It has been quite the year. I started out with relatively few, but very loyal families in a in person studio. Not much had changed in a few years. Then I started teaching online, and have grown in so many ways. Here are a few that come to mind.
1) I have learned to verbally communicate better with my students. By not being in the same room as most of my students, I have had to learn to state clearly what I want from them and had to focus more on teaching terminology and how to talk about music so we can be on the same page (literally and figuratively).
2) I have learned to not be afraid of being on camera. Honestly, I've never been super comfortable with being on camera and that was my biggest concern with online teaching. Now, it's normal to me. It's still tricky to get the camera angle I want when I'm demonstrating and I don't have any fancy equipment, but it doesn't scare me to talk to people through a camera anymore.
3) I have learned to care for families I have never met in person. There are some families that I have messaged with a parent, but have no idea what they look like. I just know their kids. This is really different for me as I have always been able to match a child and a parent in every other context. But teaching online has also given me the chance to show kindness to families that are going through difficult things and to work with kids who for whatever reason wouldn't do super well in a "normal" piano lesson.
4) I have learned to adjust expectations based on what instrument a student has to practice on. All pianos have quirks and I've learned to ask a student to do things that seem really random, like play a note and until it totally fades out, then hold the note with the pedal down, play as softly then as loudly as you can. Those things tell me a lot about the instrument and help me know what is a flaw in the student's technique, which needs to be corrected and what is the instrument, which the student cannot do anything about.
5) I have learned to be flexible, but not too flexible. I used to think I had to be available to teach whenever people wanted lessons. Now, I know that is unreasonable. I have times blocked off that I want filled. I have times that I am willing to teach. And I have times that I will not teach. I may not be able to teach every student that is interested, and that's OK.
6) I learned to take more risks. Things like sending an article to a music teaching magazine and it actually being published and teaching some online music classes before sticking with teaching piano lessons online helped me realize that I can do more than only teach piano one on one. I can teach group classes. I can write. It's worth it to try new things.
It's been a great year of seeing my studio double in numbers and getting to work with lots of families. I've also had to say goodbye to some of my students, which is always hard, but it's nice to know that I've fulfilled the role I was supposed to have in their lives. I am truly amazed at where I am compared to a year ago and am excited to see what comes in 2020!
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