Good teaching is a combination of, what the student wants, what the student needs, and what the student can handle.

It is too easy to ask the new student: "So, what do you want to learn?" And then we teach to their idea of what they need. The student usually doesn't know what they need. That's why they are the student. Another common question asked of new students is: "What kind of music do you like?" The mistake made here is we use only this style of music in our teaching of this student. Perhaps the most dangerous type of question is: "So, do you know your scales?" The problem here is that by asking a question which requires a verbal response instead of asking the student to perform a specific scale, they will usually answer: "Uh... yeah most of them." And if we are not careful we believe them.

My point is that you as a teacher must evaluate each new student by his performance ability. i.e. TEST THEM! It is my experience that many students talk a much better game of music than they can play. It is common for students to "know" much more than they can play. I am continually amazed, by students who have been playing and studying for several years and still cannot perform basic technical skills.

Developing a specific set of criteria for testing and evaluating each student is essential to creating a program of study that will be effective. As stated in my opening statement, this program should be based on the student's goals, your goals as a teacher, and realistic goals that the student can achieve.

Technique is the number one area of deficiency that I find in students. I have had many students come to me with specific requests as to what they want to learn. Most often the issue in not learning that specific something, it is the challenge of performing that task. You as a teacher must be willing to take the student back to the basics. i.e. left hand posture, fingering, economy of motion, cleanness of attack, etc. Teaching the new student how to play songs without a good solid foundation in fundamental technique is a waste of time and very frustrating later on. I call this style of teaching the "music store mentality."