I didn’t start playing the piano until when I was 16 years old. Many people see that as a disadvantage for a professional musician. I can neither confirm or deny that statement, however, one big advantage of starting as an adult or teenager is that you will already know how to use your brain. Young kids, who just do things without knowing why, will no doubt benefit greatly from a great teacher, but without one, he will often acquire many bad habits which would require an extra frustrating step of “unlearning”, resulting in a longer process to reach the same destination. As far as gardening is concerned, an empty, uncultivated piece of land is more desirable than a naturally developed piece of land taken directly from the Amazon rainforest. Would you like to casually stroll in your backyard and meet an Anaconda? Probably not! When we have an uncultivated piece of land, we have much more freedom and creativity in deciding what to grow. 

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     For young learners, it is all about creating good habits. Pattern recognition, and basic technical aspects such as posture or finger positions are all too important to miss. It is often difficult for young learners to be made aware of these, however, it is astounding how often they can copy the teacher after a brief demonstration, provided their attention has been engaged. And, just like an adult, a child’s attention is engaged when they can find themselves in a particular topic. In music, this can equal to the various feelings and mental imageries of a particular topics. For example, to tell the child to “sit up straight” is much harder to get across than to tell them to  “feel tall and big”. 
 

     Since the time a young student spends with the teacher nowadays are extremely limited, establishing good habits at home is all the more important. I was shocked at first to learn that Carl Czerny, one of the most prominent piano pedagogues in 19th century Austria, sat for hours with the young Liszt every single day! I think the Liszt people know and love today would have been a completely different musician, has he not gotten the same attention and dedication from his teacher. It is no doubt that Czerny did the same for many of his other students as well, not just the brilliant ones. My point of bringing this up is not to induce the students to sign up for piano lessons every single day, but rather, for the parents to share with the teacher a similar view and care for their child’s time at the piano at home. For this, nowadays, a great piano teacher for young children has to be able to communicate as well with the parents as the child. On the other hand, a great music student is the one who has both great teachers and great parents. 

 

     For adult learners, the most important skill to develop is critical listening. In piano playing, because there are so many different elements involved, we ironically stops to listen to our own playing. It is amazing how interconnected our body is - a slight tension in the shoulders, for example, can affect how we hear, let alone speak, let alone playing the piano. Therefore, the body has to be as relaxed, as comfortable and as unhindered as it is. A great piano method is the one that can effectively solve this problem. However, it is easier said than done, since people are different, their bodies are built differently and how they use it varies greatly. What can be suggested by the teacher is a universal approach that applies to the majority of people, however the details have to be figured out by the students who will use their brain. For example, a universally “good” wrist position is to keep it higher than the keyboard, however, to what degrees? And also when should it sink lower or raise higher, and to what degrees? These questions are left to the individual students to figure out. Perhaps a good starting point would be to figure out why a “good” wrist position is higher than the keyboard in the first place. 

 

     Knowledge of the repertoire and the available learning materials is also important for a teacher. Not everyone will benefit from the same method book - this is especially true for advanced students. The teacher must know his student well and find a balance between the student’s interests and how it will benefit his learning. A student who only plays what he is interested in will find the guidance of the teacher unnecessary, and will not improve. On the other hand, a student who only plays what is standard and academic will soon declare himself bankrupt of artistry. The piano repertoire is a myriad list of possibilities, and it is expanding by the minutes, so why limit oneself to just the “good” or the “best” music? 

 

       For the more advanced students, regardless of age, there are two more activities that I would encourage them to do, whether in the lessons or in-between the lessons: Sight-reading, and composition. 

 

    It is obvious how important the skill of sight-reading is for a more serious musician, who is often required to master many pieces of music at a moment’s notice. For the more casual learner, developing a good sight-reading ability will no doubt broaden their knowledge of the music literature in their respective instruments. It is often not obvious, however, that the sight-reading skill needs to be developed quite on its own, by reading through a lot of new music often. Practicing new pieces, while contributing to the student’s knowledge of the musical literature, does not contribute to their sight-reading ability. Of course all the other musical developments, such as technique, knowledge of forms, of harmony, of style, can greatly enhance sight-reading skills, however, to directly affect it, they must sight-read new music often. When a student encounters a particularly difficult piece of music at first sight, many “sight-reading fail”  will happen, and it will be frustrating at first, but they will gradually learn to deal with it and become a better sight-reader. 

 

        The act of composition, or creating an original musical work, is often looked at in a romanticized lens. Geniuses, such as Ludwig Van Beethoven, were the epitome of composers, who labored for hours with his quill pen under the candle light, to eventually come out of the night with triumphant, immortal pieces of art that inspired all of humanity. Assuming that this fantastical imagery is not far from the truth, it is only a part of a spectrum of composers. In other words, one does not need to be a Beethoven to be a composer. Nor does one need to wear powdered wigs and crack weird butt jokes to be a creative genius (Mozart was known for this - I’m not making this up). At the very least, composition can help us to understand music better. What better ways to understand something by exploring it yourself? And what better ways to satisfy our innate, insatiable desire for new things than exploration? The greatest masterpieces in art are not designed to be masterpieces, but they are by-products of someone’s insatiable desire for exploration. 

 

       I recently read a biography about Leonardo Da Vinci. A huge section of the book was dedicated to his iconic masterpiece: “The Mona Lisa smile”. The facts were quite shocking. He began the painting as a commission for a merchant named Francesco del Giocondo (whose wife Lisa del Giocondo is familiar to us by her smile). Sixteen years later, Francesco still hasn't received his painting that he probably paid for, because Leonardo has little intention of completing and parting from the painting. His insatiable desire for exploration has prevented him to really put a finishing touch on it. It is one of the few paintings that he always kept by his side wherever he went, adding strokes here and there as he learns more and more about the physical world that we live in, and about art. That is perhaps why a masterpiece doesn’t fail to inspire. It inspires us to wonder, to explore, to create. For that reason, I always strongly encourage any of my students who has had some basic knowledge of music theory to enter the world of creativity and start composing right away, and compose often. 

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June 2021.