PPP101: Encouragement for Piano Parents with Cortney Toumayan

Cortney's personal piano story

When Cortney was three years old, she discovered her love of music through a popular musical – “The Phantom of the Opera”. As she listened to the music over and over, she eventually began to pick out the melody on the piano and her parents decided to try out piano lessons. Over the years, Cortney learned from four different music teachers. She began to seriously consider music as a career when she was 16. However, after being told that music wouldn’t be as sustainable, Cortney went into the dental field for a few years before quickly returning to her first love – music.For many, there is a mindset that music is just a side business, a way for stay-at-home moms to earn some extra money. But music is important! Cortney realized, just as lawyers and doctors had someone to teach them and guide them in their profession, the same goes for musicians; “Music is language and math and communication and emotion… wrapped up in one…and you have to have someone to guide and nurture [that].” And so for piano parents, if your child seems to be particularly interested in music, don’t discourage that. There are so many outlets they can be music teachers in private studios or colleges or they could be band directors. In an interview with Lisa Donovan Lukas, she talked about in her early days, she lived in Los Angeles and worked with and edited film scores. There are so many more options in the music field than a lot of people realize.

What is your personal teaching style?

“I think as far as teaching style, it varies from student to student. When I was first beginning to gather students, I had the idea that everyone should be taught the same. Everyone was in the same method book. Everyone had an expected amount of time to learn their pieces. We did the same type of games, so everyone was kind of on the same schedule and I had a high turnover rate and students would last a year and a half. And so that was hard. I kept thinking, what am I doing wrong? And I finally had this epiphany of which I should have had at the beginning really of my career, people weren’t the same. Students aren’t the same. They all learn differently and I started changing my style. And so now I individualize. For example, let’s say that I’ve got a very hyperactive child. It may not be the best technique, but if we’re having a day where we just cannot sit still on the bench, we’re going to take the bench away and we’re going to let him stand up while he plays with songs. And so I think it greatly depends on the student and what their desires are and how you teach them and really taking the first three or four weeks to get to know that child and, and look for those little signs. How do they learn?”

What is a common struggle you see in your studio?

“I think a lot of times in the lessons, kids will play the way that they think you want them to play,