First Do No Harm

You are probably familiar with the Hippocratic Oath, the one that medical doctors take, which says "first do no harm." I also believe in this oath and take it very seriously when it comes to teaching the piano.

I will talk about two kinds of harm: physical and psychological.

Physical Harm

Pianists are prone to all sorts of injuries and chronic issues with their hands, wrists and arms -- IF they don't have proper technique. You can be an advanced player but still have pain if you haven't learned how to use your body ergonomically. The most common problems are tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome.
The first thing I cover at the lesson with a new student is how they sit at the piano. Sitting too low causes the wrists to sink below the hands, and puts a lot of strain on the wrist, which is a delicate joint. This can lead to carpal tunnel. Even when you type on a computer keyboard it is recommended you have a pad beneath your wrists so they can't sink. At the piano it is much more critical. You must sit high enough that there is a gentle downward slope from your upper arm to your hand. Sitting too high has different issues, but I find invariably people sit too low, not too high. If your piano came with a standard bench, it may not be the right height for you. Generally the benches are too low for people who are short, and they are absolutely too low for most children. Although I don't teach children anymore, I often am shown videos of kids playing at a recital, for example, and am always appalled at how they are sitting. Sometimes they are so low that there hands are reaching up almost to shoulder-level to get to the keys. Any teacher who allows this to happen, whether at the lesson, at home, or at a recital, is derelict in their duties.
Not only is sitting too low a potential source of injury, it also makes having great technique almost impossible. I say "almost" because there are a few cases of famous pianists who sat extremely low and still had big technique. But this is rare. (And for all we know, they may have had pain but they didn't like to talk about that.) You need the power of your upper arm for any kind of forte (loud) and powerful playing. (You also need it for extremely delicate playing, but it may not appear that way to the novice.) The power of the upper arm is "cut off" if the wrist is below the hand.

Another way that physical harm is done is too much repetition, usually of "exercises." These are often done in a way which emphasizes the small muscles, which can fatigue easily. Pushing through the pain is "supposed" to be the way you get better at it, but it is just a road to problems such as tendinitis, or even dystonia, which can be quite paralyzing. It is not the repetition itself, but the manner in which these exercises are taught which is wrong. Doing them even a little is not good, but doing them a lot is positively harmful. (See my earlier posts on exercises.)

Psychological Harm

Over my many years of teaching I have heard a great deal of what I call "piano horror stories." (I may put them all in a book one day!) That refers to the early years of piano lessons which, people tell me, were negative experiences and almost destroyed their love of the piano. Often, they hated the lessons and begged their parents to let them quit. Teachers would chalk it up to the child "not having enough talent" or "not willing to work hard enough." In fact, it was their psychologically damaging teaching methods that was the cause.
Too much emphasis on dull exercises and repetition (see above), focusing on "wrong notes," and insistence on playing the music the student does not like are just a few of the ways in which teachers harm their students. (See previous posts on these subjects.) They often forget about the "fun." Everyone wants it to be fun!! If the teacher is unable to make it fun, that teacher needs to find another profession. Fun is my top priority, even for the so-called "serious" student. Years after they leave lessons with me, I want them to have only the happiest memories of their time at the piano.