What is a “good” lesson? What is a “bad” lesson? And from whose point of view?

I had a student once who would always ask me at the end of a lesson, “Did I have a good lesson?” I usually humored her and responded with a nod and a smile.

One day, though, I turned the tables and asked her if she thought she had a good lesson. She started to laugh and then suddenly became serious. “How would I know?” she asked. “You’re the teacher.”

My first reaction to that surprised me even more than her question. I was angry that she should be putting all the responsibility for her lessons on me, including even the responsibility of assessing it. Surely, I thought, every student should be considering her own progress during the past week according to the results that showed in her lesson.

Clearly what we had here, to borrow a line from the movie Cool Hand Luke, was a “failure to communicate,” the perfect setup for a bad lesson.

To my mind, a bad lesson isn’t about wrong notes or technical issues. I believe that the only bad lesson is one for which the student has chosen not to practice.

A good lesson isn’t just about how a student plays that day…[it] is a step on the path, sometimes a small step, sometimes a stumble, other times a giant leap forward.

Sometimes a student of any age encounters circumstances that make it hard or even impossible to practice during a given week. That happens to all of us. That doesn’t mean we have to waste the lesson time. We can use it to jumpstart the next week’s practice, or work on technique or sight reading.

But if a student hasn’t practiced because they “didn’t feel like it,” or if lack of practice becomes the norm, the lesson is pointless. If the student doesn’t follow through with practice, any work we do in the lesson is wasted. That’s a bad lesson.

So what makes a good lesson?

In my view, a good lesson is one in which the student and I are fully engaged, working through difficulties, creating strategies for solving problems, striving for the best possible results. We are partners in the task at hand, not counting mistakes or judging a performance. We are working on what needs to be done to get to that next level, whether that’s learning all the notes, getting up to tempo, fixing a technical weakness, or securing or memorization.

The good lesson isn’t about criticizing; it’s about critiquing, analyzing and strategizing, and figuring out what needs to be done next. It’s about the investment of both teacher and student in the step-by-step achievement of a jointly set goal.

That partnership requires good two-way communication in a few key areas.

First, the teacher and student need to have clarity and agreement on their goals, immediate and long term. Immediate goals should include goals for the lesson, the week’s practice, and the next few months of study. Longer term goals are part of the overall path  the student and teacher are pursuing. Discussion of these goals is critical; just assuming that you’ve talked about them can lead to frustration and conflict.

It follows that both teacher and student must be clear about the steps necessary to achieve those goals. I try to never let a student leave a lesson without having discussed and written down the exact things she should be doing in her practice to achieve the results we want. Of course, the level of detail I communicate varies with the experience level of the student, but I have learned not to take for granted that a student knows the best practice strategies to use.

Another benefit of deciding on specific practice strategies is that if the student doesn’t achieve the progress I expected, I can easily figure out if she didn’t follow our plan or if we need a different plan. This saves a lot of time and eliminates blaming and shaming, two things which should never be part of any lesson.

Lastly, there must be communication about expectations. In general, a teacher should be expected to demonstrate a commitment to the student’s goals, work with focus and energy in the lesson, and provide clear assignments that are part of a jointly created overall plan.

A student should be expected to demonstrate her commitment to her goals by working with focus and energy in the lesson, practicing consistently and with intention, and partnering actively with her teacher in their overall plan.

A good lesson isn’t just about how a student plays that day. A good lesson is one that is a step on the path, sometimes a small step, sometimes a stumble, other times a giant leap forward. Communication, especially from teacher to student, that puts that step in its proper perspective can make nearly every lesson a good one.

And sometimes just saying, “Great job this week,” can make all the difference. •