Whenever I mention I’m a piano teacher, the conversation veers in fairly predictable directions. Some folks wanted to play, but couldn’t get their (usually left) hands to cooperate. Some lean in conspiratorially; “My parents thought it would be a good idea. I bet you hear that A LOT”. Some look off in the mid-distance….”I wish I had stuck with it”. An amazing number of people….I kid you not…actually had their knuckles rapped for mistakes. Ah, dear.
My job is to enable my students to have different conversations in their future. Piano whispering is not for the faint of heart. It’s one on one, long term. You have to hold a realistic, but somewhat lofty vision, in the beginning. It’s part plan, part problem solving, part people skills, lots of work, but hopefully deeply satisfying at the end of the day. Happily, we have so much better and more varied materials and support systems than when I first started teaching. After 40 years, I can truthfully say that I enjoy the process as much or more than ever.
And, though I’ve had some very successful students in my time, external success is only helpful insofar as it means something for the student. Sometimes, it’s an exam which was a test of courage and resolve and turned out even better than the student expected. Sometimes, music proves to be the anchor that gets a student through a divorce. Sometimes, you get picked to be part of a show, accompany your high school choir or band, or you get a huge head-start on a second instrument and your life changes. Here’s the thing I’ve learned: YOU NEVER KNOW.
When I started to teach, I taught from the Royal Conservatory of Music books, as I was taught. I still do. The RCM, though, has pivoted considerably since the 70’s. Though it still has a firm catalogue of carefully vetted pieces in the Baroque/Classical/Romantic repertoire, roughly half the pieces in the new books are relatively modern and we have many more talented Canadian composers in the listings. I still aim for the very best standard of performance of that repertoire that the child or adult student can achieve.
That said, realization of that material is not the entirety of the experience here. We also do a great deal of improvisation, based on programmes by Forrest Kinney and Christopher Norton. As Forrest wisely notes: “We don’t say that a person needs to be able to read before they can talk; that would be ludicrous. Why do we essentially say that when you’re learning an instrument?” This process starts with duets with the teacher, but the student can move this into composing if they choose.
We do a lot of prep at the beginning to build up the reading and musicianship skill so that confusion doesn’t stop the process. It is a point of pride with me that I lose very, very few students before they are functionally literate at the piano. Keyboard reading will be challenging; we have to learn how to simultaneously scan vertically and horizontally and that means a lot of grist must go into the processing mill. We use many different methods, depending on the student, to make sure they have enough to keep going comfortably.
We throw some jazz/pop around the edges and encourage people to try their own choice of pieces as they are able. Sometimes you want to wow them with Chopin, and sometimes you need something from Dear Evan Hansen.
We do a lot of in house recitals here to normalize the business of performing. For children, they can play on a piano they know and it’s not a big production. There is also cake:). For my adults, performance anxiety is often a much bigger issue and we just get together to play and nosh and chat on a regular basis. It is rewarding and inspiring to perform, much as you fear it might not go perfectly. Performing also builds courage and confidence and is a highly transferrable skill. I am very happy to prepare people for RCM exams or festival work, but it has to be your choice.
Again and again I hear, from my many adult students: “I NEVER remember this (concept or connection or teaching point) coming up when I studied piano as a child”. Yeah! So many things have improved in teaching and you are now able to be excited about concepts which might have induced a veiled yawn the first time ’round.
So, a bit about me. I have my Grade 10 RCM certificate and am qualified to teach at all levels, according to the RCM. I prefer to teach to Grade 8, 9 if the student insists that they want to remain in the studio. I also have the highest level of Orff certification and several years of work in private schools teaching their music programme grades K-6, and my own studio teaching Kindermusik and Musikgarten programmes. I have been teaching in Stratford for 15 years, in various other centres in Canada for a total of over 40. I teach theory, both as part of my practical teaching and in separate lessons for exams up to Level 8 (the old Advanced Rudiments). My students regularly get First Class Honours and First Class Honours With Distinction in practical and theory examinations with the Royal Conservatory of Music and do extremely well at Kiwanis Festivals.
I currently teach from ages 6-70 something, which is lovely for me as there is a lot of variety. Of course, a lesson for a child is very different to that of an adult and one of the most frequent comments I get is that children must learn so much faster. Hmm. Perhaps just very differently. More intuitively, perhaps. Less self-consciously, almost always. But not necessarily faster. And many adults tell me that their music study has been one of the most rewarding things they have taken on in their retirement.
I could include testimonials here, but I would, quite frankly, have to find out where I’ve stashed the many cards I’ve received over the years. Some are in a file, I think. Some are in a box downstairs. I wish I had my scrapbooking friend’s discipline when it comes to fully honouring such things. My students live in my heart, and in the many lessons they have taught me over the years to bring me to where we are now.
I wish you all good things as you pursue your dreams of learning an instrument. Interview with a few people; you want to get this relationship right. Should you wish to contact me, I am at:
Peg Hobbs
138-50 Galt Road
Stratford, ON
N5A 0B2
519-273-3781