The complains.

I talk to other drum and piano teacher. and it is always interesting to hear their point of view about the students and/or the parents they deal with.

Of course, the first thing to be said is that those teachers are proud of their students. They enjoy the relationship they build over the weeks, months and sometimes years of lessons. They understand the patient nurturing and the dedication they need to provide a good education. All of them, except a few odd ones, are interested in teaching: how to do it, how to get better, how to tackle difficult situation, etc. But there are a few common complain that come back all too often.

I will not list them all as I don’t want to turn this blog into a litany of bellyaching. I’ll just stick to the main ones.

• No student likes to read.
• No student wants to play with a metronome.
• Parents are overprotective of their children.
• People do not respect my policies.

There are a few more but that’ll do for now.

I confess that I do not have any of these problems. I might run into a complex situation occasionally, but, as far as the list I just gave you, I worked hard to sidestep those landmines.

I’ll address each of them one by one.

No student likes to read. I disagree. My solution is to give them something interesting and accessible. Then they read. More than that, they enjoy it. Also, I go very slowly with the process of reading and I have a few games to make it fun.

No student wants to play with a metronome. Again, it depends how you present it. If it’s going to be some dry technical exercise attached to a metronome, well, then I understand why they would develop an aversion to it. But if you introduce it in a pleasant and fun way, they will look forward to playing with a metronome. Which is exactly what my students experience.

Parents are overprotective of their children. Oh, boy, I know the feeling! I had two children who were taking music lessons (with another teacher than me). I remember how I felt. That said, here is what I see in my studio: the parents are always tougher than I am. First off, parents are in the room while their child is having their lesson. That helps a lot when there is a point of contention. Second, it is always the parent that either disciplines their child or calls them on the baloney they might serve up. Third, when I ask the child if they should do one or two pages of any piece of music, the parent usually chimed in with that sentence: “You can do two pages!” Which stops any potential bickering.

Finally, let’s touch briefly on the last one: “People do not respect the policies I’ve got.” For me, I am not good at negotiating. So here’s how I approach it: I will tell my policies during the first lesson. I will ask if the student or parent agrees. If they do, I don’t talk about it again. Sometimes I am forced to do so, but I really don’t like it: I don’t want to argue about things that we already have agreed upon, it becomes absurd to me. So, either people agree and we can do business or they don’t and we don’t (That’s a weird sentence, but you understand it, I’m sure.). I will state this though: all my students are fantastic and I don’t need to argue about such things.