Appreciating empathy.(ad lib)

When my teaching day ends on Tuesdays, I sit down to a hastily microwaved TV-dinner (we're a two-piano-teacher household--our high cuisine is at lunch!) and look back on the day's teaching. I usually feel energized even after five hours of contact time squeezed into five and a half. It's not just that the students are usually well prepared. There is quite a mix of personalities that come to call on that day--intriguing young people with diverse interests and processing styles. I've known for a long time that I am inclined to tune my teaching approach to resonate with each student. Twenty years ago I was asked to submit an essay about my philosophy on teaching as part of my application to the doctoral pedagogy program at Northwestern University. I remember writing about empathy playing a central role. I've seen first-hand over the years how students seem to thrive from such coupling. I've recently come to appreciate how empathy in action also enriches the experience for me.

For instance, Michael just turned 8 and loves to read; each week he usually schlepps a gargantuan book of science fiction or the like as he trudges to the waiting room. He absorbs himself in reading while there, unfazed by the magazines, small games and coloring materials. After I saw this the first time, I started using much imagery in the lesson during the working out of musical gestures in his pieces. He has enthusiastically welcomed this. He usually augments my imagery by tacking on more of his own, boldly extending it to where no one has gone before! The same happens when I invite him to create his own story lines and depictions. The result of this verbal improvisation between us: his music has more energy and insight, plus ownership that survives and evolves in subsequent lessons. The spirit of play of these episodes colors the entire lesson. When he mentions that he is surprised that the 40-minute lesson is already over, I wholeheartedly agree with him.

The next student is a different world. Eleven-year-old Wyatt plays tournament chess and loves math and computers. The more methodically and algorithmically I present practice steps and layering of expression, the more attentive he has grown at lessons--and the more effective his home practice has become. He requires reasons for anything new, so I spend more time with him than with others engaged in brief intellectual discussions of what we're doing. We cover less material due to this, but his mother tells me that he now practices consistently on his own with no parental prodding, and his steady progress confirms that. It is fun being able to reach this student by being the nerd that I really am.

Ivana is not only a bright and gifted third-year piano student, but she also studies ballet and ice skating. I discovered last year that when I demonstrate musical gestures with special emphasis on their physicality, something extraordinary happens: she tells me that it reminds her of a bunny-hop, or a balancer (a basic ballet step), or some ...