What the F***! I hate my teacher!!!!

[onemanband]

At the beginning of the year, he asked to drop the Beethoven sonata and  play something easy and nice. After I had done, he said it was too easy for the jury and he asked me to droped it and work on a new piece in a week. I worked very hard in that week , but the piece is long and tough so that I didn't play very well in his lesson and he showed me so much anger and depression for my jury and even for  my future and he only gave me a 25 minutes lesson and almost can't wait to kicked me out that night! ( It supposed to be 50~60 a lesson) . I never felt so much sad  but this time he really hurt my heart and respect! I love piano and can play with my passion but I am not a pianist yet. However I need respect at least

[ThePhoenixEffect]

Ok, I think you need to have a heart to heart talk to him.  

It seems like he is letting you choose the piece freely without getting his consent until the lesson.  I don't think this is very wise as you seem to be choosing the extremes and nothing in between.  

How long have you been with him?  Your teacher you should start to know what level you can play at.

Perhaps he had a bad day?  Perhaps his earlier lessons were all bad so....when he came to yours he just had it?

[Clare]

Wow. Your teacher seems really unpredictable.
I guess if I were you I'd tell my teacher I felt confused about what they want from you, and you feel like you need more consistency from week to week. I'd say it nicely, though, so your teacher doesn't get mad again!  
But it sounds like it's not your fault at all, so don't take it personally. I've got an unpredictable teacher myself but I like it because it keeps me on my toes, and when I think my teacher is being over-the-top, I can handle it.

[bitus]

I believe there are times when one should change teachers.
A teacher should think in perspective... knowing where he is taking the student. Your teacher seems the kind of teacher that's a good performer, but far away from a good teacher. He knows what he wants the piece to sound like, but doesn't have the patience to help you.
Write us back what happened.
The Bitus

[onemanband]

I appreciate all your replies indeed,guys!! I am a first year kid and in our school , we are required  to take a performance audition at the end of the acadamic year if we want to be a piano performance major later! (First year is just called genneral or common acadamic year)

In fact, at the beginning of the year, I asked some advices from my new teacher about my repertoires for the jury ,like what kind of piece ,level I should play)
At that time, I had already finished the three movements of  one of Beethove sonatas. To my surprised, he said that one is too famous to play, because every one knows it so well and for some other uncertain reasons, he just asked me to drop it and play a Mozart sonata instead! In his explaination, Mozart sonata is simple but nice. I took his advice and worked on Mozart . Now,  only 2 months before the jury, he suddently said that one is too easy for the audition and asked me to play the original Beethoven Sonata. That sounds pretty much  like joking!!  

I am not a dump though I am not a good pianist yet. I like playing piano ,work hard and respect my teacher. However, I've  never got any respect from him . I remember he told me he was not that kind of teacher who sorts his students , but in fact, he sorted his students and put  most of his time on one of his students. It is not the first time he gave me such a short time lesson. He started to check his watch only 5 minutes after we started our lesson last night! Maybe he is kind of pianist or  so called 'big pot'! I am wondering why he didn't tell me to give up the piano directly?

He skipped two of my lessons this year and when I asked him if we could make up for them. He said like ' you know what, I never make up any lessons for my student?'  Actually he does!

Does that make sense? Do all the 'big players' teach like that?



The most funny thing is every time when he was not satisfied with my performance, he just asked me to drop it. He seems so lazy in my lessons and even not willing to give any kind of instruction on my work and just asked me to replace a new one which he, temperarily felt good.

[djbrak]

well, that's f***ed up.
Just shove the "I paid for this sh!t" thing in his face and he'll get the picture.
He is right about the playing a popular sonata in front of jury/or audition.  The judges will know every single note of the piece, leaving little room for mistake.  I guess maybe you should have sticked with the Mozart sonata (hopefully not a popular one)
-Renato

[bernhard]

This is one way (and only one of may ways) to organise your perceptions.

There are four levels of teaching:

1. Toddlers:

This refers to two-three years old whose parents want them to be concert pianists and believe in starting them as early as possible. At this level, the teaching is mostly about listening to a lot of music (not necessarily classical), lots of clapping hands, singing, banging on percussion instruments. They are allowed to do whatever they want at the piano: bang with their fists, use their feet, anything. There are lots of games, the emphasis is on fun and entertainment and everything is learned by rote and by ear. The aim is to create a pleasant music experience . Teachers at this level do not need to know anything about practising/playing the piano. They have to know about music (a lot) and must be able to improvise on the spot rhythmic/melodic games, invent new (funny and ideally related to the child) lyrics for common nursery rhymes, and so on. You get the picture. At this level the teacher must be genius not in the area of piano playing, but in the area of dealing with children. S/he must be able to juggle, to do magic tricks and skip rope (yes, skipping rope is one of the greatest c-ordination exercises out there, and it also develops a sense of pulse. Skip rope to music, and you are half way there). It is not even a question of patience. The teacher loves doing this stuff so much that there is no impatience, since impatience is always the result of frustration at not achieving a goal. Since there is no goal – or better, the goals is in the process – there is no impatience or frustration.

At this level there must be no criticism (this will come later, much later), only praise and encouragement, and the toddler must do pretty much what s/he wants to do since we are dealing here with exploration . The teacher must not fret about goals and instead must mould him/herself around the toddler’s wishes.

The best conditions for this level are a state of permanent lessons. Ideally the teacher should live with the family (and since this is highly unrealistic the best teacher will be a member of the family) so that the toddler is constantly in touch with music. S/he will run to had thro the piano for very short periods numberless times a day. It is the teacher’s responsibility to have a master plan and adapt it around the toddler’s enthusiasms. 30 minutes weekly lessons are completely out of question. (Unless you want to throw you money in the bin).

Now here is the funny thing: you do not need to be toddler to be in this group. There are many adults that must start at this level given their limited musical experience.

2. Beginners.

Beginners already love music. Either they had a superlative toddler-level teacher, or they come from a family where music was of paramount importance, where from an early age they got the idea that music and the making of music was something highly pleasant and desirable. Now they want to be part of it: They want to learn to play properly (not just bang their fists on the piano).

However, they are beginners. They know nothing. They must be taught everything and guided at every step.

A teacher at this level does not need to play the piano very well. Of course, s/he must be proficient enough to play grade 5/6 pieces well, but s/he does not need to be a virtuoso. S/he must know very well however everything about piano pedagogy – all the theories, all the ideas – s/he must have tried most of them, and ideally s/he must have realised that every student is different and will benefit from a personalised approach that will include different theories/ideas at different times.

If you are looking for a teacher for a beginner, avoid like the plague concert pianists, or teachers who are also performing artists. You may be impressed with his/her playing, but trust me, they will be completely useless with beginners. Would you hire a Literature Nobel prize winner to teach someone how to read? It would be recipe for disaster.

At this level there are three clearly defined goals that must be reached before the student is ready for the next level: Reading music, knowing scales (this does not only mean playing the scales, but knowing back to front), learning how to move at the piano (including posture) and learning how to learn and practise a piece of music.

The teacher of this level must have unlimited patience. S/he must have the capacity to repeat the same thing over and over again countless times as if it was the first time ever. S/he must have an unlimited supply of enthusiasm for the most dreary stuff (like scales and nursery rhymes) and she must show it! S/he must be prepared to spend most of the lesson time doing what the student (and probably the teacher) does not like doing, is bored with, and is reluctant (many times out of the fear of failure) to do. Since the student will not do it at home by himself. The teacher must also be an accomplished motivator, although if the student has ahd a godd toddler’s stage, s/he will probably already come with a lot of motivation (that a misguided teacher can easily destroy).

At this level, 30 minute weekly lessons are completely out of question.  Daily short lessons are mandatory if you want to see any results. And exactly as with the toddler level, this has nothing to do with age, but with attitude.

3. Intermediate:

A student reaches intermediate level not on account of the difficulty of the pieces s/he can play (which is one of the reasons I care little for the grading system – it is ultimately irrelevant) but when s/he develops the intermediate attitude.

This means that the student now can read music (not necessarily sight-read) and is therefore independent of the teacher to tell him/her which note to play with which finger. An intermediate student knows scales and chords back to front and can recognise how composers use them and see this relationship in the music they are playing. An intermediate student has good posture and is starting to rely less and less on the teacher to tell him/her what movements to use. S/he is starting to explore his/her own movements and is beginning to be able to decide which movements are best, even though they may not be the same that the teacher uses. An intermediate student knows how to practise efficiently and does not need the constant cajoling of the teacher. S/he practises correctly out of his/her own volition and derives much pleasure from it (if not from the practice itself, certainly from the very visible results). Finally an intermediate student should be coming up with his/her own selection of favourite pieces to learn and depend very little on the teacher for piece assignment. However, since his/her musical experience is still limited, it is the job of the teacher to supply the student with new ideas for repertory.

At this level criticism begins in earnest. The goal is to perfect technique. No more wrong notes. This is the serious level. A teacher at this level must be extremely knowledgeable about technique, practice methods and repertory. At this level piano pedagogy has little importance, since the teaching will highly personalised. The teacher must be an exquisite communicator and be able to elicit true empathy from the student. Again, the teacher at this level does not need to be a professional performer (and it will be better if he is not), but needs to know how to play really well. You see, the toddler and the beginner will not be impressed if you sit down at the piano and play Godowsky’s studied. They will think: So what? Yawn. But the intermediate student will be not only impressed and motivated by it. The teacher must have a sizable collection of music scores, a superlative CD collection, be conversant with computers, notation softwares, midi, all of it.

Personally this is the level I enjoy the most.

Lessons now can be spaced: Two 30 minute lessons per week (or if you can convince the parents two one hour lessons per week are even better) will do the trick. Depending on the maturity (again, not age) of the student you may get awaywith one lesson per week.

4. Advanced:

The student now is pretty much independent of the teacher as far as theory, practice techniques and technical development are concerned. You can drop a piece in his/her lap and tell them to bring it next week, and if s/he is truly an advanced student, next week the piece will be there memorised, at tempo and no wrong notes. The reason an advanced student can do that is simply because s/he knows how to sight-read, s/he knows the best ways to approach any piece (and if s/he does not s/he knows the basic principles by which to figure it out), and s/he practises like crazy. At this level the student regrets having to sleep (s/he would rather play the piano), and looks forward to waking up early the next day because practising and playing the piano has become the most exciting thing ever.

So why does such a student need a teacher at this level? Because there is much more to piano playing than just what the student has learned so far. Now we are that level where the lesson can be completely directed towards interpretation and performance. The teacher now must be a professional performer, or at least s/he must have had extensive experience in performance. The teacher must know the piece/composer/period deeply. S/he must know about psychological aspects of performance (how to deal with stage fright, how to cause impact in an audience, how to build an effective recital programme, how to go in and out of the stage, how to bow, etc.) and about physical aspects of performance (e.g. how to project sound from the piano according to different acoustic conditions).

This is the only stage where it is important that the teacher be a performer as well. It is also the stage where the teacher must be a performer, because that is what you will be learning. If you don’t want to be a performer, there is no reason to go to this stage: Most of what you will learn will be pointless. However, you will never get to be a good performer unless you get a teacher of this calibre (unless you want to learn by trial and error – not a good idea since you will be doing it in public in front of an audience!).

An advanced teacher needs to know his/her stuff, but s/he does not need to know anything at all about pedagogy, psychology, or providing fun and entertainment for the pupil. And at this level you must not expect regular weekly lessons. More likely you will be having one-off lessons that may take several hours. The performing career of the advanced teacher will not allow him to give you regular instruction anyway, and he will not have time to goad you into practising or playing musical games with you. In fact S/he will have extremely exacting standards and if you are not up to them expected to be kicked out as a time waster.

And finally, no one ever stops being an advanced student. There is always more to learn, and at all the four levels, the teacher always learns as much or more than the student.

So why am I bothering you with all this?

Because most problems between teachers and students arise from a mismatch of levels. It seems to me that you do not necessarily have a bad teacher, but that you have an advanced teacher, while not being yourself an advanced student (and what makes you an advanced student is not your age, your repertory, or how many years you studied the piano, but your attitude).

How would you feel if you went to a piano lesson with a Beethoven sonata ready for inspection and the teacher told you to colour the notes and clap your hands and play cymbals? You would be livid. Does that mean s/he is a bad teacher? Not necessarily. S/he is just a good teacher for a level that is not yours.

Likewise, what you experienced means that you are unfit for the piano, or that you teacher is bad? Not necessarily. You yourself said that your teacher has a student who gets a lot of attention. Has it occurred to you to ask why? Have you considered to display the same attitude? If you cannot, then maybe you are not an advanced student and would benefit from having lessons from a teacher that deals with your level. Because the expectations are very different, so will be the impatience threshold

Good luck.
Bernhard,

[minsmusic]

Don't like your teacher, get a new one.  There's plenty out there.

[glamfolk]

Teachers would do well to print out Bernhard's reply and commit it to memory.  The teacher's primary job is to move the student through all the levels that Bernhard mentioned.  The misunderstanding of one's role as a teacher is probably the most common cause of miscommunication between students and teachers.  It sounds like you're interested in moving through and progressing, but your teacher is more focused on the job at hand--playing for the jury.   I agree that you must practice for the job at hand first, meaning prepare for the jury, and work on your overall repertoire and progress afterward.  It sounds as though your teacher has some very valid points about juries, but is very flighty.  This must be maddening for any student.  

Discuss this miscommunication, and you'll probably both be better off for it.  

[etudes]

great job Bernhard
btw i cant stay with this kind of teacher
i think u should talk with him clearly how and what he want from you
and how can u develop yourself to be very good musicians with his way of teaching
good luck

[ak]

*** your teacher

[mikeyg]

*** your teacher

Productive post.

Yeah, realise that your teacher is YOUR employee.  You pay Them to do you a service.  if they are not doing an adequit job, leave them.  There are many more out there.

[xvimbi]

Did anybody realize that this thread is over a year old? I wonder what ultimately happened to onemanband.

Two remarks: in an academic setting, there is often no way to get a different teacher, for various reasons. One just has to make it work. It is not that students pay these teachers, at least not directly, so one can't even threaten to withhold a check. Also, in this setting, the teacher is NOT the student's employee, at all. It is the other way around!

Second, it is true that teachers should read carefully what Bernhard wrote (over a uear ago), but so should students! Being a teacher myself (some of my time, anyway, and not for piano, luckily), I tend to blame it on the attitude of my students when they have problems I am teaching in categories 3 and 4, so I get away with that, because in these categories, the attitude of the student is more important than that of the teacher. I often wish students would know better where they belong. So, don't always blame it on the teacher.

[mikeyg]

Xvimbi, out of curiosity, do you teach physics or something in the science arena?

[xvimbi]

Xvimbi, out of curiosity, do you teach physics or something in the science arena?

Something in the science arena, indeed.

[onemanband]

It is so surprised to see this post one year later!!! Actually , I quit playing piano since then  and  swiched to another field. Luckily I  am very satisfied with my current major. Playing piano is just a piece of history for me though sometimes I will turn on the cd player in my car and play a little piece of Sth.....


Just like a famous philosopher said,' You will be benifical from a good teacher once in your life, vice versa.'

[arensky]

3. Intermediate:

 Again, the teacher at this level does not need to be a professional performer (and it will be better if he is not)
Personally this is the level I enjoy the most.

Me too, but why should we not be performers? Inquiring mind wants to know what you think...

[bernhard]

Me too, but why should we not be performers? Inquiring mind wants to know what you think...

The reason why at this particular level it is better if the teacher is not a professional performer is simply because if s/he is, there is no way s/he will have time or energy to dedicate fully to the student(s). At this level, the teacher has to organise the student’s repertory, help him/her schedule his/her practice, analyse and break down with the student the pieces s/he is learning, etc.

It is not enough (but unfortunately quite common) to just sit there listen to the student and criticise his/her playing and give some vague advice (“play as if the wind was rustling the leaves of a tree”), and then forget about the student completely until the next week.

Besides a professional performer may have to be absent on tour for several months of the year.

Quite simply the student (and piano lessons) will not be the top priority for a professional performer. As a recital approaches, he will be far more interested in his own practice than in the student’s.

On the next level, on the other hand all this changes. The teacher then must be (or must have been) a performer, since the student will be independent enough to cope with the disadvantages above, and at the same time what s/he will then needs to learn cannot be taught by a teacher without extensive experience in performing.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[prodigy1220]

At the beginning of the year, he asked to drop the Beethoven sonata and  play something easy and nice. After I had done, he said it was too easy for the jury and he asked me to droped it and work on a new piece in a week. I worked very hard in that week , but the piece is long and tough so that I didn't play very well in his lesson and he showed me so much anger and depression for my jury and even for  my future and he only gave me a 25 minutes lesson and almost can't wait to kicked me out that night! ( It supposed to be 50~60 a lesson) . I never felt so much sad  but this time he really hurt my heart and respect! I love piano and can play with my passion but I am not a pianist yet. However I need respect at least

GET A NEW TEACHER THEN OK!!!!!!!!!!! UNDERSTAND COMPRENDE' MOCHA LOVC

[leftiesrule]

Bernhard,

I appreciate what you have to say on this topic.  I am an adult beginner and do realize that having short daily lessons would be most beneficial, however it does not seem very reasonable in my area.  Teachers around here charge $60/hour on average and I doubt I can find anyone willing to commit to short daily lessons.  Do you have any suggestions for me?  For the past year or so, I have been doing the 30-minute lesson per week thing.

[prodigy1220]

Bernhard,

I appreciate what you have to say on this topic.  I am an adult beginner and do realize that having short daily lessons would be most beneficial, however it does not seem very reasonable in my area.  Teachers around here charge $60/hour on average and I doubt I can find anyone willing to commit to short daily lessons.  Do you have any suggestions for me?  For the past year or so, I have been doing the 30-minute lesson per week thing.

my suggestion is to PRACTICE PRACTICE AND PRACTICE i started off withh 30 mins a day but i pratcice ok !!!!!!!





war  and peace

[bernhard]

Bernhard,

I appreciate what you have to say on this topic.  I am an adult beginner and do realize that having short daily lessons would be most beneficial, however it does not seem very reasonable in my area.  Teachers around here charge $60/hour on average and I doubt I can find anyone willing to commit to short daily lessons.  Do you have any suggestions for me?  For the past year or so, I have been doing the 30-minute lesson per week thing.

As an adult beginner you have a lot of advantages over a child beginner. In a sense you can be your own teacher on several areas that a child would need guidance. For instance:

1.   You can design for yourself a program of systematic listening in order to get acquainted with repertory. Even better, as an adult you will have the resources to finance it, or find ways around it.
2.   You can buy books, go to lectures, attend concerts, watch DVDs, communicate with other piano students, teachers and performers (e.g. via this forum), in short you can get a lot of information that typically a child cannot or will not unless constantly spurred on by the teacher.
3.   As an adult you have the ability and skill to plan your work and to work your plan.

Truly, what you will need a teacher for is mostly for demonstrating movements, and checking that your movements are correct. Almost everything else you can do by yourself.

So, my suggestion is that you do have lessons everyday, but only once a week with your formal teacher, and the rest of the week with yourself. Use the lesson with your formal teacher to clarify issues, to bring questions and doubts and so on. In short do not waste your lesson time with that which you can manage by yourself. Investigate, try different approaches, find out what works for you. Use as a guideline in your investigations the philosophy that playing the piano should feel and look easy and sound beautiful. Of course to achieve that sort of effortlessness will take much effort.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[xvimbi]

Use as a guideline in your investigations the philosophy that playing the piano should feel and look easy and sound beautiful. Of course to achieve that sort of effortlessness will take much effort.

Isn't it funny that we spend so much effort just to make something effortless?

I have been spending too much effort in my life. I ran out of it. So, everything I do is now pretty much "effortless"

[leftiesrule]

xvimbi-- that cracked me up.

bernhard-- thanks for the kind advice.  I think my biggest hurdle right now is being able to play without having to look at the keys every second.  The way my piano teacher says to practice a piece is to play a measure (or even half a measure) then move on to the next one, until that one is solid.  However in doing this I memorize the piece which doesn't help me in my sight reading.  Sorry about the rambling but I guess I'm frustrated with myself at the moment.

[bernhard]

xvimbi-- that cracked me up.

bernhard-- thanks for the kind advice.  I think my biggest hurdle right now is being able to play without having to look at the keys every second.  The way my piano teacher says to practice a piece is to play a measure (or even half a measure) then move on to the next one, until that one is solid.  However in doing this I memorize the piece which doesn't help me in my sight reading.  Sorry about the rambling but I guess I'm frustrated with myself at the moment.

Have a look here:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2577.msg22247.html#msg22247
(Keyboard topography – how to find notes by touch)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3205.msg28255.html#msg28255
(how not to look at the keys – Richmann’s reviews)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4461.msg41580.html#msg41580
(Looking at the keys: Good or bad? exercises to help finding notes by touch. Good contributions by Chang).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[hinski]

Just like a famous philosopher said,' You will be benifical from a good teacher once in your life, vice versa.'

Oops! After reading onemanband’s posts, I jumped to conclusions too soon and have made a huge wrong assumption here. I forgot to CHECK THE DATE OF onemanband's POSTs! In case some of the readers who have made the same assumption like I did, please think twice and investigate it.  That is how rumor starts by misunderstanding or assumptions.

Since I have already written my post, I may as well leave it here.


After reading onemanband’s posts I feel I have to say something immediately.

Wow! I am so sorry for you and for the teacher.
I am so glad I had so many great piano teachers except this one which made my life so miserable in that year.  Here are some incidences.

In one of the lessons he wanted me to interpret differently (put in more schmaltz) in a Beethoven’s Sonata. I was using Urtext score*, so I asked why. I was very sorry I asked. He told me annoyingly “just do what I said” then we went on to another piece. 

So I played another one. At the introduction of the piece (the slow part) my finger slid so I played a wrong note. He asked me to stop and started to insult my musical background like how terrible my piano professor was in my undergraduate years. He kind of implied that she and the university where I studied before did not teach me anything. He went on and on for about a good half hour on this famous wrong note. Finally he wanted to demonstrate how the introduction should sound so he played one line of the slow introduction. He made THREE wrong notes in that little slow introduction. I have perfect pitch and know the piece well. It is very easy for me to tell.

Since this incident my nightmare began, in many of the lessons he often used his sarcastic tone on my playing, e.g. I played with instinct and I had no brain or I only got digital fingers nothing else. He even told one of his students (unfortunately it turned in to a rumor) that I am very talented but I don’t practice.  My goodness, I practiced at least five hours a day (quality practice with focused concentration and very honest self-criticism) every day religiously (early in the morning and late at night in order to practice on a good piano at school). I had this habit since I was doing my B.Mus degree. I asked myself what did I do to deserve this treatment???

He picked all my recital pieces and turned down every single one of the pieces I wanted to learn. Therefore I assumed he must know the pieces very well. At one of my dress rehearsals, I jumped one entry to another in a Toccata which was about two or three pages long. Afterward this teacher preached to me that I should not have rushed so much!!!!



*                 *              *              *               *            *

In my first year of undergraduate, I must say my playing was very basic. I could play all the notes in difficult pieces like Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz or Prokofiev sonata no. 3 and interpreted the pieces the way I wanted them to be just for the sound sake with no sound quality and totally unorthodox. I am embarrassed to say I didn’t even know what TONE meant at that time. Luckily my ex professor did not give up on me. She started to spoon feeding me painstakingly the phrasing, the pedaling, the interpretations. After a couple years of her treatments, I finally could be independent and have some decent interpretation of my own but tended to over-romanticize with a lot of banging and harsh tone. My ex professor tried to describe me what good tone is like (which is part of the interpretation as far as I considered), but I just could not get what she meant. Not to mention to play well in the pieces that contains some kind of Scherzo mood in it or just Mozart’s easy pieces like rondo. Unfortunately my ex professor could not demonstrate what she meant neither. She finally gave up on that topic. Thankfully at least she showed me the possibility. At that time, I often got some feedback from music festivals that my playing was not in style.  I mean if the playing is not in style it is just like a person speaking a foreign language, sounding phony, mis using words in his/her writing which can cause a serious misunderstanding or making lots grammatical mistakes. Of course, I wanted my playing to sound like a professional or at least to sound natural like it is my mother tongue, so I started to read a lot of books about performance and practice, spent fortune on buying CDs and went to many great concerts but still vaguely understood what playing in STYLE meant because music is so abstract you just can not use words to describe it.


Luckily I had a chance to study with Ronald Turini!! To me RONALD TURINI IS A GREAT TEACHER[/color]
He really opened up my ears, my view of interpreting music and answered my questions about TONE and STYLE.  To teach tone it is like to teach a blind person what sea or sky looks like, doesn’t matter how well you describe it, he probably can just vaguely know it, but if he has even just one minute to see what sky or sea is like, he will understand how it looks like right away more or less. To teach a deaf person how to speak or pronounce a word, why don’t you give it a try to see how much you can achieve?


I learned a great deal about tone merely through Mr. Turini’s demonstration.  His demonstrations just say it all.  Listening to his playing has always inspired me to search for the beauty and the color of the tone.



Regarding musical style, let me give you an example, if you ever try to play a Beethoven, Schumann or Brahms’ scherzo-like piece, if you are really keen about playing in style or at least creating a mood you’ll probably realize it is tough to grasp and bring that sarcastic/humorous feeling to the playing (to me it is). It doesn’t matter how many recordings and how many times I listened and tried to understand it. I just don’t get it. But through Mr. Turini’s many times of direct criticism “your sound is too heavy”, “still not quite right” which finally made me understand how to interpret these kinds of pieces and realized “Tone is definitely a part of interpretation.” Through his many demonstrations on how the timing should be (which is impossible to notate in the score and explain verbally), I finally grasped the timing of that millisecond silence or breath which makes a huge difference in creating a mood. To me to have a firm grasp on how to interpret some types of music (especially the ones that require subtle color) I really have to hear it live in a big room sized space in order to feel that ambiance. (Perhaps due to the limitation of the technology and equipment and the acoustics of the recording studio, the sound we hear from recordings is very slightly altered. Also the acoustics of the concert hall and the size of the audience can modify the sound tremendously.) 


He also made me finally understand how to interpret Chopin properly (Beauty is supreme over virtuosity most of the time). I mean before I studied with him, my Chopin always sounded like Liszt. 


Although he is such an exquisite, heartfelt and supremely natural and original great pianist, he has got an easy-going, down-to-earth and unpretentious personality. He never laughed or looked down at me when I made stupid mistakes or played badly.
He would have the patience to analyze the nature of the problem and try to fix it.  When I had no idea about how to interpret a piece, he would work hard with me to give me basic ideas but never wanted me to copy his interpretation. I am sure many of his students have already witnessed his incredible sight reading at the lessons.  He is like a walking dictionary whenever you asked him about a piece; he would be able to demonstrate it beautifully to you right away.   



Mr. Turini is the most patient and nicest (but direct) teacher I have ever had. Probably some students who have ego problems have been hurt by his directness.  You can not expect him to tell you that your playing is good if it is bad and it is immoral to do that. If you have pieces ready to play, he can go on and on until you run out of pieces or until somebody knocks at the door. If you did not practice or practice absent-mindedly for the lesson and kept playing wrong notes or wrong rhythm after he has told you and drilled you so many times, tell me what he can do for you.  He can not practice for you or do the jury for you.


I am so grateful that Mr. Turini and my ex teacher spent their time patiently and painstakingly in details to refine my playing. It demands a lot of concentration from them to pick up all these details and a lot of patience to polish them. I mean I could play the notes. If they were lazy, they could have just told me that my playing was not bad and asked me to play it again from beginning to the end to see if I could make it better or asked me to play the next piece. One hour or 50 min. a lesson is very short, after a couple of runs of long pieces, there's not much time left.



Some of my teachers were really mean but in a constructive way and I truly thank them (except one). I mean we pay for their professional opinions not for boosting up our egos. If we played badly or wrongly interpret a piece it is their job to tell us.

[pianowelsh]

I am sorry to be so blunt but I think your teacher (head of this post) was AWEFULL and unfortunately at the college level your teacher is not alone. They are many truely TERRIBLE teachers in music colleges who can play ( i should say used to be able to play) anything, but who frankly have no concept of the intricacies of teaching or pschcology.  frankly many of them are grumpy opinionated old men who dont care anything for the students - your just a number on their teaching schedule.  I have had some very mixed teachers in my time and a couple who were very similar to yours and i dont care how talented they are or how badly matched you are to them ther is NO excuse for them to 1). Be rude about you or degrade you or your previous teachers in the lesson (that is just them making excuses for themselves) also teachers should be able to recognise if a student is telling the truth re practice.  if a student is conscienciously practising 5 + hrs pday and not making progress when they are following your directions then you need to review the directions your dealing out (common sense) 2. Cutting lessons short OR demanding that you come in for extra lessons - if they are So good they can do all thats needful in the time allocated. 3. they should NEVER speak about you or your weaknesses to any other teachers or students or members of the public - that is a breach of trust. 4) Teachers should get it together and know their students capabilities and work around them.  if you have a student who is just able to make the requirements for juries etc and no more it dosent make sense to mess them about with repertoire and heap extra burdens on them and then leave them a shorter amount of time to prepare their programme than more talented students studying with the better more competant teachers - give them a chance!!!
A teachers role is to encourage the best out of students and to meet the targets laid out by the school first and foremost.  Not all of the people who do this will have international careers but if this is your aim then all your students will at least pass and be able to make their way in life.  it makes me so mad when I hear about others (an there are lots) who get ignorant teachers liek this and have their talent ripped to shreads by insesnitive and pompus jerks.  RANT over.  To those who are in situations with bad teachers, try to change f you possibly can for the sake of your morale.  if its absoultely impossible be open with them and say this is unacceptable and agree a programme of work at the beginning of the year and stick to it at least your goal posts arent moving then and grit your teeth and bear with it. Play out as much as possible and get real peoples opinions of your playing.