Did it occur to anyone else that there are numerous professional parallels between piano teachers and piano tuners/technicians (e.g., no regulation, no need for formal credentials, organizational affiliation optional, widely varying skills and specializations, etc.)?

It's a coincidence, but it never occurred to me before reading this thread.

Steven

Sotto voce, there are various recognised qualifications for technicians in the UK. I would not let anyone near my pianos who did not have any.

Right. I was being U.S.-centric again, as seems to be my wont.

Do you have qualifications for music teachers as well (which would confirm my point about the parallels)? I have that impression just from the existence of RCM, ABRSM, etc. and their standardized curricula. We don't even have uniformly recognized grade levels!

Steven

I will admit to being one of those teachers who might walk into a music store and not know what she's looking for. I'm new to teaching, I was taught on Schaum, my siblings were taught on Thompson. Thankfully, because of this forum, I've seen the light and have since buried them except for maybe some sight-reading. (I tried with Thompson when I first started teaching... it was bad. I've a transfer student from Bastien's method books and we're finally seeing progress moving away from "C position.")

In any case, my point is that unless people are educated otherwise, they're probably going to stick with what they know--I'd never heard of the Faber books nor a good number of other valuable teaching materials before I came to this forum. Quite plainly, I am also not familiar with many of the editions listed, but I feel like my ability to look at a piece of music and determine what's good/bad about the piece/edition is improving every day. Maybe some people don't care to adapt?

Me, I've been teaching roughly 7 months, and with each new student I'm taking a little different approach hoping to improve on my teaching ability. Am I unqualified? Perhaps... Am I a bad teacher? I sure hope not. I do the best I can, I learn what does/doesn't work, and I keep my eyes and ears open.

Edit: And I REALLY want to start taking piano lessons again when I move.

That was my approach when I started. It worked well for me. If you do decide to get some pedagogical education, it is best to do so after you have some teaching experience.

Steven, there are several teaching qualifications you can get in the UK. None of them are compulsory. It is certainly true that most people who enquire about lessons have no idea what these qualifications mean. If I were in that position I would make it my business to find out.

I think there are people who know a skill but are unable to teach someone.

The other is that, some teachers are starting out new and have forgotten how they learn and what the new books there are for beginners. Hence, they need help in choosing the right material.

I'm no piano teacher but I've came across people who just don't possess the quality of conveying information, in a way a student would understand, they just know how to do it on their own. And, I myself have started out teach other stuff and found myself lost on books and lesson plans at first, it gets better with time.

However, I think that lady was weird to say such a thing and laugh at herself? lol.

Surely there is such a thing as pedagogy.

I've always imagined that there are two equally important aspects of being a piano teacher---the technical and the interpersonal.

One involves a thorough knowledge of of the subject, the other involves a thorough knowledge of the student.

Ideally, you will get both in a piano teacher, a thoroughly knowledgable instructor who teacher students, not methods.

Jeremy gets my vote by saying this very well: "I've always imagined that there are two equally important aspects of being a piano teacher---the technical and the interpersonal.

One involves a thorough knowledge of of the subject, the other involves a thorough knowledge of the student.

Ideally, you will get both in a piano teacher, a thoroughly knowledgable instructor who teacher students, not methods."

I would add, Jeremy, that having some business acumen goes a long way, too. The studio policy lists our responsibilities to our students as well as ours to them. Everyone in the "contract" needs to be accountable to it. So, the better it is written to represent each of the individuals in a fair and democratic way, the better the outcome of the teaching process.

You can't be a great teacher with a great student and a great client family, and then allow messing up in the business end.

Teachers need to be on top of things!

Providing a music education service is a big responsibility, I think.

Betty