Welcome to the Tardis

As you walk through the doorway you transcend into a space that can change you figuratively and psychologically! It has a perception filter so that you don’t realise that you are actually walking into a courtroom to be judged harshly for your inabilities. It will radiate negative energy and decrease any capabilities you had prior to this to that of a gibbering wreck.

Of course that’s not true, but you would not believe how many students, adults particularly, feel that there is some kind of temporal switch between the universe they call home and the alien world that is my studio.

I say this tongue in cheek, but it’s actually quite debilitating for some students and can make you feel really helpless as their teacher. They have spent hours at home, following my instructions for their practice, think they have got it, only to ‘wham!’. Walk through the door and all that practice seems to have gone.

So how can this be prevented?

It can’t, but it can be managed.

Firstly, as a teacher, ensure that your practice advice is manageable, not overwhelming or too huge.

Secondly, ensure students have notebooks and, if possible, get the student to write their own note. Putting things in their own words helps to consolidate what you’re asking and they’re more likely to remember and do it.

Talk to your students, if they are struggling, where would they prefer you sit/stand, peripheral vision or behind them can be just as off putting for some as in front.

Students, your teacher KNOWS this happens. They are there to help you improve, not judge and they know that nerves, ‘perception filters’ and fingers that loose all inability to work, occur. They see it just about every day if they teach every day!

Try breathing exercises, or, if it’s really debilitating, Alexander technique.

Remember, the psychology of playing is bigger than you think. If you keep saying ‘it was fine at home’ or ‘I could play this earlier’ each time you slip up, you are working your way down that spiral into clamming up, which in turn results in poor technique, squeaking, biting too hard, and not using your diaphragm because your focus becomes fixed in your head!

So, next time your demon teacher opens their door to their inner sanctum, take a big breath, say to yourself that you can do it and be confident to make mistakes. Also, do remember that the level that your teacher may play at has taken decades of practice to get to. You will not do it overnight, in a week, in a month or often even in a year unless you are dedicating hundreds of playing hours per week to your practice, so for once don’t ‘Go Compare’! It will come eventually, but, it’s like learning to drive, learning to walk (all of which most people did when the brain was far more pliable and spongey), it takes time.