The year of 2019 has been a wonderful year of growth for me. I organized a couple concerts for my students and me to perform in. I started my studio in Boulder, apart from my teaching in Longmont. My online music learning platform has a great run, consulting piano students and piano teachers around the world. I gradually have come back to focusing on piano teaching, and I’m loving it.
In the many years of my piano performance and teaching career, there are a lot of ups and downs. After I returned to Hong Kong from my graduate study at Indiana University, I was quite confused with what I wanted to do. Over time, I discovered my love and passion for piano teaching (instead of just writing about it on my thesis and academic papers). Like I always write in my posts and remind my piano teaching students, piano is a tool to connect with others. Teaching is the most essential part of a piano lesson, and the teaching part should extend beyond the real time you spend with the student.
As a teacher, influence and impact on a student can be big, and it can easily go either way, positive or not. Did any of you hate a subject at school because of the teacher? I surely did. I lost interest in the subject because, 1) the teacher showed no interest (and often disgust) in that subject, s/he was there for the money only; 2) the teacher did not want to teach at all, again, just for there for the job; 3) the teacher did not care about his/her students, at this point it didn’t matter if s/he was actually good at that subject, because s/he did not want to help anyone to like the subject and succeed in learning it.
I remind my piano teaching students again and again, remember why you signed up for this work. If you forgot, go back to reading your teaching philosophy (that’s the first assignment I give them in my piano teacher training program).
I believe as teachers, we shouldn’t have to sacrifice our passion for our living. We can have both. And a great teacher who spends time on owning his/her craft should be rewarded proportionately. Teaching seems like a lost art these days, and I would love to see more people respect teaching as a honorable career as back in the days.
I would love to connect with any of you who are interested in taking piano lessons! I’m grateful that many of you have signed up in December, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and for your appreciation. Cheers to more wonderful lessons and performance in 2020!
Teresa Wong
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