In my studies, I read something that I found interesting. Piano teachers don’t teach new skills in lessons. Piano teachers teach their students how to practice. This surprised me, because I thought (silly me!) that I was teaching new skills during lessons. My recent teaching experiences have led me to see the value of teaching students how to practice.
Few things are more frustrating to the teacher and the student as practicing stumbles. Students, in their zeal to play well, stumble through a piece at tempo with many mistakes. They do this repeatedly in practice so that they bring a truly dreadful performance to the lesson. These students have the ability to become skilled and proficient at their instruments. They simply haven’t learned how to practice.
