“Trying new things is important to keep your teaching and professional life fresh and exciting.”
Many self-employed music teachers use social media to keep up to date with music education news and as a route to promote themselves to potential students.
Platforms like Twitter and Facebook can also facilitate peer-to-peer learning and support between professionals, enabling teachers to share ideas and advice.
A great example is Piano Teachers’ Hour, a weekly discussion on Twitter of a wide range of topics of interest to professionals in music education.
It’s a friendly, welcoming and mutually supportive community of teachers answering questions and offering advice. You don’t even need a Twitter account to follow the #pianoteachershour hashtag or view the website (but it’s even better if you do take part).
Piano Teachers’ Hour founder, Barbara Kennedy has a busy piano teaching studio in South Oxfordshire. Barbara also plays the organ in local churches and runs the piano TRACKS music education project as well as Piano Teachers’ Hour.
Barbara, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. How long have you been teaching?
I’ve been teaching since 2012, after a career in administration and a very brief foray into classroom teaching. Piano teaching has been a huge learning curve for me and has allowed me to develop both musically and personally.
I really enjoy supporting others to achieve their musical goals, and developing the strong relationships with students that 1:1 teaching encourages. In addition to teaching I also play the organ in local churches, and run two music education projects: piano TRACKS and Piano Teachers’ Hour.
Who do you teach? Children, young people, adults? What’s the balance in your teaching practice between young and adult students?
I teach mainly children and young people, but do also have a few adults at the moment. Adults frequently enquire about lessons but unfortunately we are often unable to find a mutual agreeable time slot. Due to circumstances young beginners have become my particular area of expertise. However, I do enjoy and benefit from having a mixture of age ranges and stages.
Do you teach as a private teacher, through a music hub, in a school or schools as a visiting teacher, or a mixture?
Most of my teaching is as a private teacher, in my house or at students’ homes. I do teach in a school one day a week although that is on a self-employed basis so there is little difference in the logistics of it. The local supply of piano teachers does not seem to meet the demand for piano lessons and I am often having to turn away students so being able to teach some lessons in the school day has been a real benefit.
Do you have a specific approach to your music lessons?
I try to keep things fun, flexible, and focused on music. In my practice I find it important to form a good relationship with each student so I can find specifically tailored ways of keeping them motivated and engaged.
I enjoy the variety of using different approaches and I am always on the look out for ideas and methods that I have not previously come across. I also believe that students will often need different approaches as their ability at the piano progresses and as they grow up. What works for a child at 7 years is unlikely to be the same for that child at 10 or 15 years old.
I also consider myself to be relatively new to teaching, in the grand scheme of things, and always learning myself. Trying new things is important to keep your teaching and professional life fresh and exciting. In previous office work I have done annual reviews which would identify possible training opportunities. Now I need to do this for myself or I could spend the next 20 years doing the same thing.
Exams: what is your philosophy about entering students into exams and preparing them?
Although I don’t place a huge emphasis on exams, I do believe that they can be a valuable experience for the right student at the right time. I will offer to prepare a student for an exam when I think the time is right, and try to ensure candidates are well on the way to a good pass before entering.
Many of my students have come to me because they don’t want to go down the traditional exam route, and that is part of the reason I created piano TRACKS (www.pianotracksproject.com). This provides teachers with a curriculum that separates learning into progressive levels, and checklists that they can use with their students to more formally identify achievement and development. The hope is that this will give some forward momentum and structure to learning.
Are there any teaching resources (such as books, games, or so on) you find yourself returning to again and again? If so, what?
I’ve recently discovered the Vibrant Music Teaching games library, which is a fantastic resource. The games really helps to consolidate student’s theoretical learning.
Other resources include duets which are always popular amongst my students. I find these useful for two reasons. Firstly they really help students to develop a sense of pulse, rhythmic skills, and sight-reading. Secondly they are also good for developing ensemble skills, which is often difficult for pianists.
Tell us more about how social media supports your work?
Social media has become very important in my musical life. On a personal level it gives me a chance to connect with other instrumental teachers and music and arts professionals. We don’t just talk about work, we also discuss our families, hobbies, and lives. It replicates the social side of work that I experienced in previous office-based roles.
I’ve also found it incredibly useful for professional development. I run a weekly discussion session called Piano Teachers’ Hour, in which music teachers gather together on twitter to discuss various topics related to our profession.
These range from piano-specific technical or repertoire queries, through to more general music education subjects (e.g. teaching rhythm), and professional issues (e.g. setting fees). These sessions have been really useful to me personally, and have given me extra ideas and confidence to implement changes to my teaching studio and methods.
Piano Teachers’ Hour is open to all instrumental teachers, and meets weekly on Twitter (@pianoteachershr) at 12:30pm, on Wednesdays (UK term-time only). We also have a Facebook page and a website where you can catch up on past discussions.
And how can people reach you to learn more about what you do?
- To find out more about me and my projects and teaching you can reach me through
Twitter @BarbaraKPiano or online www.barbarakennedymusic.co.uk - For Piano Teachers’ Hour: Twitter @pianoteachershr, online www.pianoteachershour.wordpress.com or email pianoteachershour@gmail.com
- For the piano TRACKS project: Twitter @pianotrackspjt or online www.pianotracksproject.com
Thank-you Barbara, for taking the time to tell us about yourself and your approach to music education. And thank-you for creating Piano Teachers’ Hour – it’s such a useful, welcoming and supportive community for music professionals.
What next?
- More interviews here on the YMTS website.
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