What makes a good music teacher?
(May 2024; revised July 2024) This entry was prompted by three things - first a NYT article on teaching music (criticizing how teachers are doing things traditionally rather than encouraging their students to learn four chords and then encourage the student to figure out how to play by ear some known piece); next, my own spotty history of relationships with teachers (piano and 'cello); and finally a comment I overheard at a guitar lesson when an instructor told a parent that she should try to get her son to practice 15 minutes a day before the next lesson. This seems so minimal to me - A good teacher would want and expect the student to practice more than 15 minutes. Period. To me, good teaching always inspires the student (obviously, that goes for many subjects, not just music). I wouldn't say that uninspiring teaching can't be useful (consider learning traffic rules for someone learning to drive). But consider the effect of inspiration on a music student's approach...