I teach piano.
A new student just had her first lesson today. Her lesson goes for 30 minutes.
I wanted to get her straight into things asap. And the thing is, you can't play if you don't know what notes are and all that basic jazz. So I started off with theory (teaching her how to sit at the piano, what the notes are, what the treble clef is, what the bass clef is)
So I spent 3/4 of the lesson teaching her about these things. 1/4 of the lesson was spent on me testing her about notes (I'd say 'play the note G', and then she'd play it)
She and her father left quite satisfied (at least, that what it appeared to be like, they were smiling and they looked pleased). They said they would be coming next week.
After they left, my parents started dissing me about how I talked too much and completely made them lose interest. I insisted to them that you can't play piano without the theory, which is the very basics.
It's like laying out the concrete before building the house - the theory is like the concrete (quite boring, but fundamental) and the house is like playing the piano (much more fun and interesting).
They ignored me and said that I still didn't need to teach her theory for most of the lesson. They said that I should have taught her theory for half of the lesson and let her play for the other half.
They also said that I should have spent some time showing off my piano playing skills (which I think is a waste of time, esp that piano lessons are not free. The time is supposed to be used on her learning, not me showing off)
They said that most of the time we just sat there in silence doing nothing, while in actual fact, I was writing down what book she needed to buy and all the theory stuff she needed to remember.
I kept insisting that it was right that I taught her theory most of the time and then let her play a little bit. But my parents yelled and me and told me I was up myself and I thought I knew everything. Annoyed, I stormed off. And now they're making fun of me in the kitchen.
Just keep in mind that my parents aren't musicians and know little about music.
Who is right? Me or my parents?
The next lesson, I am planning her to play most of the time, as most of the theory fundamentals are out of the way and she will have a book.
A new student just had her first lesson today. Her lesson goes for 30 minutes.
I wanted to get her straight into things asap. And the thing is, you can't play if you don't know what notes are and all that basic jazz. So I started off with theory (teaching her how to sit at the piano, what the notes are, what the treble clef is, what the bass clef is)
So I spent 3/4 of the lesson teaching her about these things. 1/4 of the lesson was spent on me testing her about notes (I'd say 'play the note G', and then she'd play it)
She and her father left quite satisfied (at least, that what it appeared to be like, they were smiling and they looked pleased). They said they would be coming next week.
After they left, my parents started dissing me about how I talked too much and completely made them lose interest. I insisted to them that you can't play piano without the theory, which is the very basics.
It's like laying out the concrete before building the house - the theory is like the concrete (quite boring, but fundamental) and the house is like playing the piano (much more fun and interesting).
They ignored me and said that I still didn't need to teach her theory for most of the lesson. They said that I should have taught her theory for half of the lesson and let her play for the other half.
They also said that I should have spent some time showing off my piano playing skills (which I think is a waste of time, esp that piano lessons are not free. The time is supposed to be used on her learning, not me showing off)
They said that most of the time we just sat there in silence doing nothing, while in actual fact, I was writing down what book she needed to buy and all the theory stuff she needed to remember.
I kept insisting that it was right that I taught her theory most of the time and then let her play a little bit. But my parents yelled and me and told me I was up myself and I thought I knew everything. Annoyed, I stormed off. And now they're making fun of me in the kitchen.
Just keep in mind that my parents aren't musicians and know little about music.
Who is right? Me or my parents?
The next lesson, I am planning her to play most of the time, as most of the theory fundamentals are out of the way and she will have a book.