to learn (unfinished)

Not so long ago I started my journey into piano pedagogy.

It wasn’t necessarily for me, but for my mother.

It’s her school

you see

I just needed an excuse to leave.

I wanted to discover

no not really

Maybe I wanted to remember

how it was to follow my glee and try to see if I can fall in love again.

But I needed an excuse to exit myself from that world

…..without hurting anybody.

Working for 20 years in my mother’s music school,

after university

I didn’t have the time

energy

to think about me.

Instead

I thought

about the school

and I thought

about the students.

I immersed myself to learn the things I didn’t quite really care about.

Though it gave me the experience

And maybe that’s the problem

You see

I learned about how students are forced to learn piano ---just like me

I learned about how some rare students really love music but these students have parents that don’t agree.

AND, as school owners, the focus MUST remain that each student must learn

at the very least, to play some music independently.

So, I flew back to Canada and met Dr. Comeau

He is my Professor in Ottawa

and is probably the most passionate teacher you could know.

In his program

I learned about teaching the middle c and its deficiencies.

I learned about practice and theory

I learned about structure and tempo and phrases

I learned about how the brain learns and how music is remembered.

I learned that in teaching art……

it’s more than just technique or skill.

It really is the research of teaching the heart.