Teachers and their students at the same website - is it good?

[stormx]

Hi !! 

This piano site being so popular nowadays, i wonder if you dont fear that your teacher logs here, identify yourself (not so difficult after all, if he knows you well), and read all your complaints about him? 
Or, that he notices that you are just trying to certify whether something he told you is indeed correct?

On the other hand, do you tell your teacher that you participate in this forum? And, if the answer is yes, do you tell him your nick?

[Jacey1973]

OMG i had the same paranoia attack the other day! But then i thought "surely my teacher isn't the kind to come on here...?" I have yet to find out. 

[m1469]

I have thought about this, nearly since day one.  My honest answer is that I think I might actually be relieved if my teacher were to be reading what I write, maybe I would be shy and blush a little, but relieved underneath it all the same.

Here is why :  Most of who I am here on the forum is embedded somewhere deeply within me.  I have a difficult time expressing much of what I do here, verbally and in person, except with a very, very, very few... he he. 

I know this about myself : For me to actually acheive what I want to acheive, I must bring my entire self to my efforts.   I know my motives for what I do, and though I sometimes make wrong turns, ultimately, I mean no harm.  It would be important, I believe, if a teacher were to be able to help me at my deepest levels, for him to know my faults as well as strengths.  If I were ever to play the piano how I wish to play it, these things would all become very evident to a keen ear and eye.  But, there are many risks I am not willing to take without touching the water first, and that is what I have done here.  My truest teacher can handle my truest self, and most of what I have posted here are simply clues into what that might entail.

Well, this too, has been something I would never say in person  .


m1469 

[jeremyjchilds]

I guess my students would not have that hard of a time picking me out...

So that is why I try my best to be really nice even when I don't like what I read

Actually, it's not that hard to be nice, everyone here seems to know more than me anyway, so I'm not itching to start any arguments...

[jerry xie]

now i'm scared
my teacher might be here,too

[RealPianist]

what do you think and react if your student are here talking about you or repertioire and many other things?
are you still ok or thinking a-z of your student?
or you are happy because your student can develop?

[BoliverAllmon]

I wouldn't mind if my teachers came here. The ones I like, I praise here. The one I despise, she can read all the rants. I don't care.

boliver

[Bouter Boogie]

I won't find my teacher out here, lucky me

[026497]

My teacher is far too besy to surf this site. She even doesn't have time to have her meals and dating. If she is here, it isn't a matter , I don't think she can reconize me.

[xvimbi]

I think it all depends on the attitude, both the teacher's and the student's. If a student is truly out there to find information and to learn more, it's absolutely OK, and the teacher will accept this and even laud the effort. If the student, on the other hand, is constantly trying to disprove his/her teacher and tries to find amunition for diasgreement, then it's not OK.

Likewise, if a teacher knows his/her stuff, s/he should be delighted to discuss whatever the student finds on the web. After all, it's no different than reading a book and asking the teacher questions about it. The teacher will be able to present arguments in favor or against what the student brings up. It is then up to the student to make a decision.

In the end, there are really only two kinds of questions a student can have. First, thera are those that do have a clear and single answer. Any student and teacher will accept the correct answer, hopefully without too much fuss (anything else would be unreasonable). And then there are those issues that don't have a clear answer, i.e. either they are about opinions, or there are several different ways to approach them. In that case, student and teacher should be open-minded and willing to constructively discuss these issues for the benefit of both the teacher and the student and for the benefit of arriving at a satisfactory solution, without involving any ego. That discussion can of course take place in the open.

It may indeed appear to be awkward for a teacher/student pair to lead discussions in the open, with other people participating. Some teachers will feel this undermines their authority. However, authority without cogent arguments is futile, and if one has cogent arguments, one does not need authority. Cogent arguments are authority! (I should have this statement patented )

To be fair, open discussions areprobably much more disconcerting for teachers than for students. Teachers have something to lose, namely their reputation, if it turns out that their teaching is wrong in many instances. So, I would assume that they are much more interested in hiding their identity than students. Then there are of course those teachers who don't care if they are proven wrong, because they are willing to learn and develop. That of course again requires students to accept that their teachers are not infallible and that, ideally, student and teacher should form a "learning team", rather than a unidirectional "teacher -> student" hierarchy.

Wow, that turned into an essay. It's complicated.

[nightmarecinema]

I thought about this immediately. However, I'm not too worried about my teacher being on here, I doubt he is. I guess I'll just have to ask him

[pianistimo]

my teacher says he's too busy.  i think he reads a few things and goes back to practicing.  much smarter, and more economical...but kinda lonely for me.  i need human interaction.  he probably gets it from people he accompanies and gigs that he performs. 

[m1469]

...ideally, student and teacher should form a "learning team", rather than a unidirectional "teacher -> student" hierarchy.

....my idea of heaven 

[pianistimo]

yes.  but, it is a business.  and if they gave away stuff for free - there'd be nothing left for them to say at lesson.  i think i understand, and hope that what i've said of my lessons isn't making him mad.  i don't think so because it can't hurt people who live in various places of the world.  i don't think it's taking business away from him.

[xvimbi]

yes.  but, it is a business.  and if they gave away stuff for free - there'd be nothing left for them to say at lesson.  i think i understand, and hope that what i've said of my lessons isn't making him mad.  i don't think so because it can't hurt people who live in various places of the world.  i don't think it's taking business away from him.

This technically correct - the Internet is taking business away from most anyone, because it puts information out there in a highly accessible fashion that one would have otherwise only gotten from a teacher. This however assumes that the teacher's role is to disseminate information, which is not the case. I view the Internet as a huge book. Books have been around for a long time, and they have always been part of teaching. So, fundamentally, the presence of the Internet hasn't really changed anything. One has to understand and define correctly the role of a teacher. IMO, a teacher's role is not to sell information and teach because they have something to say (a teacher-oriented model). A teacher's role is to take on a student, to pay individual attention to him/her and teach him/her something despite the limitations of the student (a student-oriented model). They help a student to overcome those individual hurdles. Books and the Internet are inherently limited in that respect. Long live the teachers! ... and their students

[m1469]

This technically correct - the Internet is taking business away from most anyone, because it puts information out there in a highly accessible fashion that one would have otherwise only gotten from a teacher. This however assumes that the teacher's role is to disseminate information, which is not the case. I view the Internet as a huge book. Books have been around for a long time, and they have always been part of teaching. So, fundamentally, the presence of the Internet hasn't really changed anything. One has to understand and define correctly the role of a teacher. IMO, a teacher's role is not to sell information and teach because they have something to say (a teacher-oriented model). A teacher's role is to take on a student, to pay individual attention to him/her and teach him/her something despite the limitations of the student (a student-oriented model). They help a student to overcome those individual hurdles. Books and the Internet are inherently limited in that respect. Long live the teachers! ... and their students

I guess I am on some sort of xvimbi kick lately, he he, but this is particularly enlightening to me and I just simply had to say so.   I especially appreciate your articulation of what a teacher is helping a student to accomplish; helping a "student to overcome those idividual hurdles" (vs teaching based on the teacher having something to teach or say).  That is what I believe in, but I had not thought of it so clearly before, and you're right, books alone could not do this for a person.  It reminds me of a quote from a book I have been studying and perusing :

"A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make them speedily understood.  It is the task of the sturdy pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough granite.  Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished."  --Science and Health

 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and views on these things, they have been quite inspiring and fascinating to me (and I am sure for others as well).


m1469