Discouraging Teacher !!!

[afamee]

What do i do with a teacher who never encourages or compliments but relies on criticism upon criticism? I switched my teacher to this new teacher about 4 months ago and to be fair to her, she has proven to be better than the previous teacher only because the other teacher is visually impaired. I am the type of student that likes to learn ahead of the lesson pace so that when we go through it with my teacher i would spend lesser time correcting few mistakes. At the end of every lesson, i feel dissapointed because all i hear is, "you did this" , "you did that", "why dont you do ...", "it will take you about 6 months...". Personally i think i have improved so much but she doesnt tell me that. It helps a lot to hear that you are improving. I think its important that teachers adopt a style which combines both constructive criticism and encouragement while addressing their students. Now, i am seriously considering looking for another teacher. It will be unexpected to her because she always talks in future tense like, "...in about a year, i will teach you how to play this piece...". In my mind am thinking shes losing it because if she continues, i will quit before she knows what hit her. Anybody shares the same experience or is it just me? 

[keyofc]

How long have you had this teacher?
You can go overboard either way - complimenting all the time or criticizing all the time
It's definitely not a pleasant situation to be criticized constantly after trying your best.

I guess you need to ask yourself - are her criticisms helping you?  I mean - when she criticizes - does she say what you should have done differently - or just that is was bad?

Be your own judge - if you are becoming less motivated - that's not good.
Although as someone else had mentioned on another post - the better you are, the more criticism people think you need to get better.  Still if it was me, I'd ask myself two questions?
1. Am I getting better as a result?  2. How is my motivation level?

People have all kinds of crazy approaches - sometimes they forget they are dealing with a human being.  You can hardly teach musical sensitivity if you have no sensitivity at all in your dealings with people.

[counterpoint]

afamee, how you describe the situation, it sounds to me, as if your teacher wants to explain you something, that you should know. But you are not very interested in what she says. You don't respect much what she is thinking about your playing and what she expects you to work on. That's a difficult situation, because if you don't take serious, what she says, the lessons will not help much. It doesn't look good to me. If you have that little respect for her, you should look for an other teacher. That's my only idea in this case.

[keyofc]

That's true too - it's possible to get too sensitive - and lose the directive.

[rc]

The guy who taught me my job was the overly critical type, when I confronted him on it he said that whatever he wasn't commenting on was good.  Whatever criticism he gave became more and more fine tuning, and I could assume everything else was in good shape.  I learned a lot, and could appreciate being held to the highest standards (higher than his sometimes)...  On the other hand it was stressful for me and I wound up hating the guy.

I'd like to stress having high standards - I think it really makes a difference for a student to be held to high standards early on, it's the kind of thing that sticks.

My piano teacher is a little on the complementary side.  It's nice and all, but I know when I've botched and often the compliments seem to be intended to comfort.  The best compliments are kind of accidental, like when a teacher shows faith in the students abilities in some offhand way, it's more genuine.  Likewise, the most flattering compliments are from those who rarely give them.

Afamee, you should bring it up to your teacher that it's bothering you.  At least give her a chance to know that things aren't right.  It could be her fault, yours or both (usually things are a bit of both), but the only way to make it right is to talk it out - at least to try...  Then if things are still difficult, your teacher can at least know why you quit. 

It's just not fair to leave someone not knowing what hit them.  You'll never know what issues could be resolved unless you bring it up.

[pianowelsh]

I know where your coming from.  I felt so discouraged by one of my teachers and I've had many, that I nearly gave up.  I actually asked 'is there anything atall good that you like about my playing?' they said 'No, but there will be!'. I'd played to enough knowledgeable people by this point to realise that such a statement was the absolute height of arrogance and I knew that if they were this insensitive to me I would never learn anything of value from them.. I changed teachers shortly after this and got on much better.  No teacher is perfect...BUT you need to know they are behind you supporting you, if they dont respect you as a person..its very hard to respect their teaching.

[chocolatedog]

The teacher is obviously pointing out what needs improving, but yes, I think a small measure of encouragement is called for aswell. Although she should definitely not say "good" unless she means it at advanced level - for younger pupils and beginners/intermediates, yes, a lot more encouragement and praise but as you get more advanced the standard also has to go up. Having said that there must be passages in your pieces which she could say - good, you listened to my advice last week (or words to that effect. If my own teacher said "good" I knew he meant it, and I would work hard and take on board his comments to make sure I got that praise.

[zheer]

criticism upon criticism?

  True why the criticism, some go further to the point of insult. Teaching is something and insulting is something else.
   I met this pianist once ,he began correcting my piano playing, it was a matter of musical interpretation, anyway after an hour or so the only thing i could think of was music and wanting to play music.Why ? because it was the way he was puting his point across.

[pianowelsh]

I had one exceptionally good teacher at the advanced level - she was amazing. She never spoke really about ' you do this or you do that..etc' there were certainly NO insults, she never discussed other students in a negative way (only as positive examples) and SHe always came at a point from the MUSIC...'what does the music require that you do here?' 'how are you going to communicate the music more clearly in this passage?' 'what is thhe most important thing in the music HERE?'   I tell you Iv never had such a positive experinece as her teaching since.  Too many teachers at the advanced level think they are there to criticise and change amateurs into professionals.  They are WRONG and quite arrogant to think so. We do not need a hand picked army of professors to guard who should/shouldn't become the next generation of professionals..they are incredibly short sighted to think so.   Their job ...and some do it very well. Is to enthuse the sudent to study as hard as they are physically able to communicate thier own love of music in the best possible way to audiences...whether or not they will go on to concertise professionally is irrelevant. They should leave higher education still loving music and equipped with the necessary skills to put that before a range of audiences...not everyone will play wigmore or carnegie...some will play the local church hall once a year..or a school workshop...or at the annual works do?! but they can do it well. Too mnay teachers have the idea if its not acceptible for carnegie its not acceptible for anyone...this is very SAD. They communicate this to their students and the students become discouraged and SO many give up...(HALF my piano class left before the end of the course!)

[afamee]

Like to thank everybody so much for their individual responses. I keep forgetting how wonderful people on this forum are. I have carefully read all the responses and have taken a piece from everyones. Just like somebody said, it may be either of us that is wrong. That is to say i need to talk it out with her before making a move. I will surely do that. I don't need that much compliment but one or two every now and then helps keeps me motivated and helps my spirit of learning. I don't have any doubt that she is a wonderful lady but it frustrates me esp. when i know i have tried so much on my own just to have her trash everything i have done kills me. But am happy with all the responses i got on this issue and immensely thank everybody.

[overscore]

Sounds to me like she's on a power trip, and just enjoying demonstrating her own superiority.

It's alright for someone like Rubinstein to have taught this way. But is she a Rubinstein? Unless her credentials are of a sufficient calibre to match her attitude, you should ditch her and find someone more sympathetic.

[pianowelsh]

what makes you think its acceptible for Rubinstein to say such things?!?! Everyone has the right to be treated with respect in a lesson..we are only human after all.  Its not to get so politically correct that you cant criticise a student..that would be silly BUT teachers should rememeber students have feelings and sensibilities...and DIFFERENT personalities..Not everyone thrives on being crushed week by week (amazingly some do!) for many a little bit of well placed encouragement goes a LONG way.  It disturbes me sometimes seeing a class with a professor who thinks they are God and the students are sub-human.  The students will soon be greater than this teacher - because they are open to learning whereas the teacher has ceased to be a learner and will become stunted in their growth.

[danny elfboy]

Kudos to pianowelsh for everything he has said.

[andric_s]

It depends on your goals.  If you want to be a virtuoso concert pianist, and discipline and achievement are the focus of your practice, then you need a teacher who pushes you.
If you simply want to enjoy playing and practicing and studying for its own joyfulness, you should find a teacher who you feel good with.