My youngest daughter has wanted to play piano for over a year now.
I know my daughter through and through, and not just any teacher would do. I know how she learns and whom she is willing to trust -- she and I are one and the same. I searched our area and found the right person, but she's in high demand. It has taken over eight months to get in with her. Now I see why.
Her home is a display of her passion and love for music, and her passion and love for teaching. Her entry way is wallpapered from the floor to ceiling with letters of gratitude and crayoned drawings of appreciation. A small highway of kissing pianos and keyboards divide her main room -- on one side, the waiting area and on the other, the teaching area.
It was clear from the moment we entered her home -- We were the presence of a master. There are many teachers in this world, but few are master teachers, capable of what she does.
She Houdini's it. Let me explain:
When someone is learning something new, there are two things she, as the beginner is likely to experience -- fear and defeat. She's never done it before and she doesn't know what to expect -- that's frightening, fear-inducing. She tries, and tries and can't get it right -- this is frustrating and feelings of defeat arise.
A teacher will instruct and urge the student to keep going, by telling the student what to do and how to do it, but the master teacher doesn't focus on the, what or the how, not at first. Instead, she disappears inside her student and teaches through her student as her student.
It's not about what she knows as the expert -- she is insignificant.
The art of teaching masterfully is about transferring knowledge to the student in the way she can comprehend it. This is another difference between a teacher and master teacher: The teacher knows his craft well and how to explain it to the learner. The master teacher knows her craft as equally well as she knows her students -- she's a double expert. She is aware that just as every piano has a sound of its own, so do people -- each person must be interacted with and taught in different ways in order to absorb the lesson and understand. This eradicates feelings of fear and defeat.
Not once did she scold my daughter. She invited her to do it again this way and that way, exploring the possibilities with her. She uplifted her by inviting in what she already knows and applying it to a different outfit -- the piano.
She didn't need to do much, but wear the love and passion she has for people as equal to the love and passion she has for the piano. During that lesson, she loved my daughter and in turn my daughter discovered her love for the piano.
When we first walked in, my daughter looked so small juxtaposed with the tall ceilings and the confident ivory, yet as the lesson progressed I saw her sprout and meet the bigness of the room and the instrument with her confidence.
She learned something other than piano in that half an hour -- she learned that there's a master inside of her, already.
That's exactly what a master teacher does -- She reminds her students of what already dwells inside -- a master waiting to play her song.