Professional Development Book Review: “The Happiest Piano Teacher in Town”

“The Happiest Piano Teacher in Town: Empowering Teachers to Inspire Students” by Doreen M. Hall

There are so many professional development books, videos, and seminars for educators, musicians and leaders. Here is a brief review of a professional development book not necessarily aimed for music educators but has a many applications for us, anyway. My goal is to find books to help music educators have a lasting impact. Are you the happiest piano teacher in your town?

Doreen Hall

Doreen has been a piano teacher for 35+ years. She has taught privately and has grown her own studio a wide range of talent, age, and passion. She draws on her own personal experiences when outlining concepts or uses real life examples to troubleshoot. I wish this had been one of my required readings in either my music OR education degree! I appreciated each chapter and found valuable information on each page. I’d recommend this book to anyone involved with music, education, or even other practices. The information is applicable in more areas than just music!

Throughout the book, Hall places “Positive Perspectives” on several pages. I took these as reminders and words of encouragement. If I could have a piano teacher as a mentor, I’d love for her to be Mrs. Hall. She has so many pearls of wisdom, it’s hard to pick a favorite. One chapter contains a quiz to aid in self-reflection. Titled “What kind of piano teacher are you?”, this quiz mimics that found in a magazine with multiple choice questions. There is no wrong answer, however, but a direction for you to discover about your teaching style. By the way, did you know Doreen has her own website? I spent quite a bit of time on there and she has SO much to offer through her videos, articles, and resources. Thank-you!

The Happiest Piano Teacher

Hall opens the book right away by laying out a #relateable experience. Using the frustrations of stubborn students, repetitive excuses and overly critical parents, she introduces a step-by-step process that will completely turn around any negative studio experience. She takes her purpose one step further than happiness: pure joy. It is so evident in her writing that she actually loves what she does. Her joy absolutely jumps off the page and sparks inspiration.

The Change

Hall explains that for true change to occur, one must start the change from within. It is so easy to fall into the trap of “so-and-so probably didn’t practice again this week” or “I bet mom is going to be angry with me again”. This mindset is not only toxic, it’s dangerous! Hall spends a lot of time talking about fostering your desired culture within your studio. But it all starts with you and your attitude. If you are excited to see your student each week, the student will feel proud and will want to practice. This, in turn, makes happy parents. But if students are feeling berated, not enjoying their time, and neglecting practice because of it, you bet your life will be way more difficult. It is important to be firm, but friendly. It is possible to have hard lessons, yes, but they can still be enjoyable. Be positive and give your students the benefit of the doubt.

Develop Your Teaching Blueprint

I absolutely loved this metaphor. If you are an instructor of any kind, you know that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Same goes for any business venture. Hall neatly ties in the art of teaching with the responsibility of running a business. All businesses require a business plan. There are many different ways to go about this, but Hall lays out a solid formula, and even includes her own as a template! How thoughtful, how professional.

Step 1: Mission Statement (Why?)

First and foremost, the mission statement declares your why. Most companies you come into contact with will have a mission statement of some sort. It may also read as “A _______, we believe that . . . “. Ponder your reasons. Are you teaching because of a good experience or a bad experience? Do you teach to inspire? Are you teaching just for business? Why?

Step 2: Studio Program Statement (Who?)

This is something that I honestly haven’t given a whole lot of thought to in my almost ten years of musical instruction. This is similar to the mission statement, but now we’re thinking about who. Who are you teaching? What kind of clientele are you trying to establish? I can attest to Hall’s statements in this section. Being picky about who you teach is important. You are going to be in contact with this person frequently for years. Personalities, work ethics and style should be in your consideration with new students. If you find that lessons with a particular individual just aren’t working, maybe that is a reason why. I have been guilty of accepting any and all students simply because I need the pay cheque that came with it. But for some lessons, I spent the days leading up absolutely dreading that small 30 minutes. In retrospect, it is because our personalities did not work well together. Who do you want to teach?

Step 3: The Roadmap (What?)

Your Roadmap, a.k.a. your curriculum, is more important for other reasons than what you are teaching. Obviously, it goes without saying that you need to know what you are teaching and when. Having a written curriculum helps to keep you accountable to your business, your student, and the parents. It is so handy to have a document laid out and available for parents to understand the process. Not every parent will come from a musical background. Hall points out that in addition to facilitate learning in your students, you also need to educate the parents. This goes from explaining practice habits to proper instruments or repertoire and concepts. This added level will help support your student.

Conclusion