Stress and Your Student
I want to share with you some of the many lessons I have learned from my years of teaching piano and music. Many of my students over the years have started with me at age 5 and 6. I have started students as young as 4. I have learned that they are very different to work with than my student that have started when they are 9 or above. The students that are 7 and 8 when they start are an interesting blend of traits I find in my younger and older students. For this age group so much will depend on their maturity at the time they start.
One of the most important factors I have learned is truly important to learn to deal with in my young students lives is the effects of stress. It can come from stress in their parents’ lives, their siblings’ lives or in their own. Since stress does not come just from what is happening in the child’s life, it is very important to visit with the parents when possible. These does not mean that you should be “nosey”, but you can pick up a lot in the sound of the parents’ voices once you have gotten to know them a little bit. It is amazing what this will reveal to you when you put it in a practical frame work of your own life experiences. How do you react when you have had something stressful happen in your life? Are you the easiest to live with? I don’t tend to be anyway. How about when you are really tired and feel like you just can not get everything done. Though we many try to cover up these stress when it comes to interactions with our children, it is next to impossible. Older children have developed a way to reason these things out and are somewhat better, in most cases, to not let it completely disrupt their lives, but for the children in the age group of 4 to 6, they just have not matured enough to do this. Instead they will come to you nervous and anxious, getting upset at any correction or raise in your voice tones. When you see this you need to be gentle and understanding with them. Your main goal for them is keeping them in music, so you succeed with them, yet they are so sensitive that lack of understanding in these moods can turn them away from music all together. If the mood continues for more than a couple of weeks it would be wise and beneficial to call the parent and talk to them in general about how you feel the child is progressing, listening to see if you sense parental stress might be causing the problem. If you feel it is appropriate you could discuss with them the child moods at his last lessons. As you are a teacher the parent should be willing to share with you what she or he feels might be the cause.
|
|
