Why Learning to Follow Creates Great Leaders, Teachers, and Musicians

When I was 6, I had a traditional classically trained piano teacher. He taught me the most important lesson I could have learned at that age. The lesson was "How to follow," and I realized that piano lessons were much more life changing than just having the ability to play songs on an instrument. Little did I know, he was conditioning me to become a great teacher and leader with his strict "follow my fingers rule" when approaching technique training. He also made sure I was always watching him closely and following the music when he demonstrated a song for me.

What is important to understand is that a child's piano lesson experience is a truly life altering series of events. They can learn to love or hate playing music simply based on who they had as a teacher. It is my belief that teaching students to follow is only the first lesson in order to mold a student into an accomplished musician. When I believe my students have a strong grasp on what it is to follow, I teach them to lead, and this helps them to understand why following is so important. The also learn to understand how it feels to be the teacher giving young kids an invaluable experience and lesson in empathy.

Always listening, and being open to diverging from the planned lesson is key to providing a student positive and memorable lessons. For instance if I notice a student feeling a little down, I'm not going to recommend we practice Moonlight Sonata or Beethoven's 5th. This flexibility allows for the introduction of voice lessons and multiple approaches to learning which can help make the student more well rounded as a musician. I always tell my students that the most important thing to me is their “overall musicianship.” I show them that their musicianship is what they get to keep and grow from throughout life. I encourage my students to branch off in school, and be open to playing any number of instruments in the future. In high school, I played five different instruments because my band director recognized my flexibility, and relied on me to lead my fellow band members. Having the opportunity to be a young leader was what ultimately led to my choice of being a teacher, and if it wasn’t for being strictly taught to follow when I was young, I feel like I wouldn’t be the same person I am today.

To learn more about Piano & Voice Teacher Evan Landy, 
you can visit his profile on Google Plus.