Good Player vs Good Teacher: Skills Music Teachers Need Beyond Performance

Teaching can feel weird when you are a strong player and a student still cannot find middle C, tongue a clean articulation, or keep a steady pulse. You start wondering, "Am I explaining this badly, or do they just need more time?"

The truth is, great playing and great teaching overlap, but they are not the same skill set. And if you grew up as a quick learner, teaching can actually feel harder at first.

Why the difference matters

Most of us started teaching because we love music and we got good at our instrument. Then a 7-year-old shows up who cannot read yet, a teen comes in with performance anxiety, or an adult wants to play for stress relief and hates practicing. Your playing skills help, but they will not automatically tell you what to do next.

When you can separate "player skills" from "teacher skills," you stop taking student struggles personally. You also get faster at diagnosing problems and choosing the next step.

Skills that make someone a good player

Good players usually have a few strengths in common. These are real, valuable skills. They just do not always transfer to teaching without translation.

• Self-correction while playing. You hear an out of tune note, a messy shift, or a rushed rhythm and you adjust in the moment.
• High tolerance for repetition. You can do 12 takes of the same four measures without losing focus.
• Strong internal model of sound. You know what a phrase should sound like, even before you play it.
• Pattern recognition. You see a chord progression, a fingering shape, a rhythmic cell, and your brain labels it quickly.
• Personal practice systems. You have ways to warm up, build technique, and prep performances.

The hidden downside for teachers

If you learned quickly, you might skip steps without realizing it.

Example: You tell a beginner, "Just relax your shoulders and let your hand drop." You mean well, but they do not know what "relaxed" feels like yet. They need a concrete task, like "Shake out your hands for five seconds, then place finger 2 on the key and keep the wrist level." A good player often speaks in results. A good teacher speaks in actions.

Skills that make someone a good teacher

Good teaching looks less like showing and more like noticing.

• Diagnosis. You can spot the real issue fast.
  • When a student keeps missing notes, you check whether the problem is reading, hand position, rhythm, or attention.
  • When a wind student squeaks, you check air, embouchure, and finger coordination instead of saying, "Try again."
• Sequencing. You can break a skill into teachable steps.
  • If a student cannot play staccato, you might start with clapping short sounds, then one note, then a two-note pattern, then apply it to the piece.
• Communication that matches the student. You change your language based on age and personality.
  • A 7-year-old might need a story and a physical cue.
  • A teen might want a clear reason and a measurable goal.
  • An adult might want options and autonomy.
• Emotional regulation. You stay calm when lessons go sideways.
  • A student melts down, a parent pushes back, a string breaks, Zoom freezes, your next student is already at the door.
• Feedback that builds independence. You help students learn to listen and adjust on their own.

This will not work for everyone, but a simple test helps: if the student gets better only when you are talking, you are doing too much. If they can fix things after one prompt, your teaching is building real skill.

Where great players often get stuck when teaching

These are common traps, especially early on.

Teaching by demonstration only

Demonstration matters, but it is not instruction by itself.

Example: You play a phrase beautifully and say, "Like that." The student tries, but they do not know what to copy. Was it the rhythm? The tone? The articulation? The dynamic shape?

Try this instead:

• Demonstrate once.
• Name one target, like "lighter articulation" or "even eighth notes."
• Give one physical or musical action, like "tap your toe on beats 1 and 3" or "use less finger height."

Giving too many corrections at once

A good player can hold five goals in their head. A beginner cannot.

If a student plays with wrong notes, uneven rhythm, and tense shoulders, pick one priority.

• If the rhythm is unstable, fix pulse first.
• If the notes are wrong because of reading, simplify the reading task.
• If tension blocks everything, do a 30-second reset.

Assuming practice skills

Many students do not know what practice means.

If you charge $60/hour, you might feel pressure to "cover a lot" in the lesson. Ironically, the best use of that hour often includes teaching practice itself.

A quick structure that helps:

• 2 minutes: choose one goal for the week
• 6 minutes: show a practice method on a tiny section
• 5 minutes: student repeats the method while you watch
• 2 minutes: write down the steps in plain language

What overlaps (and how to turn playing skills into teaching tools)

You do not have to throw out your performer instincts. You just need to translate them.

Ear training becomes diagnostic listening

Players listen for beauty and accuracy. Teachers listen for causes.

Example: A student rushes every time the melody goes up. As a player, you might think, "They are nervous." As a teacher, you test:

• Can they clap the rhythm with a metronome?
• Can they sing the line on a neutral syllable?
• Can they play only the bass line or only the rhythm on one pitch?

Your practice habits become teachable routines

Students need simple routines they can repeat.

Try a three-step practice recipe you can use across instruments:

1. Set the loop: choose 1 to 2 measures.
2. Choose the focus: rhythm, notes, tone, articulation, or coordination.
3. Measure it: three perfect reps, then move on.

If your student is young, make it visual. Draw three boxes and have them check each one.

Your performance experience becomes coaching

A good teacher can help students handle nerves, mistakes, and recovery.

If a teen freezes in a recital run-through:

• Practice "keep going" drills. You purposely insert a small mistake and they must continue.
• Teach a recovery plan: breathe, find the next landmark, re-enter.
• Keep the goal realistic: "One clean page" beats "perfect performance" most days.

Practical takeaway: what to try this week

Pick one student who regularly feels "hard to teach," then try these three moves.

1. Write the problem in one sentence.

   • Example: "They lose the beat when the rhythm changes." or "They cannot remember fingerings past measure 8."

2. Teach one step smaller than you think you need.

   • If they cannot play the line, do rhythm only.
   • If rhythm only fails, clap and count.
   • If counting fails, step the beat while speaking counts.

3. End the lesson with a practice script. Keep it short enough that they will actually do it.

   • "Loop measures 5 to 6. Clap rhythm with counts 3 times. Play on one note 3 times. Then play with notes slowly 3 times. Stop."

If you do this for a week, you will feel the shift. Your students will still have off days, because they are human. You will also start seeing teaching as its own craft, separate from your playing, and that makes the hard lessons feel a lot more workable.