As a parent who is not musical, I have to rely on a teacher to tech my daughter how to play piano. The teachers at her piano school have said she is talented. What does that mean exactly for a 9 year old? Is it really unique to go through Alfred 1a and 1b in 4 months? To memorize pieces (harder than the Alfred books) or to play something (on a basic level) that she has heard but never saw music for? To hear notes on a piano and to name them?

My goal as a parent is to match her with an appropriate teacher and to see that my child is happy. To make sure that she has some time during the day to practice and that she has an instrument to use and that she gets to her lesson on time.

I am wondering if teachers motivate parents to support their child's music by using words like "talent".

Talent means different things to different people but it seems your daughter may have good ear. The pace she is moving through her books and her memorization are not unique though.

I never use the word "talented" unless it's true. I suspect your teacher is the same way. It's quite rare to get a talented student. Each has unique gifts to be sure, but it's rare to get the whole package in one child. For me there are several components to being talented:
1) emotionally interesting playing. Many people can play piano to a high standard, but musical playing is very difficult to find.
2) pays attention to details the teacher asks for.
3) good dexterity
4) ability to memorize
5) ability to sight-read
6) good inner pulse
7) interesting view of the world, good understanding of literature, art.
8) works hard and learns efficiently.
9) ability to communicate well
10) good tone

i have a very mediocre student who practices like a champ and is making pretty good progress. I would love it if she would 'end up' to be talented.

2 of my 4 students are pretty good.. they are sisters. the older one is really quite awesome, and the younger, would be incredible if she practiced more than 30 - 60 minutes a day.

HAy - (as they say in Kansas) Merry Christmas to you all. Happy Holidays, Hannukah, Kwanzai, etc.

General comment: I can't tell you the number of parents who have expressed this sentiment to me. Every time I hear it, I wonder, "What, are you nuts?" Parents' job raising children isn't to make them happy, it's to prepare them for adulthood. Well prepared adults generally have "happy" lives; ill prepared adults often suffer endless miseries. Well, I exaggerate some, but you get the meaning.

To OP: if your daughter's teacher is telling you she's talented, then your question to the teacher should be "What should my daughter and I be doing to develop that talent?"

Have you ever encountered anyone who fits all of this description? My goodness!

I'd be glad if my students have one or two of these abilities.

Your daughter may have perfect pitch, or was born with a good ear. She may have good aural memory (also a gift, or "talent"). But it is hardly unique for a 9-year-old kid to go through Alfred 1a and 1b in 4 months; in fact, that's sort of "normal" for that age. I've taught younger kids who moved along around that pace.

I agree with other posters' sentiment that you need to ask your daughter's teacher to help her develop that "talent." Get her as far as she can in terms of piano repertoire, and make sure she enjoys the journey.

For all of her extra curricular activities, I would rather her be happy with them than to be the mom yelling at their child to practice or to be the best and not care if she isn't truly happy. Right now, piano makes her happy. She loves to sit and play. She said out of all she does, piano relaxes her.

Without me asking, she practices throughout the day, she ensures she is prepared for her lessons.

It is the same with her other activities - I let her know I will pay for them and get her there on time, but she has to do effort and nothing is entered lightly - when she asked for years to play piano I let her know it is a 12 month commitment and requires her best efforts. When she felt ready to commit, I found a piano school/teacher.

In her main sport her coaches never say "talented" - they say she is a strong competitor, a hard worker and responds well to instruction. I suppose when "talented" is said I feel as though her effort is almost discredited.

I do think you are right though, I did not ask what additional support I could/should be providing her.

Candywoman,
Your list is easy to understand and if that was her teacher's list, I could understand better what she was saying. It makes more sense than a vague "talented".

sounds like you need to ask her teacher, " what exactly do you mean by that?"

AZN I've had about five talented students in fifteen years of teaching who would have most of these qualities. The top two both switched into violin. Many more of my students have had the potential but decided not to do what they needed to do. The most frustrating kids are the ones who really sound interesting, but who do not practice enough.

The word "talent" means "aptitude". Everyone has some degree of aptitude for learning to play piano. So to say a child is talented, is not really saying anything specific. It's just a general encouragement to the parent to continue lessons IMO.

I like this answer...

Each one of those can be achieved via good teaching and training. So how does one "get" a "talented" student? Do you mean a transfer student who has been trained well? I don't understand.

My sister and I each started piano lessons at about age eight or so. Fairly or not, our piano teacher always considered me to be the more "talented" between the two of us. Yet oddly enough, at any given point in our development she could just about every item on that list of ten things either a little better than me or a lot better than me, depending on the item and what age you're talking about.

The difference of course was her "talent" for things like practicing long hours, practicing what was assigned (instead of whatever she felt like at the moment), dealing with frustration and just generally a "talent" for giving a darn about the music. Those "talents" totally trump any supposedly innate feel or knack for playing that one might exhibit when starting out.

I think in some cases, the assessment of a young student's "talent" is basically short hand for how good a results he or she was able to achieve in the first couple years relative to the effort being put forth. My teacher used that label in an attempt to motivate me as in "You've obviously got a talent for the piano, it would be a pity to waste it by not applying yourself". In my case I took it to have the corollary "But even without working hard you can fake it pretty well".

Of course, unfair labels aside my sister does indeed have considerable musical talent that manifested itself in singing and playing not only piano but a couple other instruments beautifully to the current day. But I'm deeply suspicious of such labels as having any objective meaning.

I found this interesting, and nobody has picked up on it.

We read about parents wondering if their children are talented, pulling their kids out because they think they are "not talented enough", and older students getting despondent because they think they lack that magical ingredient which they call talent. This may be the reason why these teachers are quick to tell you that your child is talented, since it is what many parents are concerned about.

Your daughter seems to have a good attitude. She seems to commit to the activities she is involved in, and applies herself, and so she does well, and probably enjoys herself because of this. Apparently this is rare, if you read forums or talk to teachers. You will have kids where there is little support at home - t.v. blaring beside the piano, wild schedules that don't allow steady practicing, parents who forget lesson dates - or the wrong kind of pressure for impressive superficial results in the form of grades and competition wins, which alienates the child from the music. You're probably doing something very right.

You may want to know "Is there anything else that we should be doing?" or something more specific. Often teachers don't expect that kind of question. (I am a parent - my child is grown - and discovered this status quo after the fact.)

I noticed that everything you listed has to do with ear and memory. You did not mention the ability to read music. Even if there is sheet music, it is possible for someone with a strong ear and memory to memorize the music and largely bypass reading. Then this one skill doesn't develop. Any strength can create holes in other areas if you bypass them because you don't need them (but later you want to have them). If you want to ask about anything, it may be that. (Caveat: I am not a piano teacher, although keenly interested in what happens at the teaching side.)

My opinion is that it doesn't matter....whomever is going to stick out long term with the piano is the winner...

rada

My opinion is that we as teachers have a big role in the decision "to stick it out". One person gives up, another hangs in there for a year or two, another ends up sticking with music for life. We can't control this, but we can be a powerful factor.

I would agree with that, although most of the parents of my students ask, "Is s/he doing well?"

"Talent" is a relative term, impossible to define. I use it sometimes, but I probably use it more in the sense of "this child is thinking, moving ahead, getting things that most children do not."

And so on...

Thank you all for your thoughts! It is helpful to see that I ought to ask the question of her teacher.

One comment I overheard her tell my daughter is "Don't PLAY the piano, PERFORM the piano!" I'm not really sure what it means, but dd took it to mean to play any piano she passes and did an impromptu concert at a local store.

She does read music but is stronger memorizing pieces and playing from memory and messing around with her music by re-writing it to make it sounds better or different(a game she likes to play). I don't know how other kids practice but if I described what she does, I'd say she "explores" and "plays".

Again, thank you!

I would take it as a manner of encouragement unless it’s in the context of “your child is so talented I would like to recommend her to a master teacher” or something similar. I’m sure teachers use this word to mean different things and for different purposes. It depends a lot on what the “baseline” is in each teacher’s mind. For some, learning 3 new primer-level pieces a week is talented; for some others, learning 15 pieces a week is talented. For some, having the focus, the drive, the work ethic and the enthusiasm is talented; for others, being quick at learning is talented. I think after a while observant and thoughtful parents will form pretty good opinions about their kids’ abilities. I personally like matter-of-factly praises such as “you must have worked hard on this piece because it sounds so much better now”, instead of “wow you are so talented”, but the second kind could be a confidence booster for the kids if used well. In reality we hear the first kind mostly from the kids’ teachers, and the second kind from strangers.

As a parent, I also agree with you about setting the goal at “being happy”----as long as “being happy” is not the goal in EVERYTHING. Kids don’t need to work as hard as they can on everything they do. If they work hard on some things, that’s quite enough. They can have leisurely pursuits alongside one or two serious pursuits. And for most piano students, piano is indeed just a leisurely pursuit.

Just for fun...
Watching the video she was able to point out her mistakes. It was the first time she played in front of anyone but us and her teacher so she was excited and a little nervous. She just completed her 4th month of lessons.

No it doesn't work. The video is probably set as private.

I just marked it as public.

I get a still picture, not a movie.

Ha ha! I can try this, but then I will give up.

Still unavailable.

Well, if teachers say she's talented then she probably is.

You need confidence in your daughter's teacher. Find some other very "talented" kids and ask who the teacher is.

Best Wishes!

P.S. Get a teacher who is a good PLAYER as well as a good teacher.

liszt85: I think a lot of these can be taught but most students will lack in several areas. I haven't had much success teaching dexterity to those who lacked it. A person lacking imagination at seven usually lacks it ten years later, in my opinion. Imagination will be a strong point in creating interesting playing. I have heard several university professors of piano play piano in a most dull fashion. I don't think imagination can be taught. Some people just come from more interesting family backgrounds, and some are innately more curious.

When you are growing up people always tell you you can be anything you want to in life, you need only apply yourself. It's not true.

I agree with you. Keeping that in mind is what I call a "reality check".

HOWEVER:

Where things go *really* is when people tell us, often when we are small, often later, "You have no talent at X. Pick something else."

So we, as teachers, can miss the mark either way. We can be overly optimistic, producing false hopes, or we can be cautiously pessimistic and misjudge in a way that is both negative and crippling.

I moved some things on youtube and here is the upload from them. ha ha, with all of that effort, I think you will be disappointed. I have no doubt she has the best piano teacher at this school - they matched her with their strongest piano teacher.