Teachers Say the Darndest Things...

[mason50]

Over on the teaching forum, there are quite a few posts about humorous comments made by students -- sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.   As we all know, good teachers can also have some good lines, so thought we could share some of those here. 

I have a phenomenal teacher, with a wonderfully dry wit.  Here are a few he's shared, just in recent months:

• "Well, let's just say it wasn't Schumann's fault." (In response to my expressing frustration about how a piece sounded.)
  
• "Why aren't you using the una corda pedal . . . you paid for it?"
  
• "Spending that much time playing a piece hands separately would be like learning driving directions by first studying just all the left hand turns and then studying just all the right hand turns."
  
• "One of my personal preferences is first having you hit all the right notes."
  

 

I'd like to think I'm a better piano player than the list suggests, but you'll just have to take my word for it.  Happy practicing.

[pianistimo]

i like those.  especially the idea of playing hands together vs. apart. 

ok.  i shared my very precious research paper on mozart cadenzas with my teacher and he says 'you spelled ibid wrong.'  i was somewhat ashamed and somewhat furious.  (i spelled it ibed)  especially since he said nothing further.  this essay i had literally bled and sweat over.  i wanted him to read the part about the missing folios and he gets stuck on spelling and punctuation.  (perhaps he was being very kind and did that to avoid any sort of bad blood between us).

ps since i thought he was being smart *'d - i asked him if he knew what ibid meant. sure enough - he knew the latin form and explained it precisely.  great awe came over me.

[emill]

Yes, some just see the leaves but not the forest..

[supernanny]

I don't agree with left and right hand together, if compared to proper driving.

If you learn driving in the proper way, that is imho with stickshift, you first learn how to use your left hand, which is to stay at the stearing wheel all the time (well, while making turns with hand crossing over, it is allowed to fly in the air very shortly). Of course, the right hand is also there, but after you managed to use the stearing wheel correctly and also drive at the correct speed, you are carefully allowed to start using your right hand. This is, it's resting position at the wheel can now be abandoned and you put it on the stick, while simultaniously press down on the middle pedal so you can shift gears. But he, you are still driving!. If you mess up, usually your instructor tells you to pull over in a safe spot, press down on the pedal and try out the correct right hand positions and shifting first, so you now where to go to. If this works well, you can proceed and put both hands and their actions together and from then on practice, practice, practice until driving goes smooth and safe and you are ready to take the test.

So, either the comparison goes wrong, or separating left and right hand in certain stages of the learning process is ok in order to prevent damage of the used materials and injury and frustration in the users.

Supernanny, who learned to drive in Europe in a stickshift.

[guendola]

My teacher will be away for a few months and suggested to take some lessons from one of her advanced students. Then she went

"XYZ is a great student. He is playing for half a year now and he is a real virtuoso. He is 18 years old and really amazing. Well, probably not the right teacher..."

[lagin]

Teacher:  "You can do anything you want."
Me:  "Really?"
Teacher:  "Yes, as long as I approve." 

 

[jlh]

In response to one of my remarks once about a piece or a scale or something (i can't remember what the issue was) one of my former teachers told me, "This is NOT a democracy -- in my studio it is a dictatorship and if you don't like it then don't come back next week." 

[thalberg]

Once my teacher was telling me how one of her students simply could not play the Schubert Gb impromtpu with any sort of artistry.  It just always sounded bad.

Later, I was with the student and she said to my teacher, "Wouldn't you just say that all students have their own interpretation, and all of them are valid?" 

My teacher turned to her and said, "Yours isn't."

[franzliszt2]

I heard about a masterclass once with a cellist at a conservatoire. The cellist in front of the whole school played in a masterclass with a famous cellist....at the end of the performance the teacher giving th masterclass said...."nothing I can say, just quit, you will never be a cellist ever, and that was dreadfull" And he refused to teach her, and sent her off the stage, in front of an audience!!

[gerry]

In all fairness, it isn't always the quality of the students' playing, sometimes they just piss their teachers off!

[quantum]

One of my most favorite sayings.  My teacher said this a lot to her students. 

"You don't have to do anything I tell you - as long as you do something"

[prongated]

In all fairness, it isn't always the quality of the students' playing, sometimes they just piss their teachers off!

...the way they send them out can be rather...><

Like the time a very famous piano teacher walked off the stage during the performance, then return at its conclusion to;

1) close the piano,
2) put a toilet roll on top of the piano, and
3) say "clean it up"

...it's a masterclass where ppl pay to get in, mind.