On Becoming a Good Teacher

By Peggy Swingle

The wonderful thing about being a teacher is that it is a constant state of becoming. No matter where we are on the teaching road, just starting out or very experienced, there is always more to learn, always new ways to communicate with parents and students, always a chance to raise your expectations of excellence.

I have been teaching Suzuki piano for 37 years. Recently, after a concert in which students of mine played beautifully, several playing very advanced literature, a young teacher came up to me looking delighted but bewildered. “That was great, but how do you get your kids to play that way?” When I asked what she meant by “that way,” she said, “They played with such involvement and beautiful accuracy.”

That question got me to think about the long road I have traveled to get my students to “play that way.” They didn’t always! I’m sure I would wince at videos of early recitals in my career! But, after some thought, I would like to share some of my ideas on what I think makes good teaching work.

As I’m always saying to my Teacher Trainees, “Teaching is the art of when.” When do you introduce a new concept or a new piece? When is it better to just reinforce and wait for a skill to become more automatic and dependable? If you introduce a new skill too soon, many of the previous skills, which were not yet habits, may come tumbling down like a house of cards. If you wait too long, something the child is doing already may start to become a bad habit!

So, here are some thoughts:

First, I think the most important thing every teacher needs to do is to truly understand what excellent playing is. What makes a performance by Murray Perahia or Artur Rubenstein or Richard Goode a great performance? If you don’t have a clear picture of where you want to go, you can never get there! This part of becoming a good teacher is fun! Listen to CDs, go to concerts. Why did you enjoy a performance? Equally, why did you not enjoy a performance?

Read this article in its entirety in Volume 36#2 of the American Suzuki Journal. To get your copy, contact the SAA.

Last updated March 5 2008