This is a true story… from 10 years ago:
I was quickly prepping dinner before my first student arrived. I heard a knock at the door… he was a bit early. I grabbed a towel, dried my hands, raced to my entry way and proceeded to quickly open the front door which, as “bad” luck would have it, jammed against my foot, catching my baby toe and pulling it sideways away from my other toes.
Not yet having had children, it was the worst pain I had experienced in my life. But somehow I managed to greet my little sensitive student and his mom with a clenched-teeth “hello” and a bright but somewhat forced smile.
At the time, I didn’t know my baby toe was broken. It wasn’t until I removed my sock during a brief break, and Trevor pointed out that the baby toe is not generally perpendicular to the rest of the foot, that I realized just how much pain I had had to work through.
And so it is… the life of a piano teacher.
It doesn’t matter if we are having good days, bad days, happy days, sad days, energetic days or sluggish days… when it comes to our students’ piano lessons every day has to be a great day. Because our job depends on it!
And One Way To Salvage A Bad Day…
Is to become a member of PianoGameClub. Teachers have written to us on multiple occasions to let us know that our games have been a lifesaver when they were not feeling well… or were rushed because of unforeseen consequences… or were simply having a bad day.
Which is exactly what we had hoped for… not the part about being sick, or rushed, or grumpy… but rather having a resource that teachers can rely on to literally pull an incredible lesson out of a hat.
So if you are not already a PianoGameClub member, now might be the perfect time to build your piano game library. We have 4 incredible games that our members are receiving this month. One teacher who received this game set wrote to say “You guys have outdone yourself once again. You must be the most creative people I know! Love these. These are games I can use daily.”
You can check them all out by clicking on the link below and if you like what you see you can become a PianoGameClub member by clicking here.
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Amy Comparetto says
Just a few months ago I welcomed my student into my studio and closed the door really hard behind him – on my pointer finger. It hurt sooooo bad and I came into my studio as white as a sheet. As musicians, we all know how scary it is to do something bad to our fingers! I have a clear memory of how painful that lesson was, but fortunately he was my last student of the day!
Looking forward to receiving my games in a couple days! Last month was my first month of membership, and I had a lot of fun playing the new games with my students. Rollbot and Lumberjack were great hits! Thank you for the amazing work you do.
Andrea says
Hi Amy – ouch… yes, thank goodness he was the last student of the day for you!!
So glad you’re enjoying the piano games 🙂
Levi says
I am of greek descent, and as most Greeks do, they talk with their arms a lot! Because of this trait I have inherited from my beloved grandmother, I always, and I mean almost every darn lesson I teach, smack my elbow on the end of the piano!! Sometimes just a little knock, other times a good decent hard whack! My students have a little giggle, I do my best to carry on and not draw attention to it so they don’t get too distracted (especially the little ones) whilst I try to rub some feeling back in to my poor elbow.
Andrea says
Levi – we must be “piano teacher twins” because I do exactly the same thing at least three times a week and wow does it ever hurt. Now I’ll think of you each time it happens to me LOL!
Julie says
OH my! This is my story too, though not of Greek heritage, I have sometimes knocked my elbow so hard I can hardly speak. One episode of elbow knocking on the edge of the piano took about 6 weeks to recover fully. I think I must have chipped it that time!
Andrea says
Oh Julie – that hurts so bad… but to chip it must have been a real zinger. Yowza…
Roni says
Yes, I often knock my knee-cap when pulling my chair closer to the piano, and I too don’t want to “make a fuss” so the pupil doesn’t get distracted. I pretend to be listening to them playing with a smile pasted on my face while inwardly doing my deep breathing exercises!
Rebecca Brown says
I am the queen of stupid injuries! Try demonstrating solos to students who are just being introduced their recital pieces when you sliced off the end of your thumb on that evil mandolin vegetable slicer the night before! I have managed to dislocate my pinky finger playing an extremely fast and difficult passage of music. I also once ripped the skin right at the edge of my fingernail off playing a glissando. (That last one was actually during a performance in front of a judge while accompanying a horn student at solo contest. I then had to play the exact same accompaniment for the very next student. )
That being said, I think the worst thing to struggle through a day of lessons with its a blinding headache or an upset stomach. Ugh!
I will definitely be looking into your games! Not sure if it will help me through those frequent headaches and upset stomachs. But I have lots of fidgety young students who frequently need a change of pace in their lesson
Andrea says
Headaches are the absolute worst – especially when you have a job that requires sound!
Elaine Wipf says
I was prepping to teach Piano Pedagogy and entering the classroom with a large pile of materials, tripped and fell flat on my face. I was sore but after sitting for a moment got up taught the class, then the rest of my piano lessons. I did have to ice my arm. I drove home with increasing pain, had my hubby take me to the doctor. Yep the arm was broken. Ouch!
Andrea says
You are a trooper Elaine! Teaching with a broken arm! You win the award for being the toughest!
SonicPiano says
The most difficult experience was teaching while I was sick for a year before my celiac diagnosis…brain fog, wrenching abdominal pain, tingling in my hands and feet and crushing fatigue. Add to that trying to focus on lessons while keeping the fear at bay that I was seriously ill and four doctors had no idea what it was. BTW, I’m gluten-free nearly 3 years and now feel great.
But the most physically painful day easily stands out in my memory. A student’s mom stayed for the lesson with his little brother, who was quite a handful. He started dancing to the piece my student was playing, tipping over a multi-shelf plant stand in the corner of the studio. I rushed to catch the potted cactus that was on the top level before it struck the little boy. It landed in my palms…exquisite pain!!! The cactus now resides in another room at the opposite end of the house, and the student’s mom keeps his little brother occupied with books during a lesson.
Andrea says
Okay that takes the cake for the most unique! A cactus injury! So glad to hear you’re feeling great now 🙂
Marilyn Brennan says
What I have a problem with is poking my students with my pencil that is in my right hand. We usually laugh out loud and I tell them they get extra points or candy that day.
Andrea says
Ha ha… I’m wondering if they’re putting themselves “in the line of fire” frequently just for the extra points or candy 😉
Helen says
I’ve recently been teaching in my church, due to extended remodeling at our house. As I reached to grab my folding chair in the back room, I was stung by a wasp! Made a quick trip downstairs to the kitchen – thankfully they had some baking powder, and I carried on. Don’t think I demonstrated much that day!
Tracey says
I’ll sit next to Helen on the “stung by a wasp” bench! It was in my first years of teaching, and I was teaching at home in my parents’ basement. I was barefoot (I’m in Canada, and nobody wears shoes in the house in our area!) and I felt a tickle on my foot while a student was playing. I went to swipe the top of my foot with the other foot, and the wasp “tickling” me stung my big toe. My student was very, very young and I didn’t want to scare her. I managed to not even utter a sound. But to this day it makes the hair stand up on the back of my head when I think about it.
Your broken toe story had me reading with my jaw dropped. OUCHIE!
Andrea says
Oh ouch Tracey! That “not wanting to scare” the student really brings out the inner yoga master in us doesn’t it? 😉
Diane says
One day a piano mom called to cancel a lesson. They were leaving the house to come to piano, and slammed the door on the little girl’s 5th finger. The end joint was hanging by a thread. They rushed to the ER and had it reattached. This was officially the best excuse for missing a lesson that I’ve ever had! 😀 P.S. She healed well and went on to successfully play piano for several more years.
Andrea says
Oh I cringed reading this one! The poor little girl!! Glad she healed will – and yes, good excuse LOL.
Christi says
Who would have thought that teaching piano could be a dangerous career! I’ve never hurt myself teaching, but I did miss Cross Country practice for 3 days once in college because I decided to run out of my music theory classroom in hopes of making a trip to the restroom and back before the professor started class, and I slipped and smashed my ankle (and almost my face) in the doorway.
Linda says
Ok, I’ll add mine . About 10 years ago I somehow “tripped” on some mulch while leaving a doctor appointment. Thought I just twisted my ankle or something and went on to have lunch and teach my lessons that afternoon even though I was in some pain. About 7pm when I finished up, I checked and my foot was huge. Off to the ER and yep, it was broken. Didn’t miss those lessons, though