The Private Music Teacher's Guide

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The Private Music Teacher’s Guide is filled with precise, insightful techniques to help you survive and prosper in the private music teaching business.

The Philosophy of Teaching

The philosophy of teaching addresses the question of why you teach. The “Why” in this question doesn’t relate to the need of income but to your internal attitudes towards teaching. Though there many reasons to teach, the single most important attitude in the long run is the desire to help a student achieve his or her goals. This is not to say that you shouldn’t be motivated by income but that the philosophy of helping is a more successful, long range approach.

An excellent test of the purity of this philosophy involves a simple speculation. If you had no financial need, would you teach? If the answer is no, your motivation was money. This is not a criticism or a value judgment - just a fact. On the other hand, if your answer is yes, you are motivated by a pure teaching philosophy. This is not to imply that one philosophy is better than the other. It just asks you to identify your own motivation. This is an important first step in setting and achieving your own goals.

Philosophy is not always this abstract. It also deals with your approach and priorities within the lesson. Some considerations are: How important is reading music, what about the role of songs, the amount of teacher demonstration, teacher- student duets, the importance of public performance through recitals, the use of graduated method books, the attitude and approach towards memorization, student creativity, ear training, theory, music business, grades, competitions, technology, writing music, music appreciation, music history, etc.

You must make a conscious decision on how you will approach each of these topics. Obviously, the student’s goals and interests will be the first consideration. But beyond that, these decisions will shape your style as a teacher. No two teachers agree on the approach or importance of these topics. The decision is yours but it should be made with the best interest of the student in mind. Ultimately, the more knowledge you have as a teacher, the more versatile and effective you will be. Every student must be treated uniquely but the teacher must be prepared musically, academically and philosophically to take advantage of that uniqueness.