what will your teacher do when you are not well prepared?

[RealPianist]

I want to know what all your teacher will do if you are not well prepared for a lesson?
n how about during if you are going to an exam of competition?
Will they shout, mad, extremely angry?

[alzado]

I have had a few lessons where I have been out of town for several days, thus reducing my practice opportunities.  Usually I just tell the teacher when I walk in, and suggest she not expect too much.

Oddly, it is funny, but some weeks I do not play very well, even though I have practiced quite a lot.  Other lessons where I have practiced no more than any other week, my teacher "passes" me on the pieces I have ready, and may even praise me (rare). 

On one occasion, I thought the lesson went badly.  However, at the end of the lesson my teacher said, "I think you did wonderfully this week."

The reason -- the piece I was playing was very difficult to read from the music -- numerous accidentals, double flats, complex bass chords as many as 4 lines down from the staff, and the like. 

Samuel Johnson once said about a woman preacher, "It is not that she preaches so well, but that she can preach at all."  (He had low expectations from the distaff side, it appears.)

So I guess her point is, not that I played it that well, but that I could play it at all.

[kghayesh]

I must say that my teacher is pretty good and i have benefited a lot from her, although she gets so angry when i do something wrong. It is just coz she expects so much from me, much more than i imagine i can do.

When I do something wrong, she starts by telling me in a serious way. Then, if i didn't get it right, she tells me in a more 'shouty' way and if i didn't get it again she just pushes me off the piano and sit in my place to show me how simple it is... . Sometimes i get pissed off but i must say that this really made me take every single aspect of the music seriously.

[aya_heller]

My teacher used to get mad at me if I wasn't prepared.  He would yell at me, and even throw things! (it was always funny though... but he ended up taking the cover off two of my books >.> 

It doesn't happen very often that I am not prepared.  Well, I go to my lesson thinking that I am so not prepared, even though I've practiced as much as I normally do, but I still sound terrible to myself.  He knows that I am very very busy with work though, and I don't always have time to practice (I do manage to get in 2 hours a day, because it pretty much takes up nearly allll of my spare time).  Before my lesson I always have my excuses ready, about why I don't sound good. I always say that I didn't get to practice as much as I wanted, and tell him to prepare for the worst.  I don't think that he even listens to me anymore.

But yeah, I think there was only one lesson that I was really not prepared for (like really really not prepared for, but that was back when I first started =P) and he gave me this speech that I still remember about not wasting time.

I know if other students aren't prepared he makes them cry.  My sister has left his lessons crying, as have other students, especially if he is feeling grumpy that day XD.  The guy is awesome though <3

[Aziel]

If I was a Teacher: Where's My Mallet!

[Mozartian]

I want to know what all your teacher will do if you are not well prepared for a lesson?
n how about during if you are going to an exam of competition?
Will they shout, mad, extremely angry?

I think that if I wasn't prepared for a lesson I'd probably be more upset with myself than my teacher could ever be with me, heh.

[meli]

I had a really strict teacher before and when I came to class unprepared, she yelled at me for those mistakes or wrong notes, and when she couldn't bear to hear another one, actually stopped me playing and said 'You know, its not good for me AND for you if you do not practice' I felt she was dead serious, a bit of silence ... and then we continued the lesson.  I felt quite bad and ashamed at myself after that lesson, I mean I'm an adult now but still need to be disciplined by a teacher! After that incident, I vowed to at least show her something worthy of her time and mine! However, she's not all that bad, after that incident she would praise me if I played a piece well or even a certain passage executed perfectly.

Now, I have a teacher who is the complete opposite! When I came to her class with a piece unprepared, she didn't yell at me but asked me nicely with a smile if I had no time, I just tell her I felt kind of tired last week after work - really an excuse for not practicing, just blame it on work Alright, I'll just hear it next week. Honestly,  this teacher doesn't seem to care if I don't practice! 

[pianonut]

being a similar question to the 'what should i do in a piano concerto whilst waiting for the orchestra.'  worst case scenario of unprepared lesson:

start playing and teacher:

goes and checks messages on answering machine
excuses himself/herself to use the bathroom
makes a sandwich
goes into the hall closet and talks to girlfriend/boyfriend/next gig
starts cleaning the house (using vaccum)
allows you to play something else without comment
asks you if you feel anything for the piece (at which time it is very bad to give unfeeling comments in the third person - 'she wonders if the composer made a mistake when he wrote the piece')
when student gives list of excuses for why he/she is not prepared - teacher yawns and does stretches and warm-ups - possible time to create vocal overtones -
brings in the dogs/cats - sics them on the student
calls 911 -  other students arrest and hold the student until police arrive.  remains handcuffed - until bail is posted by parents (if underage) - bail is equal to the amount of all the wasted lessons combined and given to the teacher.
worst case:  teacher has a gun, pulls it out, shoots himself/herself and/or student.

[jeremyjchilds]

She says "oops" every time I make a mistake...it bugs me so much....

[Bouter Boogie]

Guess she'll look a bit disappointed, which causes much more worse feelings than when she totally flips out, eh? But it almost never happened, lucky me

[mound]

he beats me with his conductors wand.

seriously though. no, my teacher has never yelled at me. nor do I think there is anything I could do that would ellicit such a response.

if a piano teacher ever did berate me, I'd find a new teacher. I don't have time for such nonsense. Of course, my attitude may be what keeps me from ever encountering such a situation in the first place

[shasta]

If I or my peers were unprepared for a lesson or performed poorly, our prof. would:
   -Scream at us
   -Rant (to no one in particular or to his dog who'd sleep under the piano)
   -Inform us that if he let us perform in public like this we'll ruin his reputation
   -Throw things (music, pencils, but never at us)
   -Slam his hand on the piano
   -Walk out of the room
   -Be rude to our parents (who were all terrified of him)
   -Kick us out of the lesson (we'd sit outside on his step until our rides came)

One of us students was extremely gifted but left him when we were all still kids because the lessons were so stressful.  This student became very successful (Van Cliburn 2001 competitor) and currently tours all over.  My prof never recovered from losing him and seemed to take his frustrations out on the rest of us who stuck around.   

[raffyplayspiano]

my teacher sits by his piano and waits for me to play whatever i have prepared.  If its bad, he asks me if i practiced.  if i say no, he lets me keep going, if its really, really bad, i get kicked out. 

i only got kicked out once.  it was really all that was necessary. 

on another note, someone mentioned the thing about not being too prepared and then playing well, and sometimes being really prepared and playing badly.  I definitely have had this happen to me before, and i think sometimes we get so nervous about playing for our teacher. 

now, if im prepared i just play calmy and eat two bananas before my lesson and im all set.  anyway, i went off on a tangent.  thats all

raffy

[Jacey1973]

I only came mildly unprepared for a piano lesson once and would never do it again!

My teacher wasn't particulary nasty, just put down everything i did and made me feel completely crap.

I also know that coming unprepared for a lesson is a complete waste of time and when I'm paying Ģ40 an hour I want to get the most out of my lessons.

[happyface94]

Well as I have lots of experience in that field, my teacher will usually start by asking me how did I practice, and then how much did I practice. Afterward she'll tell me that it is definitly not enough and that I will most likely fail my exam. And she asks me if I have plans to practice more, or what to do next year if I fail my exam, do I stay at the conservatory or not. She went as far as telling me I could "resign" from the conservatory to not fail my exam.

Of course I did a wambam week of practice and pulled over the exam.

[piazzo23]

She would say! Canīt you see itīs faster?!

And I would play it much faster, mess it all up, stand up and leave the classroom.

Itīs based on a true story.

[Appenato]

since i've had shitty lessons the past two weeks....

my teacher laughs. not in a mean way. i laugh too, but she'll laugh and say, "you really are human!" (meaning that i do actually make mistakes...yeah... *gasp* i've come to my lessons and play like i haven't seen the music at all  ) so she'll laugh at the beginning of the lesson... half way through she'll fall silent and just tell me to redo a section... again, and again. by the end of the lesson we're both frustrated. still laugh anyway, a bit stiffly and it keeps the tears away, but when y'think about it, it's really funny thinking how badly it sounded.

now, my professor at school i don't know about just yet... i haven't ever played as badly for him as i have this summer for my former teacher. he's so lenient in his teaching that i don't know if he'll notice much if i'm not well prepared (unless I'm just downright awful as i'm prone to be lately...). we'll see what happens this next semester with him and my music.

[anda]

me as a student: when i went not prepared, i said so upfront: "i didn't have time", not boring him with all details. my teacher would say "ok, you'll practice now, i'll help you" and the lesson would be approx. 4 hours long. but: he knows me very well, and he alays knew that if i came to lesson without preparing for it, i had serious problems and indeed not have time.

me as a teacher: i'm horrible. i ask the student to play and i can tell whether s/he has practiced or not in less than 30". if i realize the student is not prepared: i stop him/her from playing, and give him/her a wagnerian-sized lecture on the importance of being a serious person whatever you do; i esp adore making young children feel guilty about wasting their parents hard-earned money and my precious time. fomer students have told me they would rather have me yell & throw things at them! 

[ryan2189]

ooh you are maniacal
and you love doing it
LOL... just kidding

[whynot]

As a student:  It's only happened maybe twice in the last four years.   My teacher gave me a snack and we just chatted the whole lesson.  He's very nice to me!  He has made other people cry for being unprepared, but I have a good track record of working hard and he knows I'm so mortified at having a failure in the lesson, I guess there's nothing else for him to say about it.   

As a teacher:  I am too nice about it, probably. 

[ted]

As a teenager I was very busy with studies and sports and this happened every so often. It didn't matter much because our main thrust was on improvisation. If he had had a couple of whiskies he used to take over, improvise and reminisce. I often learned more at those lessons than at the ones where well prepared playing of pieces took place.

[hazypurple21]

Before I really got into the music when I was younger, when the going got tough with piano, sometimes I got... lazy.
My teacher would always be able to tell right away. She's not the type of person to yell at all, but she had a very quiet way of expressing her dissappointment in me. And she would never say that she knew I didn't practice enough, she'd ask me in an almost rhetorical way if I practiced or not. She told me once that if a doctor gave you directions to follow, you'd do it, and it should be no different with her, otherwise it's harming everyone. Coming from someone I admire, her negative comments were effective and she knew it.
Luckily, that hasn't happened in a while. Partly because I've grown to love piano, and partly because I've developed a better work ethic.

[jz_rach2]

well when i don't play well my piano teacher gets pretty furious. an example would be at the end of Jun when school was just over i took a few days off from practising, although i was supposed to be preparing for an audition with a really good piano teacher in 2 weeks. so when i went for my piano lesson, my piano teacher, full expecting me to play well, got really mad when i couldn't play this newly-learned piece fluently. he started telling me how important that audition would be for me etc... the last thing he said when i was leaving, was "i am expecting you to practise 10 hours a day."