What does your teacher do that annoys you?

[Bob]

Like the student annoyance thread.

[lau]

I hate when your teacher is hearing you play something and you make a little mistake and you already you know what you did wrong and he's like you missed this here, lets go over this and practice it. FOR EVERY LITTLE THING.

[spitz]

My teachers pretty awesome but her having relative pitch is kinda freaky, I mess up on one note in a 5 note chord and she knows, its creepy, and its annoying after a while, and its creepy!

[abe]

My teacher doesn't teach me technique, so I kinda have to figure it out for myself, which isn't always successful or efficient. And then she praises me for my great technique. I don't understand, maybe she doesn't know how to teach technique and thus wants to shun the issue by praising my technique (praise that is completly unfounded, btw). She does choose my reperetoire, so that's a good thing, I guess.

[gonzalo]

I hate when your teacher is hearing you play something and you make a little mistake and you already you know what you did wrong and he's like you missed this here, lets go over this and practice it. FOR EVERY LITTLE THING.

My teacher does the same thing... it's pathetic...

What my teacher does to annoy me is that every time I make a mistake its because I didn't practice Hanon when she knows that I have already stopped doing it because it's useless

[pianogrl815]

I hate it when your playing and your teacher is writing, and then you stop and they sigh......its crud! Plus, when your playing and you hear the pen, you mess up.

[whynot]

Yes, it's aggravating to have a little slip of the finger and have the teacher interpret it as a big technical problem to be solved. 

Self-image/ego:  A former teacher tried to motivate me by yelling and swearing while I played, and it just hurt my feelings.  At first I was impressed with the whole Master Teacher thing; I did everything but genuflect, because I did (do) have tremendous respect for him.  He had other, gentler, teaching techniques that he knew were much more helpful to me, but he enjoyed his reputation as vitriolic eccentric genius.  After a while, I saw that upholding that image was more important to him than helping me.   

In general, teachers who ridicule and embarass their students, I just have no patience with that.  My current teacher doesn't do it, but I know a lot of students who have to deal with this.  It shows lack of imagination and limited teaching ability.  I just think, that's all they've got???

[rc]

Hmmmm... Not much. Sometimes I get annoyed when my teacher is explaining to me something that I'm already familiar with, but then I remember I have a bit of 'cognitive arrogance' and often think I know more than I do Often things devlop into interesting discussion.

Once in a while he will do something to distract me, I think it's deliberate, to see if I can go through it... Sure does rattle me though

Not my teachers fault, but sometimes the phone rings and he has to pick it up... I can't even practice a bit during that, since he's on the phone.

In general, teachers who ridicule and embarass their students, I just have no patience with that.  My current teacher doesn't do it, but I know a lot of students who have to deal with this.  It shows lack of imagination and limited teaching ability.  I just think, that's all they've got???

I call it being socially retarded. Anyone with half a brain will know that fear is no way to teach, or relate to anyone for that matter. Small people feel big picking on others.

If I've ever met people like that, I've quickly made them a non-issue in my life.

[pianistimo]

i might have said this before, but my teacher, being the professional he is, does things very quickly.  i could have died from the door being opened so fast.  he sort of does this cuckoo clock thing - on the hour - door swings open -head comes out turns both ways - head goes back in - door shuts.  if you don't take your turn - you might have just lost it. 

actually, i like teachers who are punctual.  i think students and/or teachers who are continually late would be much more frustrating.

oh,  he moves to the bench really fast  - so i'm trying to plan - ok.  do i get off the bench on the left and stand really close to him (like i'd like to) or do i get off the bench on the right and bump into him (never done it yet).  usually he walks really quick around and somehow alights on the bench vicariously somehow.  i don't think he steps over the bench.  but, he's very polite - so i've never knocked him over or visa versa.  and, his chair is a comfortable distance.  maybe being from nyc - people  just move faster.  anyway - once i sit on his chair - with wheels and all - it can get distracting - listening to the playing or just wheeling around.  he keeps the chair wheels oiled - so it moves at lightening speed. 

[stormx]

He sits at my right.

Sometimes, when i am experiencing troubles keeping the rythm, he DOUBLES my right hand playing on the upper registers (i hope it is clear, my english is not the best  )

Is this a common teaching practice?

 


 

[ilsa]

Yep, I think doubling of the right hand on the upper piano registers is common enough.  My teacher does this all the time - especially useful for me as I have very poor rhythm sense.  It doesn't annoy me though, but I guess I'm used to it.

[leahcim]

Fails to exist.

[elisianna]

Nothing he does annoys me!

Sounds like I am pretty fortunate.  If I make a mistake, he KNOWS I know. (Most of the time I will grunt or growl or say "oops!" when I make one though).  So there is no "oh oh, you made a mistake there." I'm glad he trusts that I know u.u;

Even when he sings about how I am stinky pee and a goat and a smelly shoe while I am playing, that doesn't annoy me. 

[henrah]

Yep, I think doubling of the right hand on the upper piano registers is common enough.  My teacher does this all the time - especially useful for me as I have very poor rhythm sense.  It doesn't annoy me though, but I guess I'm used to it.

What is doubling of the right hand?

My teacher talks way tooo much, and I barely get any practice done. I need a new teacher...

[leahcim]

What is doubling of the right hand?

Playing the RH along with you an octave higher.

[henrah]

Aahhh...nope, my teacher doesn't do that. In fact, she's not teaching me at all. I just go there and play, and maybe learn a bit more before the next lesson. I really need a new teacher to teach me technique and proper posture as my back aches quite often and I can feel myself slouching. Now for the tricky bit...do I go back to the teacher I had to start off with who (kind of) made me quit because she was mean from me never practicing, and I had no passion for the piano, but seemed a pretty solid teacher; or start anew with my friends teacher? And my friend is ace, but that might just be natural talent coming from playing constantly from the age of 5.

[teresa_b]

After I have played the third movement of a Mozart concerto, and am totally wiped, she says "Really, this piece sort of plays itself!" 

Teresa

[zheer]

I detest perfection, cause it ususally means having to take a piece of music out of its musical context and turn into something that it is not. For me its like the difference between looking at a painting, with all its dots lines inperfectiond, or looking at a photo something that lacks the human touch . Some teachers take it too far, i dont know why but my first piano teacher demanded that every first note of every bar had to be accented , i just did it without questioning it, now looking back i realize that is a rather false theory.

[danyal]

My teacher wont give me lessons between the end of November and the beginning of February. Rather frustrating. And its not like he's busy, or concertising, he just doesnt feel like it.

[vers la flamme]

Well er...my old teacher used to sit way too close to me.

The annoying thing was that she Didn't! Correct my mistakes. I noticed all the mistakes I made and she didn't.

[Jacey1973]

It doesn't annoy but sometimes gets on my nerves that my teacher is always right about EVERYTHING - i would like to prove him wrong just once!

Also it's annoying when i'm playing from memory and he is just listening (not following the score)...so if i play the odd wrong note i think "ah it doesn't matter he probably won't notice cos he isn't following with the score"....but he knows exactly every note/bar/phrase/rhythm from memory and i can't get away with anything. 

[lau]

My teacher hums to EVERYTHING. I was playing Fantasy Impromptu, and he hummed to that!

[tompilk]

my teacher is nice... no problems in this area...

[rafant]

First of all, my teacher plays with so many sweetness, she is fabulous in sightreading, and she uses to play very much during the lesson, for my delight. But she has halitosis and is reluctant to pay attention when I find fingering troubles.

[alwaystheangel]

That's nothing.  I'm sorry but until you had a teacher that:
a)  Had bad breath
b) actually couldn't play  (she HAMMERED every single note it was ff for everything)
c) Highlighted every sharp, the key signature, the title, the time signature, the fingering colour coded no less), stapled the pages and cut the corners and all in all mutilated my music so you can never use the book again.
d) Ate the most disgusting food while she taught like a tuna casserole or broccoli and cheese or something really smelly
e)had a son that would storm into her studio every lesson crying and moaning and yelling etc...
anyway I no longer go to her anymore.  I only lasted a year.  God she was awful...

[xamy]

That's nothing.  I'm sorry but until you had a teacher that:
a)  Had bad breath
b) actually couldn't play  (she HAMMERED every single note it was ff for everything)
c) Highlighted every sharp, the key signature, the title, the time signature, the fingering colour coded no less), stapled the pages and cut the corners and all in all mutilated my music so you can never use the book again.
d) Ate the most disgusting food while she taught like a tuna casserole or broccoli and cheese or something really smelly
e)had a son that would storm into her studio every lesson crying and moaning and yelling etc...
anyway I no longer go to her anymore.  I only lasted a year.  God she was awful...

Wow, that's ridiculous! You sure she was a piano teacher? What level were you at when she taught you? Even I could do a better job teaching and I'm rubbish!

[ilikepie]

a. he sort of makes that sound when you get burned by something (sss..) whenever I play A note wrong... and makes me repeat everything
b. he plays the whole part or a long part whenever he demonstrates two measures.

Other than that, nothing. He's a pretty good teacher.

[alwaystheangel]

Wow, that's ridiculous! You sure she was a piano teacher? What level were you at when she taught you? Even I could do a better job teaching and I'm rubbish!

Thankfully, I was only grade 2 or 3 so I wasn't permanently scarred although I couldn't read music then.  I was trained in the Suzuki method first.  Finally I found this incredible teacher, can read music and she doesn't smell!

[Mozartian]

considering that I'm currently my own teacher- make mistakes. 

(although overall, piano is going extremely well for me lately- it's been awesome)

[nanabush]

I havn't played a piece in about 5 months (grieg sonata 1st movement), so I tried to play it at my previous lesson.  Some of the chords, and the final section, i played a few wrong notes.  My teacher said that I am not focusing on the technique and am just playing it to finish it, and that when I'm playing it at home, to stop every time i make a mistake.... well I havn't played the damn thing in like half a year, I hope she doesn't expect me to play something perfectly as soon as I pick it up again...

Also, she picks crap pieces for me that she played in university... their not crap, I'm just not interested.  It took me forever to get her to let me play the Prok Sonata 3, she wanted me to play Danzas Argentinas, which I find is too dissonant.  I want to play something I enjoy, not something that my teacher can play.

[lostinidlewonder]

Leaves the country. arrrg!

[danyal]

What my teacher does, is he phones my mother up (not even me personally) on a sunny sunday morning, to tell her that he will not be teaching any private students anymore, sorry. Mid-life crisis i'm telling you.  I had a lesson 4 days ago, and there was no hint of this, we chose repertoire, and discussed the future of my playing etc. Funny huh?

I figure its a blessing in disguise. Now I have a reason to go to the best Professor in the country ;-) not that it is guaranteed that he'll take me, there is careful planning and politics involved, but a few very influential people are furious at the stunt my (ex) teacher just pulled, and they are going to try and pull some strings. I'm feeling very happy with the world at the moment. I realise every now and again just how much people care and it makes me happy

[cfortunato]

Eats garlic.

[cfortunato]

How about FAVORITE things your teacher has done?

One of mine, in an attempt to demonstrate how one's hands should touch the keyboard in a certain passage, began to play on my back.  While saying (insert thick Russian accent here) "FEEL the FORCE!"

And it WORKED. 

[pianistimo]

are you serious about the garlic?  no wonder he has to stand behind you.  but, i hear you on effective unexpected things.  what i like about  my teacher (now it's been a while since i've had a lesson) - is that whenever i need something repeated - he will repeat it.  not necessarily in the slow motion that i had wanted - but maybe slightly slower.  the second time, i can usually catch enough of whatever it was that i can formulate some kind of idea how he performed this 'magic trick.'  pedalling is really great to watch.  but, then one time he wore sandals instead of shoes and his toenails were...well, let's put it this way.  they weren't short.  they weren't chinese nail long, either.  just sort of -- 'was distracted by thinking of some way to politely offer to trim the nails - (perfectionistic side coming out).

another time i noticed holes in the walls of his studio were dusty.  you see, in all colleges, they don't do hotel cleaning.  so, sooner or later, the sad fact becomes apparrent to college prof's that if they want a dust free environment - they have to do a little housekeeping.  unfortunately, this offer was declined and attention brought back onto the music at hand. 

[henrah]

I'm so glad I have a new teacher now, and although she does digress a little, she quickly realises and jumps back into the music. She also demonstrates a lot more than the previous, especially when doing the good thumb-under movement for slow scales. She told me to watch very, very carefully, and I didn't notice what she wanted me to see, so she did it incredibly slow and I saw it! She's also very kind hearted, but one downfall is that she says 'yes' alot. I've only had one lesson with her, but I have another today, and so far she's been great! Doesn't smell, doesn't digress onto her childrens lives every lesson repeating what I've heard before, and doesn't ridicule! What a blessing.

Although today I'm thinking of talking to her about thumb-over, and I'm wondering if she knows it already or how she will take me teaching her something
Henrah

[rafant]

My teacher is becoming apathetic during the lesson. Last time I was wishing to leave the classroom before the lesson had finished.

[pianistimo]

sorry, but i had to laugh a little at that one.  yes.  all piano teachers have bad days.  like the day you come and they don't really want to be there.  they might excuse themselves to  go to the bathroom, or chew on a sandwich.  just letting you sort of 'wing it' for awhile.  i always turn those into practice sessions.  at least on good days you get what you want.  oh, yes, then there's the endless phone call.

what if a student literally went over and shouted 'get your * over here.'  just an idea.  not a very good one.

[gruffalo]

teachers that dont stop me yapping. i need a strict teacher (which i do have now) to stop me from talking and got on with learning. i talk to much. i cant help it, im just a talkative person. obviously intelligent talk though,

[kelly_kelly]

This doesn't really apply to piano, but I hate it when my viola teacher is INSANELY picky about intonation (as in picky to the point of spending 5 minutes on one measure). In general, I hate when teachers get several phone calls. I remember one lesson when the phone rang about 12 times in 1-hr 

[cfortunato]

sorry, but i had to laugh a little at that one.  yes.  all piano teachers have bad days.  like the day you come and they don't really want to be there.  they might excuse themselves to  go to the bathroom, or chew on a sandwich.  just letting you sort of 'wing it' for awhile.  i always turn those into practice sessions.  at least on good days you get what you want.  oh, yes, then there's the endless phone call.

what if a student literally went over and shouted 'get your * over here.'  just an idea.  not a very good one.

I wouldn't put up with behavior like that for a second.  You're paying the guy, and he's talking on the phone on your time?

Yes, I would shout "Get your ass over here."  Or more likely, deduct the time of the phone call from the hour and tell him why.

[etoile]

Getting overly excited and then jumping up and down like Leonard Bernstein...scares the hell out of me...

[Bob]

I think when the piano teacher's room smells.  I didn't like that part.  The room itself had an odor.