4 Generations of Piano Teachers presently Teaching in India today

Let me begin with a Disclaimer that by no means what I'm about write is to be considered as historically verified facts.

Mostly what I write about are personal reflections that I have gathered over the years of interacting with the Piano Teaching Community here in India.

To give you perspective, I have been working as a Piano Teacher and with the Piano Education Industry in India for 17 years now, and have interacted with Teachers across different Generations.

So here are the 4 Generations of Piano teachers that are actively teaching in India today.

The 1st Generation of Teachers

When I first began in this field in the mid-2000s', the prominent set of Piano Teachers were all over 60 years of age, and for most part they belonged to communities such as the Christians, Parsis and Bengalis. These Teachers were often educated in important British towns of pre-partition India, in the mid-1900's, and were taught by Westerners who lived in India then. One hears of stories of strict Irish Nuns, or the extremely disciplined Russian Concert Pianists, or the British professors who lived and taught the Princes and Princesses in Royal Courts. These teachers often did very Advanced Diplomas under the British Music Exam Systems.

Today, these teachers are still highly respected and to a fair amount command fear among their pupils. They are strict disciplinarians and expect very high standards of Technique, Reading and Piano Literature from their pupils.

They have taught many generations of pupils from the 1950's onward. As of today, while some of them are still actively teaching, they have begun to cut down the number of students they teach.

These teachers were often home-makers and weren't necessarily full-time teachers. They taught from their living rooms, and students were treated like extended family to theem. upil often went to a Teacher's home to learn. These teachers typically taught from the method books that they learnt from, and students weren't necessarily encouraged to improvise, compose, arrange or play popular music. These teachers often preferred teaching 'by the book' with extreme attention to detail. Popular music was frowned down upon, and teachers in general were Purists. Of course there are exceptions, but generally Western Piano Teaching was very exacting.

These teachers were often home-makers and weren't necessarily full-time teachers. They taught from their Drawing rooms, and students were treated like extended family.

These teachers sort set the foundations for 21st Century Piano Teaching in India

The 2nd Generation of Teachers

This was only a handful of teachers. They are typically between ages of 40 to 55. I think very few from this generation took up Piano Teaching as a profession perhaps because this was the generation that was born in free-India, and piano teaching was not a feasible career option.

The few that did take to Teaching, were highly educated. Quite a few of them did their Bachelors in Music from International Universities and Conservatories, and few of them were Professionally trained Concert Pianists.

These teachers brought with them a certain kind of 'Professionalism' due to their international exposure. They often run their Music Studios and teach full-time, they also employ a few Assistant Teachers who are typically their Senior Students. While they do send up students for UK Based Piano Exams, they don't necessarily send a student for every Grade, instead, they would work on a variety of Repertoire with their students, and would send a student for an exam every 2-3 years, typically a Grade 1, Grade 5 and and Grade 8 (spending a lot of time in between working on developing skills)

They explore a huge variety of music with their students, and are open to newer styles and sounds. They encourage their students to learn Jazz or get into Music Production, etc; even if they themselves don't teach or know those subjects.

These teachers also encourage their students to attend Master Classes with visiting Concert Artists. Many of their students also go abroad to pursue Degrees in Music

The 3rd Generation of Teachers

This group constitutes the majority of the Piano Teaching population today.

These Teachers often were educated in other fields such as Engineers, Lawyers, Medicine, MBA, etc, but chose to become Professional Music Educators.

They would have grown up in 90's and 2000's and were a generation that lived in both pre-and-post-Internet world. So while in the 90's they might have studied music with either the 1st or 2nd Gen Teachers above, in the mid-2000's, Youtube and the Internet were taking off and these musicians would have suddenly had access to a huge range of music that was till now not accessible to earlier generations.

They would have eclectic learning experiences, and hence would also be quite experimental in their teaching styles.

They themselves continually keep exploring and developing their musical journey. Music Schools also started to become common post 2010 .These teachers often teach from Music Schools and comfortably teach in newer formats of teaching, such as Group Teaching, Online Teaching, etc.

Due to the presence of Music Schools, these teachers taught a lot more students than teachers of prior generations. They also send up many students for Music Exams, thereby formalizing and creating a large number of certified students.

This generation of teachers have brought Piano Education to the masses.

A lot more students than ever before are learning the Piano in India thanks to this Generation of Teachers.

4th Generation of Teachers

Several Colleges of Music were opened in India from the late 2000's onward, Graduates of programs from these Institutes have now entered the field of teaching.

They are the first home grown set of Music Educators with Degrees in Music.

Compared to the Generation above, they have formal exposure to Western Classical music and have peer groups of Musicians in a way that was never before seen earlier in India.

How this generation of educators will impact the market of learners only time will tell, but the choices available to learners today is so wide.

Today there are teachers that specifically work only with Advanced Students who only work on Pre-School Music, or who only send students for Exams or who work only on Contemporary Styles of Music, or who only teach Classical Music, or who only teach Hobby-ists, or who only teach Serious Students. It

I can see that the Piano Teacher and Piano Students in India will continue to evolve and develop in a way never seen before.

It is a good time and yet challenging time to be a Piano Teacher in India