Do I Need to Switch Piano Teachers

[shannon piano girl]

my piano teacher doesnt teach me much theory and stuff like that.
now, i dunno if thats bad she teaches me songs and stuff , she says that i am learning fast .
i started playing a year and a bit ago .. i do believe i am learning fast but i think theory is good to know and stuff
i dont know piano notes like a-b-c-d-e-f-g-  i just play the key but i dont know the name or anything
so do you think i should change my teacher ??
if you know any good teachers in burlington ontario canada please tell me!
thanks

[pianohopper]

Do you mean that you do not read music -- simply learn it by ear?  If you're playing pop, jazz, this is acceptable, but to seriously play classical music you should really be able to read!  Theory is much different than knowing the names of notes. 

There really shouldn't be any need to change your teacher if you work well together, just ask her to teach you what you want to learn.  If she's reasonable, then she will be able to teach you this.  If she doesn't want to, her teaching ability might be questionable.  As a consumer, of the piano lessons which you are paying for, you have the right to take your money elsewhere if the "product" doesn't meet your expectations. 

[ilikepie]

you DO know that you aren't limited to one teacher right?
My theory teacher is the wife of my erm piano teacher.

[abell88]

You can look for a teacher at  ormta.org

But first you should talk to your teacher.

[lagin]

I would perhaps concider talking to her and asking her to teach you note names and such if she hasn't done so yet, which I find odd.  The first thing I do with a new student is introduce the key names and start with "Hey diddle diddle, the "D"s in the middle" (of the 2 black keys).  And yes I have 2 separate teachers, one for theory, and one for practical.  But note names should be the practical teacher's department.

[tac-tics]

Theory, unlike everything else in piano, is something you can easily figure out yourself. (well maybe not "easily", but a resourceful person can find much on the subject).

A good place to start looking would be
www.musictheory.net

It has the basic information on scales, diatonic chords, inversions, harmony, and a few short examples of analysis.

[shannon piano girl]

Hello!
Thank you all very much for replying !!
The first person who replyed : yes, I do read sheet music
Thank you so much you all have helped me a great deal!!!!!
I will look at those sites you told me about everyone !
THANKS!

[emmdoubleew]

In my opinion, a piano teacher that can also teach you theory is extremely important. If you don't know chords by heart once you become more experienced, even ifyou can play pieces as advanced as other people your age, it will take you much longer to learn them simply because you have to do it note by note when other can do it chord by chord. This is true for  almost all music: Baroque, Classical, Romantic and so on... Maybe just not for the wierdest contemporary music.

[pianowelsh]

My word a year and not note names and reading!!! Youn need to chat to your teacher about that one  - do they know you dont know??? It is the piano teacher not theory teachers responsibility to give you the fundamentals of keyboard geography and tis really in ideal world should begin at lesson 1 whether you are doing classical jazz pop whatever.  How are you going to understand chord construction and voicings in jazz if you cant reliably pickout which notes to play.  I would invest a certain ammount of time each day hoping up and down the keyboard testing yourself on the note names at each pitch range memorise their place on the keyboard and start thinking of ways to remember the lie and spaces of the clef ie every green bus drives fast etcetc. this will imporve your dexterity and confidence immesurably and will speed up being able to decipher notation.