Are you satisfied with your current teacher?

[nyonyo]

Hi all,

Are you satisfied with your current teacher? Do you think you get what you paid?
I pay $80 per hour (I found out he is kind of expensive, many other teachers at his level charge only $60). This is the most that I have ever paid for a piano lesson. But I really think it is worth every penny. I had teachers whom charged me $20 or $25 per hour, I really felt that I wasted my time and energy. Eventhough, I paid 4 times what I used to pay, but I learn a lot and he is able to take care of my problems pertaining to piano playing.

How is yours? Do you want to stay with your current teacher or you want to get rid of him or her?

[pianistimo]

i took lessons thru west chester mostly and felt the same as you.  that it was challenging and fun.  also, access to the library.  my teacher happened to be extremely caring and giving.  actually, all the teachers i've had have been that way.  i think it's a matter of having extreme passion and love for music and excellence in performance.  if only i had a better memory now.  part of the problem is that lately there have been a lot of family stuff (like this week - the youngest was sick for a week).  i was planning to work on the bach toccatta and fugue in d minor  - just for fun and to scare neighborhood kids when they come around on halloween.  i have a hammond organ in the music room and i planned to just sort of blast it out for an hour or two.  i've decided to forget the busoni arrangement (which doubles the octaves on that fast triplet section) and play the original.

if only i was still taking lessons.  i have so many questions every day.  never worked any szymanowski before and now i am interested to find out about this music and how to finger and interpret it.  some of these things take much longer (if ever) to learn on one's own.  alas, i have no money for lessons right now.  but, if i did - i'd rather take lessons than anything else and also from the same teacher.

[knabe31]

Yes, I am delighted with my current teacher. Have been with her for a little over a year and have learned more in that time with her than any of my other teachers combined over the years. Lessons cost $36/hr. which is actually high for the area that I live in. She has such a great way of breaking everything down to its components and then we reassemble everything together. I feel that when I practice I am really learning the music. She makes me memorize everything that I have learned. Which is a real accomplishment for my old brain.   

[amelialw]

Yes, I am extremely satisfied with my current teacher. Lessons are $55 canadian per hr. which is alot because I spend more then $100 on lessons every week. I think my teacher is worth every penny as well.

She has helped me achieve so much in the past 3 and a half years. From being a total wreck to being able to achieve perfection, to be able to compete and perform. A 100% different from what it used to be like for me.

I want to stay with her as long as she can go on teaching 

[Mayla]

Right now I do not formally have a teacher and I haven't had one for a few years.  For the most part I could say I am "satisfied" with what I am doing as I have never stopped studying music in general, but lately I feel that something is missing from my learning and development process.  What form I find the answers to that particular thing, I don't know, but I know there are/will be answers for me that are actually fulfilling.

There are a few people with whom I discuss musical matters on a regular and/or semi-regular basis, and that is often very stimulating.  Most of my learning currently takes place from these types of discussions, from reading various people's writings and some individual's more consistently than other's, and from my own practice, thinking/experimenting, listening, teaching, and performing. 

On some level I feel I could always be learning more.

[leonidas]

A sponge in a desert holds more water than a rock in a river.

[schubertiad]

"Without inner peace, it is impossible to have world peace"
The Dalai Lama
Let's keep those philosophical quotations coming... or have Op.10 and I misunderstood the topic? 

[pianochick93]

I am very satisfied with my current teacher. I can play well technically, so she still concentrates on that, but mostly she concrates on interpretaion and playing with feeling. I pay about $17.50 per 3/4 of an hour, which is the best in the area. Most teachers charge $21 per half hour.

I also find her knowledge of not just theory, but history and other things musical, very useful. I like to know as much as possible of things that I am not necessarily required to learn for exams or the level that I play at. She doesn't think that I shouldn't have that knowledge, like some teachers I know do, so she tells me. I sometimes spend most of the lesson just talking about some of the stuff she has been learning at the con. and she teaches me as she goes.

[jepoy]

I'm satisfied with my teacher. I initially thought he was expensive but I discovered later that he was actually charging his rich students more than what he's charging me. Also, another nice thing about him is that he's very good with adult learners such as myself and knows the kinds of pieces that would appeal to me.

The only complaint I have with him is that sometimes  he gets over excited and assigns me tons of pieces although I would prefer just learning a handful that I can really play very well. It also drives me crazy when he changes the interpretation on a whim. I remember he assigned me a piece for a recital and in every lesson we had, he wanted me to play it a certain way. One time, he didn't like the way I played it although that was exactly what he wanted the previous lesson. I decided a day before the recital that I would play the piece in whatever way I pleased. Then, he thanked me after the recital for following "his" interpretation. 

[nyonyo]

Fortunately, my teacher is pretty consistent. He did not change his interpretation. It will be very difficult to change certain style in such a short time. The only complain is that he has that Russian sense of humor which means he has no humor at all. One time he showed me to certain thing, and I said "I got what you want", then he said  with unpleasant tone "Not, what I want, it is supposed to be like that". In my mind F... yourself, why do you need to be sarcastic like that. At this stage of my life, I am not afraid to say what I think if I feel the teacher is abusive. When I grew up, I had an English teacher who was abusive to most of her students. Till this day, I really want to see her and to tell off. I hope I will have time before she is gone. I still remember where she lives....wait I will see her someday...

With my piano teacher, I like the way he teaches me. I also have more control now, since he just bought a new house so he needs monies to pay the expensive mortgage. So he is rather afraid to not follow what I want. He knows that he can lose $320 per month if I quit....   HEHEHEHEHEHE

[thierry13]

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[zheer]

  Hmmm you pay McDonald 250$ for piano lessons, well if you can afford it.


   My first piano teacher (who was not a pianist) charged £10 an hour,at the time i thought way to expensive.The last piano teacher i had charged £30 per hour,again way to expensive. I gess it explains my general lack of piano skills, .

[opus57]

hmmm... i pay approximately 260 USD per hour (converted from 300 Swiss francs). And this is relatively cheap in Switzerland!

But I love my teacher and we work together very familiar. So we meet sometimes in our free time and produce some stuff together (e.g. compositions and videos) and I'm very satisfied!! And I'd like to express my biggest gratitude to him!!

Greetings

[pianowolfi]

hmmm... i pay approximately 260 USD per hour (converted from 300 Swiss francs). And this is relatively cheap in Switzerland!

But I love my teacher and we work together very familiar. So we meet sometimes in our free time and produce some stuff together (e.g. compositions and videos) and I'm very satisfied!! And I'd like to express my biggest gratitude to him!!

Greetings

Cool, would that possibly be a teacher for me too? But quite expensive, as it seems, though, o my gooooooooood gracious I would have to take a loan

[nocturnelova]

When I first started I wasn't at all satisfied with my teacher but there was a sudden switch at the music center where I get my lessons ($28 AUS per 1/2 an hour). My current teacher is fantastic so much better than my old one because he actually seems interested in piano, my other teacher actually played violin! Piano was her second instrument. His technique is really phenominal! I'm in good hands now heh heh!!

[opus57]

Cool, would that possibly be a teacher for me too? But quite expensive, as it seems, though, o my gooooooooood gracious I would have to take a loan

But I can swear you that it is absolutely worth to pay such an amount of money!!! he is the best teacher I know and he plays the piano absolutely beautiful...

[opus57]

OH damned. I see the problem. These 300 francs were for 3 months... that's why!! But I like him anyway

[waza]

yes i'm very satisfied as well infact i think he pushing my boundaries as i've just started piano lessons and he has giving me shumann the little study, and also fur elise. i can play the piano but when he said to play them especially the middle bit of fur elise i thought no way can i do that and i was stuck until he showed me how to do it with a little paitience you can do it now i can play it and it's great.

he charges £11 half hour but i usually end up in the for a bout 45 mins at no extra charge.