We teach music lessons in Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, DC, Virginia, Miami, Denver, etc. And there is one constant among all our teachers who teach in-home lessons. We are weird.
Piano Teachers Are The Weird Ones
You heard it here and from the horse’s mouth. Music teachers are the weird ones, and it doesn’t matter what instrument it is, Piano, Guitar, Voice, whatever. We always get a strange look when we teach our newer Lessons In Your Home teachers this. Here’s our evidence:
We Liked To Practice
Part of the reason In Home Music Teachers are weird is that we like to practice. This can be a huge shocker to younger teachers, fresh out of college, with a small amount of teaching experience. A lot of students don’t run to the guitar or piano when they get home from school and start practicing. We did as students, that’s why we turned into professional musicians and teachers who teach lessons at student’s homes.
Aiming To Please
Not a lot of students really think about what is pleasing to their private music teachers but “us teachers” did when we were students. We cared enough to try to do our best and felt miserable when we didn’t. Weird right? Piano Lessons at Home wasn’t something we did, it’s something we lived for.
Understanding that our students, for the most part won’t be weird like us is a big challenge. It’s very common for it to confuse an At Home Music Teacher. The best teachers embrace “normal” music students and find that inspiring and teaching these students really help share our passion.
A small number of at home music teachers find they just can’t work with normal student and focus their teaching studio on the weird ones, only continuing to work with those like us. Unfortunately, the students these types of teachers turn away are left feeling like they can’t be musicians, NOT TRUE.
We Want More!
Another reason your at home music teacher is weird is because they wanted more. We loved music so much, thirsted for the adventure of encountering new music as much as possible. I was just talking with my children the other night and they wanted to know what I spent my time doing in high school. When I told them practicing they said “no, besides from that”. Then I explained that my goal was to practice piano for 3 hours every day in high school. My oldest daughter said, “Dad, you’re crazy.” See.
Desire Never Ends
Weather it was on the piano, playing on the desk at school, or listening to a piece I was trying to master on CD, weird music teachers, like us never have an end of our desire for music.
Weird, Strange, or Odd
However you see it, the next time you watch or speak with a professional artist of any kind you can feel the oddities. We are in the normal range of people but on the creative spectrum. I think it’s funny when young music students pick up on this feeling. Some find it interesting enough and enjoy a change of personality in their lives.
It’s Not Something You’re Born With
Not everyone is born to be a weird piano teacher that teaches at home lessons. Most of us “musicians” never wanted to teach at all. When you go to music college, one of the 1st big assemblies where all the music majors are has the Dean of the college of music usually letting everyone know that as they embark on becoming a professional musician, most of us who do, will do it teaching. Then everyone goes “yea right” and forgets that. Here we are all these years later.
Weird Is A Gift
I’ve made fun of weird teachers that teach piano lessons at home. In a serious way, it’s really a gift. I already know because I have taught such great students who keep in touch with me that I have positively affected people’s lives. When I started teaching I thought it was my job to find weirdness. Later I understood it was my job to teach music, weirdness takes it own path and touches lives its own special way.