Students at Kilgore College provide Piano lessons to budding students.
Kilgore College first offered piano lessons to employees and recently branched out to the public. Sandra Siler, head of the college piano division, loves not just teaching but seeing the musical development of those she’s taught.
“A lot of times our piano performance majors have never really taught a piano lesson. Many times they don’t get to do that until their senior year,” Siler said. “I thought ‘They need to get in on the ground level.’ ”
She also said that, “The thing with adults is they’re easily discouraged. They don’t realize kids take piano lessons for four or five years to sound that good. Slow and steady; don’t get in a hurry.” “They think they’re supposed to play like the church pianist after three weeks of lessons and it’s not going to happen.”
The response from those wanting to sign up has been strong. Siler, who was recently nominated as a Piper Professor, advises her students to have time for their own piano practice. “After we opened it up to the community, we have kids from Kilgore, Longview and Gilmer. We have some openings, but I really just allow the students to teach piano two days a week, so they have plenty of time to practice,” Siler said. “These students that are teaching practice three hours a day.”
Just as a teaching hospital helps train pre-med students, so does giving these piano lessons help the future teachers, according to Siler. “They’re preparatory. These kids have to submit their lesson plans to me to sign off on. There’s no chance of the students getting tired or lazy since they’re being graded on this.” Siler said she enjoys watching the young teachers grow and learn as they share their knowledge of music. “There’s no greater joy than seeing your student succeed,” Siler said. “I just love watching them teach. It’s rewarding seeing them be so innovative and creative.”
Related Articles
Students who are teaching include: Longview residents Radiance Williams, Brittany Crowe; and Hannah McCauley and Housi Wong of China. “We have four on the floor now. We’ll have six in the spring (semester),” Siler said. “I’ll add two guys after Christmas.”
In some cases, the students are inspiring their piano teachers. “I love to see the camaraderie between my students and their students. I saw one of the girls outside dancing around with a student like butterflies to signify the movement of a piece of music,” Siler said. Another had her student doing a hands-on craft project. “These kids are so full of excitement. They inspire me to incorporate some of these ideas into my own teaching.”
One of those taking piano lessons, 7-year-old Olivia Blundell, has set a high bar for her future musical endeavors, since she admires country music star Taylor Swift. “She wanted to know when her first concert is. We told her she’d need a few more lessons. She went to Bossier City to see Taylor Swift in concert, so I’m thinking that’s what she had in mind,” Siler said with a laugh. “I don’t think Olivia will have any problem getting in front of an audience.”
The ages of the students range from 6 to 80 years old. “We have 20 total – all ages,” Siler said. “I think we can take 30 or possibly more in the spring.” She hopes the current crop will use this as a springboard for years of musical instruction and enjoyment.
“Charles Fricks, one of our computer instructors at KC, started from scratch. He just wanted to take piano so he came over during his lunch hour,” she said. “He’s become a really nice pianist after 15 years of piano lessons. He started lessons with me and now he takes our keyboard class.”
That type of success story could inspire others to give the lessons a shot by setting goals. “Every May we have a piano concerto concert with a 50-piece orchestra. We hope one day some of these taking lessons now will get to play with the orchestra,” Siler said.
