Nick Ambrosino has two unique books about piano teaching, Coffee with Ray and Lessons with Matt. These are not your standard teaching textbooks, they’re presented as novels, with lots of teaching tips hidden inside.
Nick has some interesting perspectives and techniques when it comes to how to educate piano students. For instance, he believes we should see ourselves as facilitators, not teachers. We’re helping our piano students on their journey, but a lot of the progress they make (or don’t) is done when they’re on their own at home. If we start taking all of these successes and failures on, as if they are our own, we’ll burn out.
This is just one of the interesting distinctions that Nick explains on today’s podcast. Take a listen and you’re sure to think about some element of teaching in a new way!
Transcript
If you’d like to download a PDF transcript of this episode, please click below.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why you should start thinking of yourself as a facilitator, not a teacher
- Using compliments wisely
- How to start each lesson right
- Why you should exchange buts for ands in your comments after a student’s performances
- How Nick applies “Goldilocks” to piano practice
- Why you should think about getting your students to write their own assignment notes
- How teaching piano is similar to sanding wood
Items mentioned in this podcast:
- Coffee with Ray
- Lessons with Matt
- How to Raise an Adult
- Nick’s website
- Nick’s facebook
- What I’ve learnt from asking more questions in music lessons
Today’s Download:
Thank you for Tuning In!
There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, and I’m grateful that you’ve chosen mine.
Being a full-time teacher myself, I know how busy teachers are and how much time, effort and passion we put into our students. Sometimes, the last thing we want to do in our time off is listen to more piano teaching stuff! So, well done for using this time for self-improvement.
Whether you’re at the gym, on the bike or in the car, I know that you and your students will get lots out of what you learn in the long run. Just make sure you try out some of the ideas before they get lost in the business of your next lessons.
If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons on the left of the page.
Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes. Reviews are extremely helpful when it comes to show’s ranking and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally.
Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live.
Did anything today’s podcast make you see something in a new light?
Was there one of Nick’s ideas that made you think about piano teaching differently? What will you change in your teaching this week after listening to Nick today?
Share
11 Comments
Walking the dog is a now a double bonus!! Thank you for providing music to my ears Tim. It is so inspiring to hear your podcasts about so many different topics. I love Nicks’ wholistic approach, providing tools to empower learning is so important for the next generation.
To be able to facilitate this through music should be a blessing for the teacher and the student.
Great to hear – thanks Shancel!
I knew this was a podcast I had to hear and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I’m voting this MOST INSPIRING of all the wonderful podcasts you’ve produced!!! Nick’s examples feel GOOD and RIGHT and completely resonate with me. What a way to empower our students with crucial life skills while building their self-confidence. I’ve had Nick’s books on my Kindle for several weeks, waiting for a moment to get started on them. You can bet that I’m putting them on the top of my list now! Thanks for a life-changing 60 minutes, Tim and Nick!
Wow Marie – thanks so much for the feedback. So glad that you’ve found it inspiring (I feel the same whenever I talk to Nick!). Best wishes for the week ahead 🙂
Maria Lee,
So glad you enjoyed the Podcast and that it proved valuable! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m fortunate to have Tim as a host of this wonderful way to reach teachers. Enjoy the books and feel free to post questions to me on my FB page, which I see you have already Liked. Thanks! Would love to also have Amazon reviews on the books if you feel so inclined.
Brilliant discussion, thank you!! I definitely think the longer I teach music, the more it isn’t about the music. In fact, I actually tell my clients “I don’t teach music, I teach people.” The hardest part about learning an instrument is learning yourself and how to teach yourself to conquer challenges. Unfortunately, so many people stop playing music to avoid this inner conflict, but that’s where the most interesting part is. Obviously, we are far down the piano teacher’s rabbit hole and we shouldn’t expect the students or even the parents to understand this, so thank you for giving us more tools to educate people to exploring instruments and thus their life.
Marc,
Thank you for your comments. So much of the work we do to assist our students in achieving as musicians is centered around providing them the strategies to work through ineffective learning patterns. I call them “ILPS.” Once those strategies for learning how to learn have been introduced, much of our work, as professional educators, becomes infinitely easier, as we have created a well equipped learner.
I would like to recommend this piano learning program http://ow.ly/XbTZE
This was an awesome episode! I need to do a better job educating parents in my studio about the work of learning. I’ve had troubles with students quitting because the parents haven’t understood their role in teaching their students the work of practice at home.
I know! It’s so hard to remember that parents need almost as much help as students sometime when it comes to coaching them about music lessons.
Brecklyn,
Thanks for your comment. Educating a child is a three-legged stool, the child, the parent and the teacher (facilitator!). Sometimes, the toughest part is creating effective parental involvement.