Piano Lullaby For My Dog

My office overlooks the streets of a little town where guide dogs for the blind are trained.

A mutual sight is a trainer with a dog, learning the respective accomplishments the dogs ought to recognise to care for their master.

I see the dog-trainer teams gather for a rest near their van, which delivers them to the city streets for the training. You may see the dogs close up and I will have to say I’ve never seen dogs smile rather so much as these happy animals.

As I walked by another team, I saw the trainer gently pull on the dog’s harness and whisper something to the dog, which then smiled and stopped. The trainer handed the dog a treat.

Suddenly it occurred to me, “If only all piano teachers were as patient as these trainers, then all the kids taking piano would be as happy as these guide dogs.”

And longanimity was the key. You could see that the trainers were very tame and calm, and never applied any negative reinforcement. The proof of this was the smile on the dogs face.

Rather, the trainers whispered gently to the dogs, more or less as I do with the children, for the duration of lessons. Read my article The Piano Whisperer for more on that.

And another thing that struck me was the matching of the smile on the dogs and the children’s faces.

It was a calm, happy smile of contentment, knowing that they were doing well at whatsoever their instructor had in mind. You could see the trust amidst the dog and the trainer.

It is the same bond of trust the piano teacher will have to have with a child.

In essence, the child ought to trust that you will not go too fast and will not be negative.

Imagine the result with the dogs if you were raring and negative. They would sense it in a second, and would probably be totally unlikely to train or handle in that mood.

It’s the same with kids. How do you suppose them to do their occupation calmly and well if they are stressed by the teacher’s conduct and evaluation?

Keep smiling, kids, so you may lead us blind adults.

By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press All Rights Reserved

Piano Lullaby For My Dog Picture

Piano Lullaby For My Dog Pic

Piano Lullaby For My Dog Pic

Piano Lullaby For My Dog Pic