“The Piano allows me to be present, pedantic and perfectionist in a safe and creative way, while connecting to a huge historic tradition of others who have done the same.” Nelly Palmer
As a teacher of 40 plus years, having taught many students, ranging from aspiring professionals and piano teachers, to those who simply love the piano and want to go as far as they can to be able to master some of it’s wonderful repertoire, I like to reflect a lot on my teaching, to ensure that I am still giving my students my best, and more particularly so at the start of a new term , and indeed, a new year.
This reflection is not just about whether my students have achieved the goals we set together at the start of the previous term, but it goes somewhat deeper; I want to know how much my students are enjoying their lessons, do they feel motivated to practice, are they loving what they are currently playing, do they enjoy performing, what next, and most of all where and how does the piano fit into their lives.
As teachers it is indeed part of our job to set short- and long-term goals, to teach students how to practice effectively, to introduce them to new repertoire, to encourage them to listen to music and to attend concerts. We are there to share our knowledge and experience, but also to encourage them to become more independent learners.
It is also part of our job to reflect on how all that is going, and to ask ourselves if we are really giving our best to each and every student. We need to remain fresh and enthused ourselves, something which can sometimes be challenging when we spend huge amounts of time teaching one to one; this is where CPD and peer support is really important, as is keeping up our own playing, continuing our own musical journey.
Something I have been thinking about a lot is how much do we, as piano teachers, know and fully understand where and how the piano fits into our students’ lives, what their lessons and their playing mean to them, so I decided to begin this term by asking them to explain this in more detail to me. Some have opted to write a few words; others will do a short video; I thought it would be interesting to share this with other piano teachers and students here in this blog. I don’t believe in a ‘one size fits all’ prescriptive approach to teaching, we are teaching individuals and therefore our approach needs to be to respond to them in a very individual way and to do this, I do believe that we need to truly understand how they feel about the piano and about their lessons.
My first ‘Spotlight’ is on my student Nelly Palmer who is in the first year of 6th form and is studying for a Piano Performance Diploma with me, Nelly also composes and plays the Cello (she has recently passed a diploma in Cello Performance), excels in her schoolwork and loves to run and to write. I marvel at how Nelly not only fits all of this in, but excels at all of her favourite subjects, however, she is extremely organised, enthusiastic and dedicated with so much mental energy and a love of life. Nelly is a wonderfully musical student, she thinks deeply and carefully, we have such interesting musical discussions, I have been very keen to encourage Nelly to offer her opinions and to find her own unique musical voice, it is really a privilege to see this beginning to happen and to be on this journey with Nelly.
Nelly loves to perform, as well as performing in the concerts I organise for my students, Nelly organised and prepared her own solo Piano and Cello recital last summer for charity and in the same term Nelly won a local Young Musician competition last year and various classes at the local festival.
Here are a few words from Nelly on what the piano means to her personally, along with a clip of her beautiful performance of Debussy’s Sarabande from Pour le Piano, in our student summer concert.
“For me, the piano is a chance to completely immerse myself in the childlike act of play. It allows me to be present, pedantic and perfectionist in a safe and creative way, while connecting to a huge historic tradition of others who have done the same. I also use my playing to advocate for the art of people who have often been excluded from that tradition (such as women and people of colour). Music celebrates the universal human infatuation with expression, pleasure and pattern making, in a way that nothing else I know of can.”
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