My office overlooks the streets of a small town where guide dogs for the blind are trained. A common sight is a trainer with a dog, learning the various skills the dogs must know to care for their master.
I see the dog-trainer teams gather for a rest near their van, which delivers them to the city streets for the training. You can see the dogs close up and I must say I’ve never seen dogs smile quite so much as these happy animals.
As I walked by another team, I saw the trainer gently pull on the dog’s harness and whisper something to the dog, which then smiled and stopped. The trainer handed the dog a treat.
Suddenly it occurred to me, “If only all piano teachers were as patient as these trainers, then all the kids taking piano would be as happy as these animals.”
And patience was the key. You could see that the trainers were very gentle and calm, and never used any negative reinforcement. The proof of this was the smile on the dogs face.
Rather, the trainers whispered gently to the dogs, more or less as I do with the children, during lessons. Read my article The Piano Whisperer for more on that.
And another thing that struck me was the similarity of the smile on the dogs and the children’s faces.
It was a calm, happy smile of contentment, knowing that they were doing well at whatever their instructor had in mind. You could see the trust between the dog and the trainer.
It is the same bond of trust the piano teacher must have with a child.
In essence, the child must trust that you will not go too fast and will not be negative.
Imagine the result with the dogs if you were impatient and negative. They would sense it in a second, and would probably be impossible to train or handle in that mood.
It’s the same with kids. How do you expect them to do their job calmly and well if they are stressed by the teacher’s behavior and evaluation?
Keep smiling, kids, so you can lead us blind adults.
By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press All Rights Reserved
See also WHY KIDS NEED FREEDOM TO LEARN PIANO
See also TEN WAYS TO BE A BAD CHILDREN'S PIANO TEACHER
See also THE USE OF HUMOR IN PIANO LESSONS
See also GUILT IS THE WRONG WAY TO BUY ATTENTION
See also SO YOU WANT TO BE A PIANO TEACHER
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