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Well, hello, my teacher friends! Welcome to the Beyond Measure Podcast. My name is Christina Whitlock, and I have taken the liberty of designating myself as your Anytime Piano Teacher Friend.  I love to think about the human condition, and how it shows up in the music studio.  You too?  Oh, good.  Let’s link arms and move beyond the status-quo to build valuable musical experiences that impact our students for a lifetime.  Sound like a plan?  Excellent. Let’s get on with the show.

Okay, friends. I don’t have to tell YOU about the dangers of the word, “should”. Do I?  I didn’t think so.

When I consult with teachers to help them solve whatever problem is ailing them, the would SHOULD is almost always at the root of their problems. You feel like you SHOULD be doing this… or that piano lessons SHOULD include that…

The word SHOULD is hands-down one of the most problematic words in our teacher vocabulary.

And we’re taking a deep-dive on it today.

Before we go any further, I’d like to say this: Today I’m going to use several examples of things my teacher consultation clients have said to me. I want to be very clear: I have ONLY chosen examples that I have heard from multiple teachers today. I don’t want anyone to think I’m singling them out. My client’s privacy and dignity matter to me and I’m not airing ANY one person’s dirty laundry on the podcast here today. Okay? Okay.😊

Here’s the problem with the word SHOULD: if you try to do something JUST because you think you should, it’s pretty much destined for failure.

Great teachers, by nature, are CURIOUS people. We are successful in what we do because we ask ourselves HOW our instruments work and WHY our students are behaving the way they are. Seeking information beyond the surface is what we do.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been around some pretty inquisitive children. Do you know the least effective thing you can say to an inquisitive child?  It’s the age-old retort, “BECAUSE I SAID SO”.

Those words make sense to us as parents, but from the eyes of a curious child, they’re not going to cut it. Some humans are born to ask questions. I happen to think WE – the music teachers of the world – are some of those people.

WE need to be curious teachers. Which means these tropes of what a piano teacher SHOULD do are never going to be effective until we understand the merits of the thing we are seeking to do.

The point of this show has NEVER been to tell teachers what they SHOULD be doing.  But I guess, today, I am here telling you that you SHOULD be examining your SHOULDS. 😊

So, okay…. Onto the things I hear over and over again from consult clients.

I get a lot of questions about how to teach certain things: technique, scales, rote pieces, sightreading, chords, improvisation, rhythm, historical styles, the list goes on and on…

….and my first question is always this: Why do you think it’s important to teach this?

I’m here to tell you, this question sends a lot of my clients into a tizzy. They either CAN’T come up with an answer, or they say (you guessed it!): “Well, I SHOULD be teaching this, right?”

I’m beginning to see this as a disturbing trend, and I don’t actually think it’s anything new. There are these beliefs about what a piano teacher SHOULD do in lessons and there are a lot of us out there parading around as these caricatures of what we THINK a piano lesson is supposed to look like.

…and I’m here to tell you: if YOU are not convinced that what you’re doing has deep merit, your students are NEVER going to get it.

HERE’S THE THING, THOUGH: The internet is full of people telling you to stop “shoulding” on yourself. I’m sure I’m not the first person to tell you not to do something just because you think you should.

You’re probably assuming I’m going to tell you to release those faulty expectations you have of yourself and just teach in a way that’s true to you.

Well, that’s not exactly it today. I’m not here today to simply tell you to dismiss the things you think you SHOULD be doing in your life.

Here’s my twist: I’ve encountered plenty of those cases. I’ve helped release a lot teachers from the trappings of the SHOULDS that they’ve placed on themselves unnecessarily.

But more often that not, I actually AGREE with the questions teachers are bringing me. I think we SHOULD be teaching our students scales and technique and chords and improvisation. I think we SHOULD have some rote teaching pieces in our back pocket, at the very least, to pull out and use as necessary.

….but the problem is, you’re never going to be effective at teaching things if you’re doing it BECAUSE II SAID SO. 😊  Or because you read a thread on an online piano teacher group that made you feel left out. Or because a colleague does something you don’t.

Those motivations are NEVER going to be enough to get you where you want to be.

So my question for you today is this: What SHOULD is nagging at you today?  I think most of us have one (or twenty) of those floating around our brains at any given time…. What is yours?  What do you think you SHOULD be doing more of?  Or less of?

Do you have something in mind? If there’s more than one, try to stay focused on just one for now.

Okay; the thing you think you SHOULD be doing: WHY do you think you should be doing it?

Let’s dive into some examples I’ve heard from my clients many times over:

First up? Scales.  Scales, arpeggios, chord progressions… there are WAY too many teachers out there teaching these things as though they are simply rites of passage for pianists; like they are things we do because our teachers told us to… and their teachers told them… and on and on the cycle goes.

Friends: If you do not understand why scales are a fundamental part of the pianistic experience, NO STUDENT of yours will understand them either.

The ANSWER to this particular question has many, many responses. In my eyes, scales are beneficial in a hundred different ways. Yes, we see them in the repertoire… that’s the answer that gets bandied about the most… but it’s not my primary reason. I could write an entire episode on scales – and probably will some day, but here are two foundational purposes to teach your students scales:  One, they establish a path for pieces to live on.  Maybe that sounds strange, but that’s literally how I sell my students on scales.  I tell them a scale blazes a trail… it creates a path on which we can build our pieces. That way, when my students play a piece in G, they understand that piece is built on that very specific path on the keys. We trace the pattern of the G scale up and down the entire keyboard before we ever study the proper fingering. My students know the importance of visualizing their scales, because Scales Blaze Trails.

Two, scales are relatively simple patterns we memorize in our fingers so we can focus on our technique. They give us something we can play with ease SO we can study how we’re using our fingers, wrists, forearms, etc.  When we’re working in repertoire, our brains are busy with many things. In scales, once those pathways and fingerings are established, we are free to study our actual physical approach to the instrument.

Again, there are boatloads of reasons to teach scales, but in my eyes, those are two big ones. And I like to think I’m effective at teaching them BECAUSE I have a clearly established purpose for those skills. I know the reasons, and so do my students.

Similarly, I get asked a lot of questions about technique, in general.  There are a lot of teachers out there who never received answers THEMSELVES on why our seating position matters, and WHY a rounded hand shape is important. When I start to help them see that it all boils down to how our bodies move most efficiently and why PHYSICAL TENSION is the ultimate enemy, they have somewhere to go.  I can’t tell you the number of teachers I’ve talked to who just tell students to “curve their fingers” without understanding why it matters.

If WE don’t understand why something matters… good luck convincing your students. 😊 (sarcasm intended)

Let’s talk about method series for a moment… You probably know I have a lot of feelings about method series and why there isn’t – and will never be – a curriculum that covers everything every student needs to know. It’s not possible. Stop looking for it.

But I will say this: Depending on your circles of influence, there are some pervasive mentalities who portray one method as superior to others.  Or, to the contrary, they turn their noses up at teachers who use certain methods. This results in teachers who come to me with beliefs that they SHOULD teach one specific curriculum because they’ve come to believe that’s what superior teachers do. If you teach out of THOSE books, you are clearly less-evolved of a teacher than someone who uses THESE books.

Each method has its fanbase and this mentality exists in the circles of many of them.

Personally, I think one of the very best things ANY teacher can do is to own copies of as many methods as they can get their hands on, AND STUDY THEM. There are nuggets of wisdom in any method series out there. They ALL have something to teach us and something we can carry into our work with every student.  I will die on this hill.

It makes me sad to talk to teachers who try and try and try to make a particular method series fit JUST BECAUSE they’ve been told it’s superior to the others.

Maybe it is; maybe it’s not… but if YOU as the TEACHER do not understand the method’s fundamental approaches, or WHY they present material the way they do…. if YOU are not convinced of the value of their way, there is no way you are using the materials to their intended benefit.

Again, we cannot expect our students to care about things WE OURSELVES do not care about.

As I say that, I can imagine some of you listening to say, “Exactly. I don’t care about teaching scales so I’m not going to.” And, okay… Again, I’m not here to tell you THE WAY to do your job.

Same with improvisation… same with teaching pieces by rote… same with teaching classical music… or with pop music…

I don’t think we CAN do it all, so I’m not here saying you SHOULD do it all…

BUT. Can you name the benefits of these things?  Do you understand WHY they’re such a big part of the piano teaching world?

If you CAN’T explain why they are important… or WHY they are beneficial… I’d argue you have some work to do.

Because, the truth is, we MIGHT be missing something. If we can’t understand why others are finding so much value in something, we probably need to study it more.  Not because we’re on a quest to do ALL the things, but because CURIOSITY is a fundamental aspect of our work.

…and that doesn’t mean staying curious about the things we already know.  It means keeping an open mind and asking questions about the stuff we don’t yet understand.

So, friends, I could go on and on… but I want to stay respectful of your time. I hope this episode has challenged you to examine the SHOULDS you feel in your life.  Not with the usual advice to let go of them; but instead to hold those narratives up to the light.

I hope you will think about the pressures you feel about your work and what it is you think you SHOULD be doing. Don’t let these feelings paralyze you, or threaten you in any way. Instead, get curious about them.  Ask yourself WHY anyone “should” do the thing you’re thinking about.  If you come up with a great answer, then move forward SLOWLY and methodically to incorporate what you want to do into your Teacher Life. If not, let it go, friends.  SHOULD is a dangerous word, especially left unexamined.

I’m going to offer up a toast today, and then we’ll celebrate our Teacher Friend of the Week!

Studio teacher friends from all around the world: May we all take a moment this week to take stock of the SHOULDs that are taking up space in our minds. Let us examine which of those ideas we can let go of, and which are pulling us toward a deeper understanding of our life and work. I’d be willing to bet we all have a few of each rolling around these brains of ours. Cheers to stay curious, my incredible teacher friends! Here, Here.

So, I hope it’s clear there are very few universal “SHOULDS” in Teacher Life.  One of the many great things about our work is the fact that we have agency to make it our own.  That said, I *do* think there are a few things that great teachers SHOULD do, and I’ll be outlining those in this week’s Piano Teacher Confession email.  If you are not on that list, be sure to sign up at ChristinaWhitlock.com/subscribe. I put a lot of time and thought into my weekly confessions these days. They are definitely more than another piece of inbox clutter.

Speaking of the Piano Teacher Confessions e-letter, today’s Teacher Friend of the Week is someone who often engages with me from that list. Congratulations to Jenny Focht on being Teacher Friend of the Week! Jenny is a longtime member of my Patreon Community and I always appreciate her insights when they land in my inbox or my DM’s. Jenny is a music therapist who also teaches piano, flute, and ukelele and she and I clearly share a heart for PEOPLE, which is the whole foundation of this podcast. I wanted to cheer Jenny on as she works to complete her Masters Degree in Music Education and Piano Pedagogy. She’s already doing amazing work, and it’s only up from here.  So, THANKS, Jenny Focht, for all you do, and CONGRATULATIONS on being Teacher Friend of the Week.

….that’s it for today, friends!  Don’t be a stranger; feel free to contact me via email any time at [email protected].  That’s [email protected]. Onward and upward, my teacher friends!