Rose Weichert: A Teacher at Heart

For Rose Weichert, piano lessons have always been more than learning to play the piano.

As she reflected on her 61-year teaching career, it became clear that every lesson has also been about developing confidence, discipline, responsibility and poise, life skills that extend far beyond the keyboard.

At the end of the interview, Rose summed it up simply. “I’m not a performer,” she said. “I’m a teacher.”

In The Beginning

Rose’s lifelong journey in music began because of her mother, who had a practical goal for her children.

“My mother wanted church musicians,” Rose explained.

The family lived west of Dorchester, and each week her mother used money she earned from selling eggs to take the children to Waukon for piano lessons.

At home, the family first had a spinet organ at home before eventually purchasing a piano.

“I don’t recommend learning piano on a spinet organ because you don’t really learn proper piano technique,” she said. “But that is what they had, so that is what we used.”

She went on to earn a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Viterbo College in La Crosse, Wisconsin. After graduation, she taught classroom and vocal music at Sparta Junior High School for two years.

She married and moved to Caledonia, where she continued teaching private piano lessons, a career she began during her sophomore year of college.

Sixty-one years later, she is still teaching and does not plan to quit teaching unless her health fails her.

One of the reasons she continues teaching is to help prepare the next generation of church musicians.

Rose served as pianist at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Caledonia for 54 years, while her husband Paul served as cantor for 47 years, before retiring in 2023.

Teaching Life Skills

Today Rose teaches nine students, but during most of her career she taught between 50 and 60 students each week. She estimates she taught around 600 students from Caledonia, Brownsville, Houston, Spring Grove and Eitzen.

At first, classes were 30 minutes long, but she later changed them to 45-minute classes, stating that it was a good decision.

The location of her home in the center of Caledonia has always been a bonus. “Students can walk here,” she said.

She credits Carolyn Tornstrom, with welcoming her into the local music community.

Tornstrom encouraged her to become involved in professional organizations such as the Minnesota Music Teachers Association (MMTA) and the National Guild of Piano Teachers, which hold contests and auditions. She eventually passed along the leadership for the National Guild of Piano Teachers, La Crosse center, to Rose, a position Rose has held for about 20 years.

Each year, students audition for the Guild in La Crosse. The students prepare and memorize 10 pieces to perform before a judge who offers written critiques.

“It’s a challenge,” Rose said. “But it’s the goal, the carrot hanging out there, to keep students working because it’s always at the end of the school year.  It’s extra work, but I don’t think I would want to teach without it. Students need goals. You can’t just wander around in the dark.”

What do you do to motivate students? One of the things is they get their picture in a national magazine, after performing 10 pieces each year for five years, known as the Five-Year National.

“I tell them, “How many people go through life and never have their picture in a national magazine?”

In addition to a recital at the end of the year, students also perform twice at a local nursing home, play Christmas carols in December, and present repertoire selections in January.

Before every performance, students introduce themselves to the audience. She also teaches them how to stand, how to present themselves, and how to make a good first impression.

“It is what they see as well as what they hear,” she said. “Because we’re all affected by what we see.”

Those lessons came from her own experience performing with a musical group at Viterbo, where she learned that presentation is part of performance.

The impact of those life lessons extends well beyond music. One former student even asked Rose to write a letter of recommendation for admission to a veterinary school.

A Lasting Impression

Of course, the interview wouldn’t have been complete without photographing Rose seated at her beautiful 7-foot Kawai grand piano, the centerpiece of her music room.

As her fingers glided across the keys, the instrument came alive.

The rich, warm sound filled the room with remarkable depth while remaining graceful and inviting. It was the kind of music that seemed to resonate not only through the room but within the listener as well.

It was a privilege to hear her play in such an intimate setting.

After spending time with Rose Weichert, one thing became abundantly clear, while she has spent a lifetime teaching piano, her greatest accomplishment has been teaching people.