|
Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
|
|
49 members (Bostonmoores, Adam Reynolds, benkeys, brennbaer, 1957, accordeur, Chris_B, 20/20 Vision, 8 invisible),
1,482
guests, and
297
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,997
1000 Post Club Member
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,997 |
I have an 8 year old student who pronounces staccato as "scattato." It's so cute and makes me smile everytime.
Piano teacher, BA Music, MTNA member
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,997
1000 Post Club Member
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,997 |
An adorable boy I teach was frustrated over a piece he was learning. I explained to him that students may work for months (or even years!) on pieces. I then pulled out my tattered Beethoven Sonata Volume II book to show him the one I was working on currently. He gasped and asked if the time signature was 100/4 because "there were so many notes in each measure." These are the moments that make every difficult moment disappear.
Piano teacher, BA Music, MTNA member
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,555
4000 Post Club Member
|
4000 Post Club Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,555 |
I have a new transfer student. She's a 3rd grader who has had a year of lessons in which she basically only learned finger numbers.
Today I asked her "How many lines are on a staff?"
She answered "Six usually?"
This cracked me up. Not just getting the wrong number, but also not knowing that it is a consistent number. LOL!
But she might be right. Maybe her dad plays guitar and uses tab. Then there usually are 6, but sometimes only 5. Or 4 for ukulele music.
gotta go practice
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 263
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 263 |
This is a great one for me, as I've just started teaching in a primary school! I've only given 3 lessons.
In the first lesson where I was mostly observing, when I took the reins, the girl said, "You should cut your hair. Your hair looks like a girl and your face looks like a boy." Haha, my hair goes down to my shoulders.
My regular student (I think he's seven or eight) says a couple of times each lesson, "I need to do some exercises," and then does several pushups.
When he can't remember something, he scratches his face and says, "Ummm . . . tsk, oh . . . hmm . . . ummm . . . tsk, oh." Then smacks his forehead.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 485
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 485 |
I teach 6 year old twins. Last lesson their mother told me she had explained to them where babies come from - Dad has tadpoles and mom has an egg and the other fine details of anatomy. The twins only had one question. "Isn't our piano teacher also a pianist?"
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336 |
Funny! But I discovered I can be funny too. I have a student who is extremely shy and guarded. Very obedient, very nervous, won't speak unless spoken to. Last week she sneezed a real wet one into her sleeve. 'Would you like a hankie?' I asked. She considered and relied 'no'. 'What are sleeves for, anyway', I asked. And do you know what, she actually smiled!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,651
2000 Post Club Member
|
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,651 |
I introduced staccato to a 6 year old student at his lesson this week. He said "Oh, it's the opposite of this one" and he pointed to a fermata.
LOL! He's right! One you hold less than the note value, the other you hold longer than the note value.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 263
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 263 |
Last week I did an exercise with my primary school student. I said the names of different notes and he would have to find and play it as quickly as possibly.
I called out all white notes except for once -- to test him, I said A sharp. He looked at me, his eyes went big and his jaw dropped. Haha, I showed him where A sharp was, but I didn't take it any further than that because he's not ready to add in any black notes. Still, it was very funny to see!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 8
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 8 |
This thread is priceless.
I was shooting a performance movie of a three-year-old student (an experimental adventure!) and right before his last notes, he looked right at us and announced, "I have to go caca." ON CAMERA! We died. I always chuck the footage that I don't end up using in those movies, but I kept that one.
Also, I have another student who likes me, but has a strange way of handling when things don't go his way. He looks at me and says, "I hate you! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to slit your throat!, etc." I recognize this as an attempt to derail the lesson so he doesn't have to keep working... So I just smile and say, "That's fine, but you'll have to wait till the timer goes off first. Now where were we..."
Piano teacher & church musician "I'm not the best piano teacher. I'm the best piano teacher I can be right now."
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336 |
Also, I have another student who likes me, but has a strange way of handling when things don't go his way. He looks at me and says, "I hate you! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to slit your throat!, etc." I recognize this as an attempt to derail the lesson so he doesn't have to keep working... So I just smile and say, "That's fine, but you'll have to wait till the timer goes off first. Now where were we..."
And this is a student you keep!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 8
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 8 |
Yes, I'm happy to keep him... Without going into great detail, his personal circumstances are not the best. His grandparents pay for his lessons and do their best to raise him with the limited access they have to him. He is a jewel of a kid, and I know that he doesn't know how to handle his emotions well. I've worked with kids for years, and I've learned how to "pick my battles". Some things must be addressed immediately... other times, if it's a play for attention and distraction, it's best to not acknowledge it. That turns out to be the best deterrent for that behavior, I think!
Piano teacher & church musician "I'm not the best piano teacher. I'm the best piano teacher I can be right now."
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336 |
Good to hear. All the same, watch your back.
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336 |
OK, so I had just taken this student through the structure of the major scale and we experimented with a few keys, playing Jingle Bells in each. Hoping I might squeeze in one last word, I told him the process of taking a tune from one key and playing it in another was called "transposition". A few seconds later, he asked, "What do you call it? Personification?"
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,654
1000 Post Club Member
|
OP
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,654 |
Such funnies! I enjoy reading these!
Yesterday I had a 6 year old boy make me chuckle at his lesson. We were clapping and counting through a piece and when we came to the quarter rests he put his head back and made snorting sounds. I asked why he was doing that and he said, "It's a rest, so I was taking a nap and snoring".
Piano Teacher
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,336 |
Great!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,124
1000 Post Club Member
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,124 |
Scenario: Private home 2 sisters 11 yrs and 8 yrs old.
T: [ to the 8 yr old]: wow you are both playing so well this week...what happened?
8 yr old....well my sister played so much this week that it annoyed me and I decided to annoy her back.
rada
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,654
1000 Post Club Member
|
OP
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,654 |
Scenario: Private home 2 sisters 11 yrs and 8 yrs old.
T: [ to the 8 yr old]: wow you are both playing so well this week...what happened?
8 yr old....well my sister played so much this week that it annoyed me and I decided to annoy her back.
rada and
Piano Teacher
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,124
1000 Post Club Member
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,124 |
funny, how you can think some things are so clear and others read them as unclear...
end of story....8 yr old practiced a lot because she wanted to annoy her sister in return.. is it clear yet?
rada
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,654
1000 Post Club Member
|
OP
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,654 |
funny, how you can think some things are so clear and others read them as unclear...
end of story....8 yr old practiced a lot because she wanted to annoy her sister in return.. is it clear yet?
rada Clear enough to me, they are both practicing! Hopefully practicing well.....
Piano Teacher
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,124
1000 Post Club Member
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,124 |
a new funny, I have a new 6 year old that is learning well, has a good ear....fun... I go to her home and she has a capital letter 'H' taped on her piano with a red slash mark through it...sorry to say I didn't catch on immediately but then I laughed.
rada
|
|
|
Forums43
Topics223,395
Posts3,349,372
Members111,634
|
Most Online15,252 Mar 21st, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|