Generosity in piano teaching

Ipólita de Luca was my conservatory piano teacher for almost the entire time I pursued my degree. Although she has a commanding presence, everyone in her studio loved her dearly, and many have kept in touch with her to this day, more than twenty years later.

I believe that Ipólita’s work responsibility was to provide us with one lesson per week. I suspect that she was probably underpaid, as this was at a government-run institution in a country not exactly known for its wealth. We received two lessons every time she thought it was needed. The lessons didn’t have a beginning or an end. Class often started late, but once we were playing, we were the center of all of her attention until she felt fully satisfied with our progress. I felt as if I were training with the dedication of an Olympic athlete, and I loved every second of it! I was challenged and inspired to give my absolute best every day, and yet I was also humbled by her extraordinarily high expectations. Somehow, though, she made me feel like I could, eventually, achieve that top level of performance. (I am still trying.)

When I continued my studies in the United States, Mr. Adams, my first professor at UofSC, entered the picture. He was also quite intimidating. Yet, he was the first and only professor to notice that, as an international student, I was struggling financially and feeling lonely. After only one conversation, he took it upon himself to help me get an internship and attain a job at the library. Thanks to his intervention, I was able to connect with mentors and relax a little from the financial burden of out-of-state tuition. My mind could focus on all of those French pieces that he taught me, some of which I had the pleasure of performing on a trip abroad to Paris, guided and lovingly organized by him. This trip was the most relevant cultural experience of my college years.

I have had many other teachers, and I owe a deep and profound gratitude to every one of them. But those two, quite literally, changed the course of my life. Now here I am, a teacher with over seventy students a week between my studio and applied classes at the university. I teach my pedagogy students how to be professional, organize their schedules efficiently, write policies, and prepare recitals. We discuss methods, literature, and lesson planning. But how do I teach them to be generous? Am I being generous enough with my own students? Can I make a strong impact in their lives and yet run a successful and efficient studio in a culture in which punctuality, promptness, and time management are nonnegotiables? 

These daily reflections cause me to continually think about ways to be more generous with my students while managing a demanding schedule. I am sure that many full-time teachers share the same struggle. 

Here are some suggestions for how you might model generosity as a professional music teacher, along with some information about how I have implemented them.

• Give plenty of music books away.
  Back when I was a conservatory student in Ecuador, it was a struggle to obtain good scores, much less pedagogically edited ones. The scores my teachers gave me were poor quality photocopies from old, unedited public domain books. Having experience in publishing gives me a great appreciation for what a well laid out and edited book can do to help motivate students and ease reading. Giving books away and teaching students to love reading them is extremely rewarding.
  
  I must share one more example of the extraordinary generosity I have experienced. When I was 15 and still living in Ecuador, during a family trip abroad, I ended up in a master class with a Dr. Martin from St. Louis. After that one lesson, he noticed that I didn’t have that many scores, although I was playing at the level of the Schubert Impromptus, Op. 90. He suddenly sat down, stared at his bookshelf, and handed me a whole collection from his personal library of 2nd copy editions to take home. To this day, I have no idea how we flew back with so many books — so many, in fact, that to this day I am finding new pieces and discovering his performance markings. I just ran upon them this week when studying the Schubert Sonata in A, D.959. Although I never saw him again, his gift keeps on giving. How priceless it is to see his hand-written study notes. Talk about generosity!

• If possible, offer at least one family a discounted price or scholarship every semester.
  I award these by need, although the student also has to deserve it by merit. Now that my studio is growing and becoming strong, I want to do much more of this. I have even considered the possibility of creating a funded scholarship in collaboration with local businesses.

• Support your local Federation club or MTNA Chapter.
  The scholarship competitions organized by the Federation clubs are a wonderful way for students to receive a small but motivational award for their hard work. Our help is vital in ensuring that these clubs remain able to provide unique opportunities for students to gain valuable performance experience and impartial assessment. Much needs to be done, and you can help local chapters through volunteering for organizational work or by simply donating to these organizations.
  

• Surround yourself with colleagues who share your values.
  I am fortunate to teach at a university at which kindness, respect, and service are primary values. I have been enchanted by the spirit of giving and sincere care at Anderson University, which is demonstrated daily in the attitudes of faculty and staff to students and to each other. This makes my mission so much easier and inspires me to strive for more. One of the many ways in which these core principles are demonstrated is by sounding an alarm (figuratively speaking) if a professor feels a student is in distress or is inexplicably absent. I have seen professors reach out to each other to make sure students are well. I have also seen the amount of coaching teachers give to the graduating class to help place them in the job market before graduation. There is true generosity in the thoughtful advice and honest life coaching provided to students just at the right time in their journey.

• Offer extra master classes and study sessions.
  I schedule master classes that are not included in the fees. I offer them to the committed students who are working on festival or convention performances, recitals, or university auditions. These master classes average 2 hours in length, and they offer an opportunity for coaching and performance preparation beyond the lessons. I also schedule recital rehearsals at the venue, and I use that time to work on tone projection on stage and performance ethics.

• Make yourself available beyond the scheduled lesson time.
  I make sure that my students and parents know they can reach out anytime if they need me. I encourage them to communicate with me via text, email me with questions, and send me details of their practice for feedback during the week if they are struggling with something. I also try to send my students materials and resources for listening, as well as great YouTube master classes when I find them. 

• Be prepared and willing to do a lot of extra work for graduating students auditioning for college.
  Preparing students who want to major or minor in piano for their auditions and helping them make the transition to college is an intense and time consuming process, but it is truly one of the greatest joys I experience in my studio. The work encompasses many different steps – from helping students and their parents learn about the best school options and their requirements, to making sure students understand realistic professional paths, to taking the extra time and effort to prepare and record successful and confident auditions. These students require a lot of emotional support because they are anxious about the process and looking for encouragement, often reaching out more than ever before. During this process, I have also noticed that young and rising students become incredibly inspired by the high level of work and repertoire of their senior classmates, sometimes even developing a “fanlike” following. It becomes more important than ever to be generous with your time during this critical transition and to provide the senior students with performance opportunities and master classes, including a graduation recital to showcase the culmination of their hard work. This not only allows students to rehearse their audition repertoires on stage and gain confidence, but it also permeates the studio with a renewed desire to work harder and aspire to a higher level of playing.

• Help students find the right instrument.
  I have helped students find good used pianos and offered to test them out before they make a final decision. Parents often cannot tell the difference between good instruments and those that are a little “too used.” They sometimes need a bit of help understanding the level of care and repair that a piano might need. Helping them be aware of their choices and guiding them through the process relieves a lot of the stress of making such a big purchase and helps ensure that the student ends up with a beautiful instrument that they can enjoy for the long term.
  

Is there anything else I can do? What do you do in your studio besides teaching a great lesson to help make a difference in your students’ lives? How can we teach the young generation of piano pedagogues to be like our best mentors? How can we, through our daily work as piano teachers, help make this chaotic world we are living in just a little kinder and turn our studio into a safe refuge for our students?

Please share with me your ideas so we can help each other improve the human aspect of our vocation without losing the efficiency we need to run a successful studio!