Piano lessons can be very different from time to time, from student to student. This can be varied by students' background, age, level of playing, personality, mood etc. Therefore, a piano teacher needs to be sensitive, observant, and gentle in a piano lesson. 

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I remember when I was a student, especially in my teens, I struggled a lot with my piano playing. Whenever I saw the pianists who I very much admire, I always asked "How? How do they that? How do they have such a gentle but powerful tone? How does it look so easy, so effortless on them?" For a long time, my questions in piano playing were left alone, remained unsolved... I kept watching videos, listening to recordings, reading books yet there was no answer to my questions. I tried out different teachers and 'schools of technique'. Each gave different perspective of the answer to my questions. Until I discover Neuro-linguistic Programme (NLP) from a celebrated British pianist Christine Croshaw, which greatly affected my attitude to piano playing. I learnt How to practise, How to listen, and How to 'play' (to play like a child but have the seriousness of an adult). 

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It is not about what issue a student has but what a student needs. And a piano teacher can see students' needs from their struggles: injuries, performance anxiety, bad memories, sightreading problems etc. You give them what they need than what you know. 

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A lot of the times, people struggle with learning piano because they don't know How? They keep trying without success and overthinking, creating a barrier from what they actually can do. It is all about How to learn! I would dig a little deeper in other columns of the site...

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Stephen offers private piano lessons in London. If you want to find out more, please kindly click London piano lesson and piano teaching experience.