How to dump a piano teacher (no kidding)
jere...@yahoo.com
Basically, I've been with my piano teacher for quite a while (~6 years),
and after reading this newsgroup, I'm not terribly satisfied with the
instruction I'm getting. Well really, I don't get much instruction on
technique, more on aesthetics that I think I could work on myself. But, I am
also one of her most advanced students, and have less than two years left in
the area (college...). Can anyone give me some advice?
Thanks,
Jeremy
LaVirtuosa
(Technique you get on your own.)
Valerie
ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
news:v4gr6.27017$zV3.1...@news1.frmt1.sfba.home.com...
I wish I could find a teacher who would just let me come once every two
months. I'm pretty self-disciplined, but there are some weeks my job
doesn't allow me much room to practice.
Anyway, tell her some guy named Paderewski has taken you under his wing.
I go through music teachers like Murphy Brown did secretaries. Just be
brave and say you need a different teacher to provide a different
perspective on your playing. If you can't do that, just don't show up
anymore...
ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
Radu Focshaner
>
> Hi,
> Basically, I've been with my piano teacher for quite a while (~6 years),
> and after reading this newsgroup, I'm not terribly satisfied with the
> instruction I'm getting.
Hey, Jeremiah, we are not real, we are virtual internet experts. If you
would say "After hearing the contributors to RMMP playing the piano, I'm
not terribly satisfied with the instruction I'm getting" it would be
another matter. But you did not hear anyone of us playing (except that
Carl Tait actually participated in contests and one could see him in
bones and flesh).
>Well really, I don't get much instruction on technique,
> more on aesthetics that I think I could work on myself.
Free advice (which of course is worth what you pay for it) : talk to
your teacher, ask for more technique . After 6 years you are supposed to
be able to walk into a music shop and buy for yourself the books which
might interest you or you think could be a good study material. A
teacher has to give you the ability of discerning music and the
knowledge how to work , by your self, on new pieces (you know, the
saying about not getting fish but learning how to fish the fish).
Although the internet is a great pool of information, do not depend on
it. Open your eyes and consult with real people.
Radu
========================================
I really have no life...
I go around reading posts and,without having any original thought,
or adding anything to the subject,simply make short simpleminded
remarQs.
Carl Tait
Be sure to talk things through openly with your teacher. It may be that
she doesn't realize you want more technical advice, especially since you're
already "one of her most advanced students." If you've asked for technical
help and haven't gotten it (or have received only vague, unhelpful replies),
then changing teachers may well be the right decision for you.
The question is whether you'll be able to find someone else who will give
you the assistance you want. Your current teacher may be able to help you
with this, based on her level of open-mindedness: a number of teachers who
offer excellent artistic advice will freely admit they aren't experts at
fixing technical problems, and will be able to recommend someone who is.
Especially with a teacher you've studied with for this long, think carefully
about your decision to switch. Of course you should be working with someone
you feel is helping you, but if you and your current teacher have had good
personal rapport, realize that your decision may shock and disappoint her.
If you'll have to switch to another teacher in your college, you might want
to quietly and privately talk to -- and play for --one or more of them in
advance so you'll know what you're getting into.
This is an awkward but relatively common situation. Good luck!
--
Carl Tait
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Hawthorne, NY 10532
ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
news:e4dsat0jf1qrepdb4...@4ax.com...
> "ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen" <odrif...@removethistomail.yahoo.com> said:
>
> > I go through music teachers like Murphy Brown did secretaries. Just be
> > brave and say you need a different teacher to provide a different
> > perspective on your playing. If you can't do that, just don't show up
> > anymore...
> >
> > ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
>
Hey, I'm a total flake. Feel free to pass judgment.
ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
news:e4dsat0jf1qrepdb4...@4ax.com...
> "ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen" <odrif...@removethistomail.yahoo.com> said:
>
> > brave and say you need a different teacher to provide a different
> > perspective on your playing. If you can't do that, just don't show up
> > anymore...
> >
> > ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen
>
I've been doing some more thinking about this. The teachers I quickly
dismiss are the garden variety $30 an hour teachers. They don't do much
more than tell me what passages to work on in a given piece, and what scales
and etudes to work on. I don't need a teacher for that.
The kind of teachers I like are the kind that are hard to get, and harder to
keep. They charge more, but they tour the world with various orchestras,
symphonies, and ensembles. They lend real insight into your overall
playing, and possess other intangibles that are hard to come by. My
brothers pay $100 an hour for golf lessons. I'd rather be a good piano
player than a good golf player (I average 120 playing from the middle
tees -- I'm awful). If I could find a really good piano teacher, I'd pay
'em a ton.
Wintergreen
Cc88m
>and after reading this newsgroup, I'm not terribly satisfied with the
>instruction I'm getting.
You have hit on a very important point. Getting musical evaluation should be a
given, and usually is. However, technical instruction is something else.
There are very bad teachers and very good ones, the latter are few in number;
where they differ most is in the technical instruction. We are taught to
respect our teachers, but your piano career comes first. In a sense, teachers
are your servants, not your bosses; you pay them for a service. Look around and
test new teachers; see how they teach differently by getting sample lessons of
the same pieces that your old teacher is teaching you.
If you must tell your old teacher that you are changing, you can simply tell
her that after such a long time, you have learned most of what she can teach
you, so you would like to try new teachers to see if you can learn something
different. Many advanced students have several teachers. You don't have to give
her up cold turkey, you can ease the transition, and she will gradually
understand that what you are doing is benefiting you. The difficulty is not
giving up the old teacher, but finding a better one. Don't worry -- when you
find a good one, you will KNOW.
C. C. Chang
Rider
she has taught you all she can. She could be thinking "How do I dump this
student?(no kidding)" (Just kidding).
There is NO way to know without talking about it--let her know that you feel
that for whatever reason you're not progressing as well as you'd like. Let
her know you'd like to take a break and think about your future. (You
could, in fact, take a 3 month or 6 month break and change your mind about
her as a teacher). Or you could just use the old break-up line "It's not
you, it's ME!!"
Good luck.
Deepak Subburam
> saying about not getting fish but learning how to fish the fish).
You make a man a fire, you keep him warm for the night.
You set a man on fire, he'll be more than warm for the rest of his life.
Heard this recently and couldn't resist....
:)
Deepak
David McKay
Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
David McKay
Jamrmom
unheard of for a student to "outgrow" a teacher. It is also nice to take
lessons from someone with a different perspective.
Fredisg
Irwin Goldberg....pianist, conductor.
Tom Shaw
TS
"Fredisg" <fre...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010327132545...@ng-fc1.aol.com...
Fredisg
>not
I think that many piano teachers don't know when it is time to tell their
students that it is time to move on. There are not many teachers who have the
knowledge to know that they are not doing a student any good any more.
Irwin Goldberg....pianist, conductor.
Richard Galassini
>Irwin Goldberg....pianist, conductor.
Irwin,
Thats easy - " I am concerned that you have developed beyond my skills and I
think it is best for you (and me) that you move on to another teacher."
how's that?
Richard Galassini
Cunningham Piano Co
Phila,. Pa.
1 (800) 394-1117
URL:http://www.hometown.aol.com/voce88/cunn.html
Larry
>think it is best for you (and me) that you move on to another teacher."
>
>how's that?
>
>Richard Galassini
How about this: "Get your butt out of here. I've got better things to do than
waste my time trying to educate a no talent like you....."
Oh........I take that back. You guys said "dump" a student. I thought you said
"jump" a student...........never mind.
(Now where did I put that sack of smiley thingies......
oh..... here they are.....)
:-)
Larry Fletcher
Pianos Inc
Atlanta GA
Dealer/technician
Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe
Http://www.pianosinc.net
Nazodesu
You're wasting my time, I'm wasting your money. No one should have the
same teacher for more than 2 years.
--
The storm starts when the drops start dropping. When the drops stop dropping
the storm starts stopping.
Wahooka
nonsense about needing to practice, what scales to play, what
fingerings to use, etc... Its the teachers who can zero in on your
exact weakness as a pianist and figure out what advice will help you
the most. Sometimes its technique, sometimes its feeling, sometimes
its a slight adjustment in one of your hands. Playing the piano is
very subtle. Unfortunately, few teachers can really get at the heart
of what a student needs to improve. Its very rare.
wahooka
Wahooka
Why the hell would you dump a student? Isnt your entire goal to make
money off your students?
Wahooka
On 28 Mar 2001 01:14:35 GMT, voc...@aol.comspammie (Richard Galassini)
wrote:
Wahooka
Wahooka
teacher is holding him back, she/he probably is. If he is the most
advanced student, that is also a bad sign. That means that nobody in
the studio pushes this teacher beyond the limits that he is now under.
The teacher may simply not know how to get this dude to the next
level. There is no proof that she is able to get a student to that
level. In order to reach the highest level of musical ability, you
have to conquer all sorts of technical problems in a very conscious
way. If this isnt ever going to happen with your current teacher, you
better leave fast!
Sure, you cant take advice from the internet too seriously, but you
must do what it is your heart. Staying in a piano/teacher
relationship just to honor the 6 years you have had is wrong. Leaving
may be the best thing you can do for yourself. Its like any
relationship, you hve to do what you feel is best, and you cant stay
married just for the sake of the kids, or in this case, the keys...
HAHA
Wahooka
>And she likely takes some sense of personal pride in this fact aka your
>accomplishments. {Do not expect her to voice this feeling to you; I did
>say it is one of <her> personal pride.}
>Not knowing anything other than what you have written, to dump would be
>sad; and a loss by .two. individuals! And over what? Simply some "stuff"
>written by total strangers, who may or may not know whereof they write;
>and who most certainly do not know you nor your growth situation.
>Reconsider, Jeremy ...
Wahooka
it clear you would keep her as a friend and still play for her from
time to time. I dont think ending the entire relationship permanently
would make sense either. If she cares about you as a student, she
will want you to play for her occasionally.
WAhooka
Wahooka
earning...
Larry
You came in on the tail end of a running joke.
Joan Craft
any teacher out there had the experience of having a student move on to a new
teacher, and later heard them play, and noticed some technical problems and sloppy
habits that developed after they left you? When you have worked hard to help
students develop a solid foundation, and taken them through those difficult first
years, you just hope you've instilled something that will last! Oh well!