How to choose the best piano teacher in London
Finding a good piano teacher is always a challenge. Particularly when we are beginners and we don’t know what to look for.
Should we ask for a CV? Should we ask for references? Should we ask our friends?…
After years of trying to find out the best way to go about it I finally came up with a guide on how to identify for sure the best professional.
1. It needs to be a good and intelligent artist. Why?
I have heard many times that is not necessary to be a superlative concert pianist to be a great teacher. True, but…
If you find a super talented pianist who teaches, then you are safe for sure. Any well-rounded artist will know the musical matter in the the way needed to deliver a top-quality piano lesson. Who can be better to teach you than someone who knows music to perfection? So, for those ones who say: “someone doesn’t need to be a great pianist to teach”; ask yourselves? Have you ever taken a lesson with a real concert pianist — and I mean a real one, not just someone who claims to be Martha Argerich :)!?
The same intelligence artists apply to their performances can be applied to deliver wonderful teaching. Why?
— — PIANO LESSONS LONDON — — -
Because you need to be very smart to be able to position yourself in the place of your student — to try and think as he thinks- so you can deliver the exact information he is missing. Good teaching is about dealing with complex intellectual processes… Someone who has mastered the mysteries of piano performance is prone to be more successful in understanding the learning process than someone who is still in the process of understanding music himself…
2. He needs to be established, or at least his studio needs to be established.
Money is always the enemy of honesty. I wouldn’t suggest to go for someone who is not doing very well. Why? Because, that professional would do whatever he considers necessary to keep you as his student. But, isn’t that great?! Not really, because he won’t be able to tell you the truth. You need to be taught by someone who is enjoying teaching you in an very honest way. Someone who can live without you. That’s the only way he will be able to guide you properly without having to wrap up everything too nicely or to skip some indications entirely just to make sure he doesn’t upset you…
3. He needs to have time to practise
If you find out your teacher is delivering 10 hours of teaching every day, then you are in trouble. No artist can keep up with that sort of schedule. Teaching is very energy consuming. Your teacher needs to be a well-balanced individual who has a musical discipline and therefore can teach you how to develop one. It is not advisable to deliver more than 25 hours of solid teaching. Basically because after that, it stops being solid teaching…
4. He needs to be reliable
Stay away from too eccentric personalities. Musicians can end being quite frustrated individuals you need to make sure you don’t get swallowed inside the storm of lives he can carry with them. These sort of characters will not be able to provide you with the sort of continuity you need to count on for your training.
5. Recordings
Everyone looks great on papers. For that reason, you need to check if your teacher has any professional recordings published on the internet -Youtube, Vimeo… It doesn’t matter if they are ancient, but at least you should find something there. A good pianist will always has a comprehensive collection of professional video recordings online to promote his own artistry.
6. Strong personality
The most famous piano teaching tradition comes from Europe. The relationship between student and teacher is almost spiritual. You need to be musically lead by someone who knows what he is doing, who is proud of it and who can save your time and money by making assertive non argumentative decisions.
