falls into yet—and that's okay!—here are some helpful tips:

  • First, make sure you understand what it means for someone to "want" something. What would happen if we simply assumed all of our children wanted nothing more than for us (their parents) to provide them with endless opportunities for success? The results would likely be disastrous. In order for any type of growth or improvement in any area of life, there must first be desire on behalf of an individual person; this means that no amount of pushing can force someone into doing something.
  • Second, ask yourself what kind of motivation works best with each individual student: intrinsic vs extrinsic motivators (rewards). In some cases extrinsic rewards might work best; however many experts agree that intrinsic motivation tends to lead students towards greater levels of self-esteem and less dependency upon others when compared with extrinsic rewards
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What type of feedback does your child respond to?

Don’t forget that your piano teacher is an important part of the process. It’s important to find a teacher who will be able to give feedback that your child can internalize and respond to.

  • What kind of feedback does he or she respond best to? Is it praise, constructive criticism, or accurate information about their progress?
  • Can the teacher read his or her emotions? Does the teacher know what makes him/her happy when they play well and what can make them angry when they don't do well?

Is the teacher friendly?

If you’re looking for a piano teacher who is fun and friendly, you should definitely make sure that the teacher is able to connect with your child.

A good piano teacher will be a positive role model for your child, but not one that just goes through the motions of teaching a student how to play an instrument. The best teachers are friendly and encouraging, but they also push their students to learn new things. They should be patient enough to help a student understand what he or she is being taught, but also willing enough to push them on harder pieces so that they can work at getting better every day. Check out our piano lessons in Redmond.

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Is the teacher positive?

When you're looking for a piano teacher, make sure they are positive. This may seem obvious, but it's so important that I'm putting it first on the list. If your child is learning to play an instrument, they will need to hear positive feedback from their teacher. A good instructor will praise the student when they do well and guide them through any challenges they have in a constructive way.

In addition to being supportive and encouraging of students, a good piano teacher should also be enthusiastic about what he or she does! It's no fun for anyone if you go into lessons feeling bored or tired—you want people who actually enjoy what they do teaching your kids!

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Is the teacher excited to teach?

The first thing you should consider is whether or not your child's piano teacher is excited to teach. If they are, it will be obvious in the way they interact with your child and other students in the class. They'll be enthusiastic when they talk about music, which will help get your child excited as well.

A great piano teacher should also be excited to learn more about each student's interests, so they can share their passion for music with the entire class. A good teacher will want to know everything there is to know about his or her students—their background, their goals and dreams—and use that information as a basis for developing lessons tailored specifically for them.

The best teachers are passionate about sharing their love of music with others; this passion comes through loud and clear during lessons so that every student feels welcome at every lesson (even if it's just once!). It shouldn't matter if a child has no experience playing an instrument before coming into his first lesson; if he starts out feeling welcomed into this community by his new teacher then there's no reason why he couldn't develop interest over time!

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When looking for a piano teacher, it's important to check the reviews and ask friends for recommendations. You should also make sure that their personality matches your child's. If you do choose to hire someone new, don't be afraid to give them some time before deciding if they're right or not—they may just need a few lessons before they hit their stride!

WRITTEN BY
Marie Bergman
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