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Can music teachers ever touch students?

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In England, the Education Secretary has pushed back against a training video created by the musicians’ union which advises music teachers never to physically touch students, even to reposition their fingers on their instruments:

“It plays to a culture of fear among both adults and children, reinforcing the message that any adult who touches a child is somehow guilty of inappropriate contact,” he said.

“If we play to the assumption that any physical contact is somehow suspect then we will make children more suspicious of adults and adults more nervous and confused about their role in our society.

Lenore Skenazy, whose blog Free-Range Kids calls out societal paranoia over children’s safety, gave the video a Golden Helicopter Award, named after the so-called “helicopter parents” who hover over their children’s every move.

This is a particularly thorny issue for voice teachers, since the parts of the body involved in singing aren’t the fingers but include the chest and abdomen. Some voice teachers have vowed to avoid physical contact with students; others, like my wife, insist on having a door open during lessons to avoid the risk of false accusations.


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Comments

  1. I teach piano, and I’ve found it especially important to be aware of these boundaries with new students.  When you’ve taken piano for a number of years you are used to someone touching your hands to remind you of hand position, etc., but new students can be taken aback by this.  I try to explain things as much as I can first, and if they don’t get it, I ask if I can touch their hand.  I think a good guideline is to use the minimum amount of touch necessary for proper instruction.  Of course a handshake, high five, or the occasional hug offered by the student is totally appropriate–I teach in a large sanctuary with parents in the lobby next door (and there are windows in the doors if they want to watch), so I’m not too concerned about this.  I know that these days you can’t be too careful about things like this, but I also think that if you focus on creating positive, comfortable relationships with students AND WITH THEIR PARENTS, you can minimize the risks.

  2. This issue is partly behind my book Making More Sense of How to Sing, with solutions such as recommended by others here (their own hand on themselves and a teacher’s hand on top of their hand, asking permission before using a necessary hands-on technique, etc.), plus other kinesthetic ways for singers to personally sense the quality of singing efforts and for teachers to perceive what they are doing. A close associate told me recently she went to auditioning for choir in pairs and doing group lessons to avoid problems. Colleagues have lost jobs over this in my experience, and it took only one misunderstanding or accusation, so I take it seriously and have been careful for decades. This is also why I included suggestions in my book. We don’t need to be paranoid, just some smart adjustments of procedure.

  3. Allen:  It’s a little hard to sort out who is on which side here, but I would bet that the musicians’ union training video was either written by or scripted in accordance with their lawyers’ paranoid fear of being sued!  Or maybe even as a RESULT of having been sued.
     
    It’s really a non-issue–or more accurately it’s a POSSIBLE source of either misunderstanding or improper conduct.  But it’s an issue that medical personnel have had to deal with for years, and have developed their own protocols to avoid misinterpretation, starting with, as you note, leaving a door open or having a nurse present during an examination.  Some things can not be properly taught or demonstrated except hands-on, as any competent string teacher or voice teacher knows perfectly well. 
     
    We’ve been pretty lucky (so far!) at this school, in not having had the worst of the helicopter parents, although I have run into a few.  But is that really any worse than the old days, when state universities were built in far-off, rural communities, the teenagers were shipped off and left on their own to survive and grow up, and came back home strangers to their families?
     
    All the best,
    John

  4. As a voice teacher of individuals, I’ve addressed this by doing the following:
    • Having the students place their own hands on the areas involved whenever possible
    • Using devices like “breath belts” to provide the kinesthetic awareness (rather than my hands against their lower ribs, for example)
    • Getting permission to touch them should I find it absolutely necessary (I usually only ask to hold onto their forearm to do a whole body engagement exercise)
    That said, I’m for human contact in the general school setting, and will often high five, pat on the back, or fist-bump. In addition, I will never shy away from a congratulatory/thank you hug or handshake after a performance … unless I’m alone with a student.
     
    Love Free-Range Kids, btw!

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