With so many piano students I have taught over the years, I have so many stories to share and today I want to share the story of Sheree. I first met Sheree when she was about 8 years old and ended up teaching her for four years.
In some ways Sheree seemed unremarkable because she wasn’t an outstanding student. She was not particularly brilliant nor was her progress very fast. She wasn’t one of these students that had a big personality that made her instantly memorable. In fact, she was a quite girl who was always very pleasant but didn’t really speak much at all.
What was obvious to me from the very first lesson was that she did not pick things up quickly. There were many weeks that she came to her piano lesson with things that needed fixing. Don’t get me wrong, she did listen to me and she did try hard and she most certainly practised but the truth is she had difficulty learning the piano.
Sheree was remarkable because she was unlike so many kids I had taught before – she didn’t complain that she found it hard or that her progress was slow. She just kept going.
I quite admired Sheree from the beginning because she was always willing to listen and always willing to let me help her improve her understanding and technique.
There were so many times when I thought that she was going to tell me that she was quitting her piano lessons because she found learning to play the piano very difficult. It’s not that I wanted her to quit, I had just become familiar with certain indicators that were a precursor to quitting. As far as I was concerned, as long as she was happy to learn, I was happy to teach her.
Sheree was a very slow learner who did find it hard going. She took two full years to make it through her beginner book (of the series that I typically use), where the average student took 9 to 12 months to complete. The ones that found learning the piano very easy only took about 6 months to get through their first beginner book.
During those two years, Sheree just kept plodding her way through her piano book and I had to constantly remind myself to keep being positive and encouraging because she was listening, she was trying and she was practising at home.
So at the end of 2 years, Sheree completed the first book. I was so proud of her accomplishment because she had shown so much tenacity and persistence. I was excited that she was ready for starting the second book. I was prepared that Sheree was going to take a while because I new her well by now.
Something happened to Sheree. She was still the quiet, easy going, non complaining student I knew but all of a sudden she started flying through the work I was giving her. When kids get to the second book (again, of the series that I typically use) the average student will take between 12 and 18 months to complete, the fast students usually completed the book in 9-12 months. Sheree took just 6 months!
I think what happened with Sheree was that it took a while for her to really understand the music notation and the basic techniques. It did not come naturally to her but she simply persisted until one day something just clicked and she could make sense of it all. Furthermore, she had the basics and then she just found it easy to add to her existing knowledge, understanding and technique.
I taught Sheree for about four years in total before the other things that were important in her life took over and she did not have time for piano lessons anymore. By the end of those four years she had learned a lot and in fact had learned just as much as an average student would have learned. It was like the first two years were very difficult for Sheree and it took double the time to learn the basics but then after that, everything took about half the time most students take to learn the next level.
About 10 years ago I found out that an acquaintance of mine was a cousin of Sheree. This acquaintance told me that she saw Sheree fairly regularly and she also told me that Sheree still sometimes plays the piano. I was very excited that she still played but not surprised.
I share with you the story of Sheree because she just shows that you don’t have to be ultra talented and you don’t have to become a highly skilled piano player to enjoy playing the piano. All you really need is a desire to want to play the piano and to put in some effort. Success is certain if you just keep going.