What makes a good (instrumental) teacher? Part 2/3

If I can give credit to anyone for me to end up where I am – it would be my teachers. I was lucky to have mentors that would push and inspire me, encourage me when necessary, and set me straight when lost and confused. If I think about what it means to be a good teacher based on my early experiences, it would, in short, be to be a good life coach and mentor.

My first classical guitar teacher not only taught and educated me, he sort of raised me. He would inspire with his attitude to life, endless energy, and strong values. He took the time, showed interest, and was pretty d*mn cool. He still is today! My point is that through his extra time and being so motivated and open with us, we felt his trust and encouragement, making us work harder. He was the first teacher to give me an idea of what it means to work with children. If I had felt mediocre in school and struggled with my math in school, guitar classes gave me confidence and made me feel like I was especially good, at least at that.

And then another professor also inspired my development in another way – he made me build ambition and resilience. The more uncomfortable part of the learning progress is realizing that success takes hard work, dedication, and stepping out of the comfort zone. He never said it, but we all knew – to be a successful musician, you have to fight, try harder, and prove yourself. You must separate from others authentically and seek depth and perfection. He almost never spoke directly about our performances, but we knew. We can do better. We can do more. And I am grateful for that part of my life because being content in life shouldn’t be the end goal, and it is okay to want more and aim higher. I think I only realized this much later, but I needed it, and I still benefit from it. Of course, some of my attitudes and opinions have changed for me throughout the years; however, that competitive drive we discovered through that process still gives some of us a backbone and an edge over the situations life throws at us today.

My university professor was another person who impacted my path in a significant way. His most special quality was his subtle, present interest in his students. There were lessons where he would intuitively know when a student just needed a listening ear – and that would be the role he would play in that moment. Sometimes he would recognize a student making excuses and just need a kick in the ass. Sometimes it was apparent we just weren’t entirely there, and he cut us some slack. His emotional intelligence and intense interest in understanding how we ticked have made him stand out from many other professors I encountered. Again, trust was built in our connection. Empathy and reliability are two words that describe his way of teaching.

I could describe what I have learned from various mentors and teachers. Still, I can sum up by stating some of the qualities I found a good, impactful teacher has: A strong interest in people, empathy, emotional intelligence, clear values, consistency, be reliable and never betraying a student’s trust, being a role model, being a human being.

So I stopped my preaching and lectures about practice (up to that point, I was still very strict and expected the kids to have the same attitude towards the music as I have known from Slovenia) and just sat down and watched them giggle. I took my little notebook and started asking...

Part 3 is coming up soon!

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