I received this email in my inbox this weekend:
I have a student who told me she has double vision and can’t read the music. I asked her if her mom was planning a trip to the eye doctor to which she replied “yes”. A couple weeks later she said they went to the eye doctor who said her eyes are fine. Now I get the feeling that anytime she gets lazy and misses notes she just says she can’t see the notes because of her double vision. Yet sometimes I feel like we should stop in the middle of the lesson and do eye exercises. What do you think?
My immediate thought is that this teacher’s gut reaction is probably right… her piano student is using the double-vision as an excuse for her short-comings during her piano lesson.
Technically, this should be an easy fix. But yet… it’s not! Why? Because there is an underlying reason that this piano student feels the need to invent excuses and it is our job as her piano teacher to find out why.
My Dog Ate My Piano Book
Rather than focusing on the excuse itself, it’s important to instead examine why the excuse is surfacing. Piano students are inventive… they can come up with a miriad of excuses at the drop of a hat. But what they are actually saying is simple. They’re saying “help”.
Children are in touch with their feelings… to a point. They know they’re feeling uncomfortable… or inadequate… or as though they are disappointing you. But what they aren’t always able to do is to verbalize why they are feeling the way they are. While adults can (usually!) say “I must have missed something because what you’ve just told me didn’t sink in.” children are more apt to resort to the much easier “My thumb hurts when I touch the black keys”.
Predict, Pre-plan and Preemptively Strike
These “Three P’s” are a good reminder when teaching all of your piano students (not just the imaginative excuse-generating students). When introducing new concepts or repertoire, it’s important to predict what could possibly cause a problem for your student, pre-plan how you will teach this concept in more than one way (think kinaesthetically, aurally, and visually) in order to actively engage all kinds of learners in your studio, and preemptively strike by creating a comfortable learning experience for your little learners by never assuming they understand.
With enough positive experiences at the piano in situations carefully crafted by you to have them experience success, you’ll find your piano students’ excuses will diminish and then disappear. And rather than investigating a multitude of mysterious conditions, disorders and challenges you’ll instead be able to spend your time doing what you do best… teaching piano lessons.
One thing we never hear excuses about at our studio is home practice. Why? Because our students are completely enthralled with their practice sheets we take from our resource “Shhh…Your Piano Teacher Thinks This is Practice”. Do you have to listen to “The Dog Ate My Piano Book” type excuses on a regular basis? Check out this resource and banish practicing excuses for good!
I had a 6 year old student who called me tearfully to tell me that her dog had chewed up her piano book. I told her not to worry, that she should just bring in what remained of her book and we’d take it from there. Well, she showed up for her lesson that week, and her dog had indeed chewed her book. But it was only chewed to where she had studied. So, we were able to just pick up where we left off, with a somewhat chewed up book!
Hi Holly – that’s too funny. But it’s also a good reminder that sometimes what seems like an excuse IS actually a true concern. It’s good to keep that in mind too. Sometimes vision problems and hearing issues DO play a role in piano student troubles.
Thank you for your excellent response to my question. At her last lesson she did the same thing so I took her over to the bongos to work on rhythm for a few minutes (which also needed work). When we went back to the piano…no more double vision.
I’ll keep working on a way to get through it directly. I’m hoping as she progresses and has more success the excuse will be forgotten.
Double vision is a problem especially if the student has had a long day. The muscles they need to focus are a lot more strained. Some eye doctors don’t notice a big difference either if the student can make out the right letters. There is vision therapy to help correct double vision and I hope your student is getting some. My brother has dealt with double vision, it make for a trickier time playing the cello- but he’s amazing at it now.
Hi Shannon – thank you for this great information!
one time the dog peed on the kid’s books….and the parents thought i should still be teaching from those pee-stinking books. i mean REALLY???? disgusting!!! they quit soon after that. i wasn’t sad.
I once had a student “lose” his theory book. I later found it hidden behind the rolls of TP in the guest restroom. I got the message, no more take home theory. I now sneak it into the lesson.
I have an adult student who is constantly making excuses. She will stop herself in the middle of a piece (even if she didn’t make a mistake) and complain that the lighting is too dark or the bench is to low or the piano feels so different than last week (???). I spend half the lesson trying to redirect her attention back to the piano…she’s a talker!
What do you recommend for dealing with the Recreational Rhonda who constantly talks and makes excuses?