One thing I have been noticing lately is that the more I teach, the more I expect from my students. Sometimes, I feel like I'm being tough on them and harping on the same things over and over again, but that is balanced by my growing ability to equip them to meet these higher expectations. It is really a cool combination that is the evidence of experience and I'm grateful that I can see it happening more and more.
So, what do I expect from my students? Beyond having a good attitude and trying in lessons and in practice, I expect them to use proper technique, learn to count properly, learn terms, and how to read music. The longer we are together, the more I expect them to be able to be independent problem solvers and ask for help only when they really need it. How do I equip them to meet these expectations? Part of me is thinking, "Duh! I teach them!" but really, how? For technique, it's a lot of demonstration and pointing out what they are doing, both good and needs improvement. For counting, we do rhythm exercises away from the piano. For terms, I introduce them when they show up in the books, then use them and make sure the student either can tell me what it means or tell me they don't remember, so I can tell them. And reading music is a lot of practice with reading notes, sight reading songs, etc.
For problem solving, I find myself teaching a thought process rather than giving an answer so the student has to figure it out one step at a time, then they can use that thought process to solve problems on their own. For example, one thing my beginner students struggle with a lot is finding where to put their hands on the piano. So, we use this thought process. "Look at the top staff. It has a treble clef. Which hand plays treble clef? (right) Good, now what finger number is above your first note? (1) Yes, and what is the first note? (C). So where does your right hand go? (finger 1 on C). How do you find C?" etc. Then go through the same process with left hand. After doing this for several weeks, you know what questions to ask to find the answer yourself. So then it changes to, "What do you need to look for on the page? What does it say? So what should you do?" It's also nice to be able to tell a student "You know how to do this!" and they realize they really do.
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