“Rise to the level of the child.” - Dr. Shinichi Suzuki

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

14 December

I taught my very first piano lesson in the summer of 1964 to a 5-year-old girl living next door to us. She told her mother she wanted me to teach her piano, then her mother then asked me to teach her. I told the mother, “Sounds fun, but I’ve never taught piano before.” The mother, with great wisdom, said in reply, “All you have to do is get a book that’s at her level, and then just stay a few pages ahead of her. After all, she’s only five, right?”

Well, I did take her on. Of course, the kid’s mother was dead right. Eventually I became qualified, would you believe, with the Royal School of Music in London and taught piano for the next 20 years. It was a fun 20 years, believe me.

I never looked back!