Piano Lesson with Eugene

I have been enjoying giving piano lessons. Not that I doesn't enjoy it in the past, just not as much because I am merely just focusing on teaching the 'skill set' to the student. Of late, I find myself imparting not just music knowledge alone, BUT as much as I can, also life lesson that the student can take back home with them.

In my lesson with Eugene today, I corrected his finger technique. For the longest time, I have reminded him over and over again that the strength of playing the piano should comes from the fingers, and NOT from the whole arm. As I was explaining myself, a 'wise' illustration (in my opinion) came into my mind. Throughout the lesson, Eugene has been 'complaining' that he gets tired doing finger exercises.

Me: 'The reason why your fingers get tired is because you are using the wrong technique. Imagine with me, a tennis player using the wrist to hit the ball??'
Eugene: 'Wooh... That is tiring...'
Me: And I went on, 'Does it ever cross your mind, why does a soccer player don't feel the pain when he heads or kicks the ball'??
Eugene: *Eyes sparkled*
Me: 'Exactly. They use the right technique!!! That's why, their legs or heads will never feel painful, and thus, able to last throughout the game. Same here, if you gets the right technique in your piano playing, your fingers will not grow tired. Moreover, you will have the ability to play faster.' I then did some demo...
Eugene: *Eyes sparkled again*
Me: So, what must you do??'
Eugene: 'Practise' (said it quite reluctantly though, hee...)
Me: 'Yes, and be aware of yourself whenever you practise. Make sure the strength of playing comes from the fingers. In other words, only the fingers are "supposed" to move.'

This to me, is an important lesson which I left off with Eugene today. Apart from getting him to play with the correct technique, the lesson here is also on discipline. It's only with good discipline that he can get his technique right. I'm so glad that he acknowledged that practise is the key for him to set things right. At least for now, he sees the value of playing with the correct technique in order to 'suffer' less... :)