Underneath

For the past 5 years, my life has been partially dedicated to piano teaching. To be exact, 2 days in a week, which means 104 days in a year. That’s about 28.49% of my time annually. Being a piano educator was never one of my dream jobs, even though I was loaded with the knowledge. However, somewhere in 2003, I received a call from my beloved teacher, out of the blue. I was called in as a substitute for another teacher who left with an emergency note. Half-reluctantly, that became my first chapter of being Teacher Jo.

Thankfully, it was indeed a great journey that brought me to who I am today. Until now I still say to myself: Never try, never know. It’s not an easy job, but definitely an exciting one. I can guarantee that a music educator’s life is far more interesting than a bank officer’s, accountant’s or just any 9-5 employee’s. Most people might not think so, or might not agree to it, but my defense is: a piano teacher is not just a person who sits at the piano, counting one and two and three and four and, until the day ends.

It was until now that i realized part of my mindset was crafted through piano teaching. The valuable experience has enlightened me that being an educator is not only about teaching, but also learning. In fact, most of the time, I am learning, from the worst or from the best. Besides, I’ve come to learn about patience and determination when dealing with students, some very young, some only a few years my junior. I’ve learnt to believe in them, trusting that they’ll grow, which is just the matter of time.

Every individual has distinctively different learning abilities. Some shines at a young age, some later, some never. What I need to give is not only my knowledge and time, but most of all, a decent amount of psychological support. I’ve invented my own way of understanding them: listen with my heart. Miraculously, it works most of the time. I can tell quite accurately my student’s character and emotions by just listening and observing their playing. And this, I believe, has created a bond between me and my students, one which plays a big role in this career of mine.

Teaching has brought me a different kind of satisfaction from my other job – composing. The satisfaction of watching the kids learn to identify “do,re,mi” until they manage to play Mary Had A Little Lamb. The satisfaction of watching them telling confidently by hearing the chords I play from piano “Major!” “Minor!”. The satisfaction of moulding a  non-outstanding student into becoming a musical student and complete Grade 8 with a Merit. The satisfaction of getting a paper from a 7-year-old writing “I like piano” beside her name. It was a simple and yet fulfilling happiness that could never be described by words.

Through these 5 years, teaching has softened my tough character, lightened my mundane weekends, shortened the gap between myself and children, and prolonged my persistence in music education. I’m blessed to live around my passion: music. I love my job. I love my students.