Most people think my job as a piano teacher is fairly straight forward. And most days it is! There have been days, however, when I have found myself staring into the mirror in my piano studio wondering how I’d suddenly been transported to the twilight zone.
I’m sure you’ve all had those lessons where you emerge from your studio feeling as though the only way you could possible recover was with a year at a spa. We’d love to hear your craziest piano lesson story in the comments section below.
So, I thought I’d share my Top 7 Craziest Piano Lesson moments. Enjoy at my expense 😉
1. The Wedding Singer
I had a student sign up for our Christmas Gift Certificate promo for 6 lessons last year. Her only goal in taking the lessons was to learn to chord along on the piano enough to accompany herself while she serenaded her fiancé at their upcoming wedding reception. Not too out there… until she showed me her song choice. Rollin’ in the Deep by Adele is not exactly a wedding song (if you really listen to the lyrics it’s clearly a break-up song)… Rollin’ in the Deep by Adele is also not a great song to attempt to sing if you’re not a singer. This student was not. 6 lessons of torture.
2. Say What?
Imagine the look on my face when I opened my studio door expecting to see my sweet 9 year old student, Jessica, and instead found Kiki. Kiki was an exchange student from Thailand who was staying with their family. Jessica was ill, so they had sent Kiki in her place (without telling me). Kiki spoke not a single word of English. Kiki had never touched the piano in her life. This was probably the most unproductive lesson I’ve ever taught as most of it surrounded us trying to make the other understand what we were saying. Instant migraine.
3. That’s A Door… Not a Ladder
I briefly touched on this lesson experience when discussing How to Teach Piano to Anthony Ants-in-his-pants. My severely ADHD student spent one entire lesson attempting to climb the grate of my beautiful glass french door in my studio. His brain seemed to be intensely fixated on the fact that it looked like a ladder (and it does… I’ll give him that). I’ve run several half-marathons, but I’ve never sweated so much as I have that day attempting to re-direct his attention to the piano… both for his own sake, but also for the sake of my poor door.
4. Excuse Me… I’m Going to Be Sick
Piano teachers deal with ill students being sent to lessons all the time (grrrr…!) but I thought I had seen it all when a student arrived with a bucket to vomit in should she need to. There was nothing but a cloud of dust in my driveway – no parents to be seen. I was left with 30 minutes to supervise my green-around-the-gills student while attempting to preserve my carpets. She didn’t make it to the bucket. She did make it to my bookshelf.
5. Dr. Doolittle At The Piano
I started off teaching piano lessons in the homes of my students. One of my families was clearly animal lovers – but to the extent of being almost insane. My time spent teaching there was interesting to say the least. I somehow managed to teach lessons with their Golden Retriever’s head placed firmly in my lap (insisting on a never-ending head scratch), their family cat who liked to drape himself like a scarf across the shoulders of anyone with long hair (that’d be me), a Cockatoo who screeched like a banshee from his perch in the corner, an iguana who had an unnerving way of appearing out of the corner of my eye (no cage constraints for him!) and a small terrier who was not yet house-trained, but who tried his hardest to show me he was… trying.
6. Will This Alligator Piano Work?
I’ll never forget the first piano lesson I taught in the home of my newest student. I had discussed piano purchase options over the phone with her mom when they registered and they assured me they would be purchasing an instrument that weekend. When I arrived she apologized profusely for not getting around to purchasing the piano, but directed me to their “music room” where their daughter was waiting on what she hoped we could use for this week’s lesson. Have you seen those toy pianos that are bright green and shaped like an Alligator? This is what their eager child waited in front of for her first piano lesson. We did a lot of “off the bench” activities that week…
7. ‘Scuze me While I Grab a Towel
This one takes the cake in my mind. Once again I was a traveling piano teacher and arrived at my student’s home for their lesson. No one answered when I knocked, but there was a note taped to the door that let me know they were in the backyard. The note neglected to tell me that they were skinny dipping as a family in their backyard pool. Awkward is not a strong enough word. Mortifying comes close. Try teaching piano lessons after that one.
It’s true what they say… time heals all wounds. In fact, I had a few good chuckles writing this post as I remembered the details of each of these lessons. I’m sure you too have some great stories to share – we’d love to read them. Leave your “Craziest Piano Lesson I’ve Ever Taught” in the comment section below.
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Diane says
I so enjoy your piano teaching blog, but today’s takes the cake! Thanks for sharing–you’ve made my day!
Vivian says
You definitely win! My only crazy story was when two cats were fighting in our front yard. One of the students opened the door to go out, the cats ran in, one climbed my drapes and the other jumped on me, scratched my arm and ran over the top of the piano. That was interesting, but I sure can’t top ANY of your stories. Hysterical!
Andrea says
Hi Vivian – that’s a pretty good one! Have a great weekend 🙂
Joyce says
I agree with the comment above – you win!!! How can one top that 🙂 Once again, I love reading your e-mails each morning – thank you!!
Andrea says
Thanks for reading Joyce! Glad I could brighten your morning 🙂
christy says
This is hilarious! I laughed out loud a few times….and was surprised the discover that I wasn’t the only teacher this year to have a student show up with a barf bucket to the lesson. Absolutely shocking. In the 23 years that i have taught…I have NEVER seen this. I’m sure there will be more to come!
Andrea says
Ah yes.. the barf bucket. A classic piano lesson accessory. I hope I never see that again!
Cecilia says
One of my craziest piano lessons involved a student who had just come from the doctor after receiving a flu shot. He had a great sense of humor, so it wasn’t abnormal for him to do things to make me laugh during our lessons. While he was in the middle of playing one of his pieces, he slumped over and hit his head on the keys. I thought this was another one of his antics until he began throwing up all over the keyboard of my beautiful Yamaha piano. He had passed out from a reaction to his flue shot! I pulled his bench out from the piano as quickly as possible, but the damage was done. After he came to we rushed to the bathroom, leaving a “trail” behind. While all this transpired, another student had been sitting there taking in all the events. She looked terrified, so I reassured her by saying there would be no keyboard work for her lesson that day! It may have been my imagination, but I always felt my piano was never the same!
Sarai says
omg. That’s TERRIBLE!!!
Beth says
I was giving a lesson to the daughter of a very dear friend of mind. Halfway through the lesson she calmly said her mouth was dry. Before I could offer her a drink, she threw up all over the keyboard. A year later one of my daughters got sick over at their house. The mom looked at me and said it was okay. Now we were even.
Genny says
After the throwing up incident, I thought “How can it get any worse?” HAHAHAHAHA!!! I’ve never had anything like that happen in the nearly 20 years I’ve been teaching.
Jessica says
Your #1 brought back some memories! *sigh* I had a student several years ago sign up for singing lessons to prepare for her Canadian Idol audition about a month before the auditions. She was singing “Crazy” (Patsy Kline), and “Tomorrow” from Annie. First of all, really odd song choice, but she also was NOT a singer. I tried to be tactful, but honest! I had visions of her going on TV as one of those horribly bad auditions that they all make fun of and her being so upset. Or, I could just picture her saying she took voice lessons and saying my name, and there’s my reputation down the tubes! She phoned me after the second lesson to tell me she found a different coach. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t impressed by my “tactful honesty”, but I was not upset by that at all!
This isn’t a lesson story, but your #1 also reminded me of a wedding I played for. The Bride wanted to walk down the aisle to “O mio babbino caro”. I told her that song was about a girl begging her father to go see her lover, and threatening suicide by throwing herself in the river if he didn’t let her go. Hardly a wedding song! Anyways, the Bride insisted that’s what she wanted, so I played it. At least the words are in Italian, so it’s not quite as bad as Rolling in the Deep… LOL!
Oh, and I’ve never had a student throw up in a lesson, but I almost did! I cut the lesson short and got home as quickly as possible… just in time!
Marion says
I love these stories-thanks for making me laugh, and an opportunity to keep things in perspective! 🙂
Julie Anderson says
The ADHD student reminded me of Beat Boy. No matter what I did, marched with him, played drums with him, holding his hands to au drums, rocking with the metronome, he could not keep a beat. One day while doing thaes activities with him, BB literally turned the piano bench upside down!
Jennifer Foxx says
WOW!!!! You have had some doozy’s! I can’t even imagine! It’s a good thing how time heals all wounds because if I went through all of that, I’m not sure I would still be teaching. Yikes! Thanks for the laugh this morning. 😉
Andrea says
Hi Jennifer! I’m beginning to think I may just have bad luck 🙂 I was laughing with Trevor this morning saying that I’m sure people will think I made these up… but I promise I did not!
Shanna says
One of my students years ago came to me for beginner lessons. The parents assured me they had a wonderful “piano” at home for her to practise on. Weeks went by and this kid could not get notes nor fingering. I finally told the parents I wanted to come see one of her practise times at home. To my horror, it was an old organ she was using and only the feet pedals worked. No wonder she could never get fingering. I convinced the parents this would not due and they finally got a small keyboard. I now ask in my interviews the brand of piano that they have and for how long.
Andrea says
Hi Shanna,
That’s amazing – foot pedals only! The poor girl.
Sarai says
Yours definitely take the cake. But I did once have, two my surprise, my two twin Chinese students show up in bumble bee costumes for their lesson, complete with wings and bobbing antennae headbands. 🙂 They had a school program (their mascot is the bumble bee) right after their lesson, so they came in costume. Before they left, they gave me a complete rundown of their song and dance, and it was the cutest thing ever 🙂
Other than that, nothing too crazy- no vomit or naked students yet (or EVER I hope!!!!)
Andrea says
ha ha! Yes, I hope the bee costumes are as wild as it gets for you too 🙂
Brittany Roque says
Well, I can honestly say, I’ve never had a student throw up on my piano (which is a good thing, because I would probably NEVER play it again) I have had a student RUN to the bathroom to throw up – well, they missed by a few feet, but it was a good attempt. My worse lesson was probably with a 6 yr old beginner a few months back. He the HARDEST time paying attention and answering simple questions. The only thing he wanted to talk about was his uncle who was in jail for stealing (Can you say “Too much information”??). We had had two lessons and then at the third lesson he totally turned into a monster. He had a million things to tell me (none of which were piano related) and finally I told him “you can tell me everything at the end of our lesson, after we do some piano work” – then he turned his back to me and folded his arms and said “I’m ready to leave now”. I tried to engage his attention multiple times, but to no avail. I said, “we have 15 mins left in our lesson, lets play a few more songs” No response. I then asked his mom to come in and have a talk with him – when I entered the room he was standing with his nose in the corner and when his mom asked what he was doing his response was, “I have 15 minutes left of my lesson and I dont care if I spend the whole time in the corner”. Needless to say mom had to (litteraly) drag him out of my classroom. All while a new student & their parent(who happened to be early) watched. Ugh I did a happy dance when they discontinued lessons two weeks later.
Andrea says
Hi Brittany – I can imagine your horror… and your relief when they left 🙂 Poor guy.. sound like he had some real troubles.
Gail Chang says
I have a student I dread. I must tell him to keep his feet off my couch, I must put everything loose away or he gets into it, even now that he is in 8th grade. He refuses correction and is offended if he does not get a sticker at his meager attempt to play the right notes. Once he set the alarm clock in our bathroom and it went off in the middle of the night.
Another student where I visit their home, stomps off to his bedroom when he gets tired of me correcting his poor rhythm and notes.
Thankfully I have a wonderful student who seems to have a natural affinity for Chopin!
Jeannie says
I am always trying new “theme” lessons. I recently had “pet day”. It was close to the end of school last spring and the kids needed something different. Well, a 4:30 lesson brought her two birds and at 5:00 here comes this gigantic cat –no leash and no cage. The cat immediately jumped on the bird cage and the birds went crazy with all the screeching! You never heard the such!
When I first started teaching piano, I also taught guitar. One 11 year old student showed up with a toy guitar with only 2 strings. The mother said, “I’ve heard good things about you. We will try to get some strings next week but go ahead and teach him 3 or 4 chords this week. He’s got a school talent show that he is entered in.”
Andrea says
Love the last one Jeannie… classic 🙂
Charlene Shelzi says
There was a time when I was teaching that I was single. I had an adult student who was a prominent doctor who started taking lessons. He was very nice and always seemed to bring a gift or an invitation to something at each lesson. His progress of course was painfully slow as he rarely practiced. One morning he came for his lesson asking me to teach him part of his “favorite” aria. He opened the book and the words were “My sword is my manhood”. It was all I could do to not burst out laughing…..so not subtle! I was very happy when he finally got a girlfriend a few months later and discontinued lessons!
Andrea says
This would mortify me! Almost as bad as the skinny dipping family 😉
Hope Noar says
Love your stories. I will share one with you. My students walk in through my back door to my studio. Well one mother was too lazy to come get her son after his lesson, so she drove right on to my grass up to the back door and honked her horn. I walked her son out, and when I saw her car at my back door, I shouted: “why didn’t you just drive right in?”. We both laughed hysterically.
Andrea says
Wow! Right on your lawn? That is definitely crazy 🙂
Melinda says
I laughed so hard at the stories you all shared! Here’s one I experienced: I was in my studio preparing for the first lesson of the afternoon when I heard a car pull up into the driveway. The next thing I hear is my 10-year old student yelling at the top of his lungs, “I don’t WANT to go to piano lessons! I HATE piano lessons! Nooooo! Don’t make me go!” The whole neighborhood had to have heard him yell! When he walked in I pretended I hadn’t heard his outburst. His mother came in, too, and after a bit of hemming and hawing said she had something to ask me. I thought, “Great! She’s going to ask if her son can quit lessons. What a relief!” To my surprise, she asked if I would accept her other son as a student and also teach her! The boys did end up quitting after a year or so, but mom continued for several years and did great.
jamila says
greetings,
i laughed hysterically at your stories! i even showed a few of them to a couple of my students who could not believe what they had read. i have a few stories which pale by comparison, one little girl who when you ask her to play her C major scale replies ‘ no i don’t like the C major scale’ then i ask her to review what we did last week ‘ no i don’t like what i played last week’ etc etc etc finally i got her to play a duet with me the last five minutes of the lesson. pretty horrible lesson right! well this ‘lovely’ student then goes home and tells her mom after asking how was her piano lesson ‘ it was a waste of time i didn’t learn anything’ !!!
Jan says
I have been teaching piano for 25 years and I was amused with your stories. I think it has been pretty smooth sailing, but I had a couple situations, one which made me never teach adult males again after an uncomfortable lesson to which he kept asking me out on a date even after the fact he knew I was married. Another time there was a young girl that was very shy who never responded with words only a nodding of the head until one day we were learning about quarter rests and as she was about to play a rest in the song, she burped loudly. We both started to laugh. After that incident she was never to shy to speak. Thanks for sharing and I do love reading your blog.
Krista says
I have a student who hasn’t spoken to me since we started, over two years. She’s in the 4th grade. I’m waiting for a breakthrough moment like that with her. It’s not just me, it’s all adults that aren’t her parents. It’s crazy.
Carole says
Wow! I don’t really have any crazy stories like these, but I did have a student who came to lessons with the dirtiest feet and hands I’ve ever seen! I had to ask her to wash her hands in the sink before I’d let her touch my piano. I “Lysol-ed” the foot pedals after she left 😉 Oh yeah, she was young, too. Now-a-days I don’t teach really young students – they don’t have the attention span or maturity to devote to practicing like older students. I prefer to teach beginning students around the age of 9.
Ashley says
I just found your site earlier today, and have been reading it every chance I get. I’ve only been teaching piano for 3 years, so I don’t have the years of experience and craziness that some of you have. But I really enjoyed reading about some of the ridiculous situations that have happened. It makes me realize that it doesn’t matter how young I am, or how long I’ve taught, but there is always the possibility of strange things happening.
The most odd lesson I’ve taught was earlier this year. I teach 3 kids in the same family, in their home. There are also 2 younger siblings in the family. So, the house is huge, and the older kids are very responsible and play with and keep an eye on the younger ones. I had finished one lesson, given her a worksheet to do before her next lesson, and started on the next lesson. Next thing I know, the first student was on the floor by my feet doing her theory. A few minutes later the third student comes up with the 2 youngest siblings and grabs his theory book and starts on his. So before long, I have the youngest (just under a year old) on my lap, the 18 month old playing with my Metronome, 2 students doing worksheets at my feet, and I’m teaching the oldest his lesson. Their mom comes into the room a few minutes later wondering why her house is so quiet and finds me with all her children around the piano. It was adorable. And the only lesson I’ve had so far that was just unexpected.
Dana says
It was a very hot day, and I was teaching piano to a beginning level girl in an after school program. Her father watched the lessons from a seat across the room. She was playing “Row Row Row Your Boat” and voluntarily sang along with the song. Just as she finished the lyric “life is but a dream,” she keeled over and hit the floor with a clunk, fainting from the heat. Fortunately she wasn’t injured, but I certainly didn’t see that one coming! Her father and I rushed to her side, and she woke up, a little confused, but fine.
Lantana Music Studio says
I had one just the other day- a mom called me and wanted to try giving her two-year-old son piano lessons. Since I teach WunderKeys, I agreed to give him a free trial lesson. Our cul-de-sac has a basketball hoop which they saw as they came in. As soon as the boy realized that he was playing piano and not basketball, he cried the “I’m angry” cry for the rest of the lesson. His mom could not do anything with him; the only way she could get him to calm down was to show him picture on her iPhone. Needless to say, I told her to call back when he is older.
Andrea says
That does sound like a nightmare! We do suggest waiting until kids are at least 3 before starting WunderKeys – they’re just so much more emotionally ready at that age than they are at 2 🙂
Melissa says
Well… I’m not a teacher… But I was a piano/theory student.
I had a teacher that taught me theory and piano… I liked her, but she was incredibly blunt…
We were doing theory once in one of the piano rooms… The walls were thin, and we could here this girl singing. (She sang pretty bad.)
She basically said, “Ugh… I just wish that girl could jump off the roof already..”
I had a previous piano teacher… That was so busy teaching his students… I went to piano every Monday, Wednesday and Friday..
Came to the point where I would catch him closing his eyes while sitting beside me…. Dozing off!
When I was done the song… He was like, “ah! Well done…”
anna says
A couple of sisters came for their weekly lessons while their mother went and ran errands during their lesson time. Well, while I was giving a lesson to the older sister, the four year old asked to go to the bathroom. Soon she was calling for her older sister from the bathroom, so her older sister went to see what was happening. She came back and told me, “She didn’t quite make it to the toilet.” I went to find out what happened, and there was poop on the floor and on her underwear and pants (and remember, her mom was running errands). I had to clean it all up, clean her up, and I ended up giving her a pair of my underwear and the tiniest shorts I had (I was 95lbs 5’1″) since her pants and underwear were soiled and now sitting in a ziploc bag. I was SO glad I was friends with their mother. I can’t imagine what I would have done otherwise…….
Andrea says
I have a similar story (unfortunately!) that I chose to omit from my 7 stories as I just didn’t want to re-live it! I wasn’t a mom at the time (it wouldn’t have fazed me quite so much now that I am!) Piano teachers do so much more than teach piano…
Hope Noar says
One day my back door opened, and I was expecting to see a piano student, but what I saw instead was my little grandson from another state. His Dad was scheduled to come solo, but decided to surprise me. Was I ever excited!
Another story is about a student’s mother who hated to come in to get her son after lessons. She was the impatient type and used to honk the horn to let her son know she was outside waiting. Well one day she really got impatient and proceeded to drive onto my lawn, right up to the back door. I went outside with her son and my reaction was: “why didn’t you just drive right in?” A sense of humor is a must when you are a teacher!
Andrea says
Ha! This is crazy… I can’t imagine someone driving on my lawn!!
Billie Hiett says
Several years ago the mother of two of my students was caring for the grandmother, who was dying of cancer, in their home while continuing to try to work outside the home. I offered to come to their home to teach the girls for a while. I arrived the first week to discover the grandmother s hospital bed shared a small room wt the piano. So we had lessons in her room & hopefully blessed her final weeks on this earth.
Andrea says
This is a touching story – and kudos to you for having the right approach to the situation! I’m sure it was a lovely bright spot for her to hear her granddaughters playing the piano so near 🙂
Miss Amaryah says
I primarily teach my students in their homes and one day went to meet my newest student, a 7 year old girl. Everything was set up for a lesson when I arrived. My student and I sat down to get started and her whole family, all 6 of them squeezed onto the couch to watch– which they did for the. whole. lesson. At the end, the parents proceeded to tell me that they felt good energy from me and went on to explain they were having serious marriage problems. Can we say “awwwwkward”!!!!?!
Andrea says
Ugh… awkward is not a strong enough word!!
Marilyn Cunningham says
Many years ago, in my early days of teaching, a very sweet mom brought and stayed with her very rambunctious 6-year old boy. One lesson day, they walked through my door, proclaiming that they had come up with a great solution to making him pay attention. In her words, every time she would say the word “kitty””, he agreed to sit up nice and tall.
So, for the duration of his lesson, the little guy bent completely backwards, challenging his Mom to say the magic word “kitty” about a million times. 🙂
Naomi says
Mine goes along the lines of your “skinny dipping” one. As with your story I was teaching at a students home. When I rang the doorbell no one came to the door. I waited a few minutes before ringing it again. Several seconds later the grandfather came to the door with his underwear hanging halfway down to his knees!
Mandy says
I was teaching a group – maybe four 3 year olds & their guardians. I had a little boy who was not afraid to express his enjoyment AND displeasure. This particular lesson, we had just finished our welcome song when this sweet boy looked at me & said, “Miss Mandy! You & my Mommy are both bi…” THANKFULLY Mom ripped him out of class before he finished what he was saying. My mouth dropped! I had to take a moment before continuing. As did the other parents. This student returned the next week with a tearful apology & ironically became one of my better & more enjoyable students. Over some time! I’m still friends with Mom & this boy who’s in High School now.
Corrine Thogmartin says
Loving all the stories! Our chocolate lab, Zoie, has been trained to “play the piano” and my hubby loves showing all the new students her great accomplishment. One eight year old boy, after his second lesson, did the universal arm pump and said, “Yes! I can finally play better than Zoie!”
Another eight year old boy had a very rough start. Half way through his lesson I was ready to give up on him, since he really didn’t look like he was paying attention, was acting a bit hyper, and was just not into it. I reached into my “bag of tricks” and said “I bet you can’t play these two lines here…” Not only did he play them perfectly and with a great rhythm, shocking his dad AND me, but I think he surprised himself! Turned out to be one of the very best students I’ve ever had. I learned a valuable lesson that day: as long as they’re not bolting for the door yet, keep trying, since you never know what may lie just beneath the surface!
Pam says
I teach group lessons and was teaching a group of 4 year olds. One of the little boys stood up and said that his tummy hurt and then had diarrhea running down his leg onto the carpet. Thanks goodness the parents participate in the class so mom was there to get him all cleaned up with a fresh set of my son’s clothing.
Jennifer Groover says
These are crazy stories! I, fortunately have never experienced anything quite like that. However, I did have a student that waited too long to go to the bathroom. I could tell she was getting wiggly toward the end. I finally asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom – she looked at me with panicky eyes and said, “yes.” I told her to go ahead, and she sat there and went on my bench and all over my carpeted floor!! I was astounded! I would have been a little more sympathetic if she was one of my younger students (5 or 6), but she was 11!!!!
Zelna van Zyl says
a Few years ago, I was teaching a third grader. She was playing a song titled “Spooks” We were adding a lot of dynamic variation including the accent. We were on a roll and I was very deep into acting the roll while she was doing a great job in creating a spooky atmosphere. Suddenly the printer that was on the shelf next to my piano unexpectedly started to print. The poor child had such a fright that she made me stapled the pages together and never played the piece again.
Michele says
This year topped the cake for me. Early in the year I had a returning student (16YO odd male) who has a few issues shall we say. I noticed he was carrying into the lesson studio – a larger backpack…clearly full…while I was preparing the paperwork for his lesson. After a few seconds of chatting with him, without looking at him, I then looked up (as he was no longer returning the verbal volley.) Across the piano stood student with an air-soft rifle pointed at me. He laughed when I flipped a screw. I told him he’s lucky that I wasn’t standing next to him when he pulled that out. I would have taken him down and asked questions later. Needless to say I told him to pack up and leave. He was hurt! LOL.. I also called his mother to come pick him up and explained why. When he was allowed to return I warned him that if he brought anything like that again to the studio I would take it as a threat and have him arrested….
Marilyn says
Well, I can’t top the skinny dipping story, but I do have a contribution. Long before you folks were giving me more ideas than I know what to do with, I had a little boy who just couldn’t sit still. Every week was a new challenge. One week, he and his mom showed up and announced that they finally had the solution. They agreed that every time she thought he wasn’t paying attention, she would say the code word KITTY, and then he would sit up straight.
Only problem was that he liked the idea so well, the whole lesson was spent with him completely arched backwards, completely upside down, happily saying to his mom, “Say KITTY, Mommy; Say Kitty!”
cheri says
I always love reading your posts but today’s took the cake. no stories as funny as yours but I do have one I’m sure I’ll never forget. A couple lessons into a new 4yo student. She was shy but would answer yes and no questions. We were doing some off the bench work when all of a sudden she crossed her legs so if course I asked her if she needed to use the bathroom. As she’s nodding yes I’m watching her pants get wet. Despite our hustle to the bathroom she still managed to pee on my carpet. thankfully the mother was there to clean get up.
Kristen says
Thank you for this post, I enjoyed it. I don’t think I’ve ever had any lesson that compares to these in craziness, but it’s nice to know I’m not alone in sometimes having terrible experiences. Most of mine happened when I was new to teaching, and I was charging less than I should have. I think I was attracting all the students who weren’t serious enough to actually buy an instrument, show up for lessons, or practice. Fortunately I now have several awesome students and I love teaching. Your ideas and materials have helped give me the confidence to charge the right amount, and have made the lessons more fun and productive too. Thank you!!!
Andrea says
Okay – these top mine I think LOL
Judi kelly says
a mum arrived for guitar lessons for her 8 year old son. He was so hypo that he would do anything but what I asked him to. Instead he started rolling around on the floor. Desperate to help this ailing kid I lowered myself to the floor, ( I was 66 yrs old so this was some effort for me) lay on my back, grabbed my guitar and started to strum the strings. After a very short time he picked up his guitar and started to do the same. Three years have past since then and recently I received a note with a photo of him playing his guitar in the school band and the mother was thanking me for giving this boy a love for music.
Jan Elizabeth says
Great stories! Several years ago I taught two teenage boys who were identical twins. The year they were 14 they started despising each other for some reason. My studio was in the basement, and as the first boy finished his lesson, the second always came down the stairs a few minutes early for his. As their paths crossed, there was usually a jibe or a shot in the arm or something designed to annoy. One day this behavior exploded, and the next thing I knew, the two young men were rolling across the carpet in my studio, locked in a violent battle. It was pretty shocking! After that I rearranged my schedule so their lessons were no longer back-to-back. Luckily, by the following year they had become friends again!
Andrea says
Oh my goodness! I wouldn’t have known what to do with that one!
Christi says
I am so glad I teach my piano lessons at *my* house. And I am thinking of making a hard and fast “If-you-were-too-sick-to-go-to-school-you’re-too-sick-for-piano-lessons” rule.
Ben Gessel says
Hm. I doubt I have any stories that are as good as these ones… Let me think…
Well, there was that one time where I taught a few piano lessons to an extremely old man, over 90 years old, no less. I think his son or daughter set the lessons up, as a means to help their dad deal with his frustration regarding not being able to play the piano as well as he used to. And then, after only a few lessons at a nursing home, he died. Yeah, that was a different experience, but unforgettable/makes me a bit sad sometimes for very old folks…
Of course, this next story is more about the feeling of being “used”. On a referral website I’ve used before, a Vietnamese lady wanted a trial lesson for her daughter, who had autism. Of course, to read the message she sent in the first place, I had to pay a little bit of money, etc. So, the lesson went “ok”, and it sounded like we were going to continue lessons after that point. I go to the student’s home the next week (which was quite difficult to find, I might add), and I find out that they decided not to have me as a teacher. You’re welcome for the free lesson, thanks for not talking to me about this beforehand… That REALLY burned me up that day…
To end on a lighter note, I once taught two little Mexican girls, who were just adorable. Their mom was blind, and was a single mom. I had the highest degree of respect for her. I remember that one of the girls was very fond of climbing, getting high above the floor/carpet in their home, by inching her way up the narrow upstairs hallway of their home. She loved to surprise her mom, etc. 😀 Her mom most certainly did not like this, but sometimes, what can you do, some kids will do cartwheels on the roof for an hour… 🙂
Deb Flowers says
I taught two children of a member of our church. When I opened the door, she had 2 grocery bags in hand and asked if she could use my kitchen to prepare a couple of pies for a party she was attending that night. I hadn’t had time to clean my oven after cooking a dish I was taking to a party that night, but she assured me that she was making refrigerator pies, so no cooking was involved, and she would leave my kitchen spic and span when finished. During both lessons, I could hear cabinet doors and silverware drawers opening and shutting, mixer humming, etc. I kept praying, “Lord, just get me through these lessons without losing it.” When lessons were finished, I hesitantly approached the kitchen, and it looked like a bomb had gone off. Dirty dishes everywhere. Gooey something all over countertops. By then I had 30 minutes to get to my party, so I VERY FIRMLY asked her to leave so I could clean up. I WAS SO MAD! I had no time to change clothes, so when hubby got home, we threw everything in the car and hurried to the party where we were the “opening act” –playing and singing Christmas music. About 10 minutes into our set, in walks PIANO PARENT with her two pies in hand, her beautiful silk outfit, and her hair freshly done. Have you ever tried to smile and sing while asking for forgiveness for the thoughts running through your head? Short ending to a long story–I put the “intent to return form” in the piano folders in a not easy to find spot, and they didn’t get turned in on time for lessons the next semester. 🙂
Sam says
When I first started teaching swimming lessons at 15 as part of my swim team’s growth program, one of my first student’s was a 5 year old boy with the sharpest nails I’ve ever experienced. He also threw up ON me one time. He just looked at me, kinda confused, and said, “I had strawberry ice cream for lunch.” I just said, “I can tell”. EEEEEwww. I did get a bit of a holiday, as the pool had to shock the pool and clean it up, and that cancelled the last lesson I had with him. Pfffewww!