First answer these assessment questions:
1. Name at least 1 song you would love to learn how to play on the piano.
2. On a scale from 1-5, where is your desire to play the piano?
3. Do you need motivation to help you achieve your goals?
4. Do you have a 10 minute activity that you can replace with a
more productive 10 minute activity?
5. What is your expectation of learning how to play piano
Before we talk about your responses to these assessment questions, let’s
determine your teachability score and then use your 5 responses to bring
your score higher.
What is a Teachability Index?
Everyone has a teachability index.
A teachability index measures how easily you will learn a new skill.
There is are two key factors that determine how high your
teachability index is.
Answer these two questions:
On a scale from 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest,
where is your willingness to learn?
On a scale from 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest,
where is your willingness to accept change?
Multiply each answer to get your Teachability Index score.
If you answered 10 on both, (10X10) and your index is 100! You
are a very teachable person and will be successful with the piano.
If your willingness to learn is 10 and your willingness to accept
change is 0, then 10X0=0. That would mean your teachability index
is non-existent and so I need to help you bring your score up a
bit. Keep reading…
How to Raise your Teachability Score for Piano Lessons
I asked you to respond to 5 very important learning factors
specific to piano. They were very simple questions, but each has a
powerful message behind it.
1. Name at least one song you would love to be able to play on the
piano.
It is not enough to just want to be willing to learn how to play
the piano. In your mind, you should be able to imagine yourself
playing your favorite song and even more powerful is that you can
see who you are performing for. You could be playing for
yourself, or it could be for your family, friends, or a group of
people.
Having a specific visual is important to achieving a goal. Adding
color,
a familiar place, sounds and even what it smells like can create a
powerful visual for you to use as a tool…. keep reading to find
out how visualization can be a powerful learning tool.
2. What is your level of desire?
Everyone knows that you have to want to learn to be able to learn,
but more than that, you need to have a high level of desire for the
best possible success rate. This desire is triggered by your
response to #1. Your desire will deepen when you can imagine
yourself playing a favorite song for a person or audience of your
choice.
3. Do you need motivation to help you achieve your goals?
Motivation is huge! If you don’t have it, you don’t have
assessment #1 or #2.
Do you see where we are going with this? Each assessment builds
upon another. If you need motivation, then you need to
re-evaluate #1 and #2.
For example, let’s say you started piano lessons and your
motivation is high, but after awhile, you lost interest. How do
you trigger the motivation? Go back to #1 and #2.
4. Do you have a 10 minute activity that you can replace with a
more productive 10 minute activity?
Now that you have the above 3 assessments, finding 10 minutes a day
is the next hurdle to cross. Everyone is busy…. even those with
dreams, desire and motivation still have to find time. Make a list
of things you do during the day when you are at home. Evaluate
your list and cross off the things that are non-productive, taking
too long to accomplish or wasting your time. After doing that, I
bet you can find at least 10 minutes to practice piano! ~smile~
5. Last but not least, is the most important question of all:
What is your expectation of learning how to play piano?
Your expectation will determine your experience and outcome.
Repeat this out loud:
“I already know how to play the piano, I know this because I can
easily see myself playing my favorite songs. However, I want to
and am willing to continue to learn how to play the piano and I am
willing to make some changes so I can find 10 minutes to practice
every day to become more and more accomplished at what I already
know how to do.”
Now, ask yourself the first two questions again and see if your
teachability index has improved!
Hope this helps you not only with piano, but with anything you do
and learn in your life.
For more information about learning how to play the piano with a
teacher who has the tender loving care to bring out the best in
you, please visit:
6 Responses
hi miss lisa… i am having a hard time playing the C chord all together… my fingers are aching, what will i do?
Michelle,
The aching comes from tensing your muscles in your hand as you try to form a new position. This is very common when first learning to play the piano, and especially chords. Pay attention to the tenseness of you hand and finger muscles next time you practice, and relax them. You will be amazed at the relief you will feel and how much longer you will be able to practice without getting sore.
My comments are: I’m confident that the lessons I’m now taking are helping me to acquire some knowledge on this topic.
Below are my answers for the assessment questions:
1. I would like to play a song called “O bread of heaven”
2. My teachability index is 5
3. I need some motivation to help me learn especially some videos.
4. I do have a 10 minutes activity that I can replace with Piano learning.
5. I expect by the end of Feburary next year to at least know how to read and play music notes.
1. I would love to play anything by Andrew LLoyd Webber, especially Phantom, or All I ask of you.
2. My index is 5.
3. Yes videos are nice, but placing my computer on top
of my keyboard is a problem.
4. I practice 30 to 45 minutes a day, and also have a
a lesson once a week for 30 minutes.
5. I figure since I have a small temporal lobe and takes
me longer to learn hopefully by next Christmas, or
sooner would be very exciting. I know the c, f, and g7
far.
Hi Lisa,
I just now had a moment to respond and don’t want to miss the contest. Here are my answers to your questions. First, I believe my teachability index is 100! Playing the piano is something I’ve always wanted to do and either haven’t had the money or time to even begin. My husband bought me a piano for Christmas and now I’m making the time to learn! I hope to go far on my free on-line lessons and can’t wait to see where it takes me.
Ans. #1 — I have a CD my son gave me with all the music from “Charlie Brown’s Christmas Carol” and I would love to play at least one or all of those songs with ease. They are my favorites and I listen to that CD all the time!
Ans. #2 — I have a great desire to play piano so I’d say my desire is a 5 on the scale of 1 to 5.
Ans. #3 — Depending on the difficulty of the lesson, I sometimes need a little more motivation than other times to keep me from getting too frustrated.
Ans. #4 — I find my piano practice very productive because when I sit to practice for a quick 10 minutes, I get so into it that I find myself practicing for an hour or more at a time because I’m really enjoying what I’ve been able to acomplish with each lesson. I also find playing a great stress reliever.
Ans. #5 — Within 6 months to a year, I would love to be able to pick up and read all piano music and play many many songs with ease.
I always loved music and grew up in a family with lots of sing-alongs but I honestly was clueless when it came to reading music or playing any kind of instrument. I envied anyone who could play anything. Now I can actually play three songs just from the first four lessons and I intend to go further!
Thank you,
Catherine Hagan
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