Teacher in California?

[rachopin]

Hello. Thank you so much for all answers. I do not need anymore.

[brahms4me]

You are in a great area!  You shouldn't have any trouble finding a good teacher.

Go to   https:        //www.mtac-sf.org/finding_teacher.htm   

There are many teachers from which to choose. 

[faulty_damper]

You should know what your needs are as a student and find a teacher who can address them immediately.  What you should expect in San Francisco and Marin county is higher lesson and tuition rates considering the cost of living in this area.  Because of this, you need to be careful finding a teacher that is good for you because individual rates can mislead you into wasting money on something you don't want.

As a student you need to ask potential teacher questions about his/her method of teaching and how he can address your goals (you must have goals).  You need to be sure you know what you want to accomplish and ask questions to see if those goals can be met.  The teacher should also be someone who can offer more than your desired goals.

You need to be more specific in presenting yourself.  Who doesn't want a good teacher? And intermediate level is too vague of a description.

A good teacher will want to know some things like:
How old you are
When you started playing
Why you started playing
What you want to achieve now and in the future
What do you currently play or have played
Your ideas about music and the piano

And by communicating with you he'll be able to figure out:
How much interest you have in taking lessons
If you ready to have lessons
Are you self-motivated
And whether or not he would be compatible with your goals.

So you need to be more specific in order to find a good teacher because you may end up finding a teacher who would be a poor match and you don't want to waste your time or money.  Then there are some teachers everyone should avoid (they teach in a conservatory or a university and are not interested in being a pedagog.)

[nyonyo]

To me asking too many questions is useless. Do your research on the piano teacher from whom you are intersted in taking lesson. Call or send him an e-mail with short description of yourself.
Make sure that you tell him as truthful as possible. However, if you really want to take lesson from him, you need to sugar coat a little bit, otherwise, he did not even want to audition you.

You can say whatever you want to say, but your playing it the ultimate test.  There is somebody in this forum sounds so good in talking about piano. But once, I heard her playing, I know right away that she is just full of herself.

One important thing that you need to remember is that you do not have contract with the teacher. If you do not like the progress, you can just quit any time and so is the teacher.

Afterall, this is just a piano lesson.

[faulty_damper]

To me asking too many questions is useless. Do your research on the piano teacher from whom you are intersted in taking lesson. Call or send him an e-mail with short description of yourself.
Make sure that you tell him as truthful as possible. However, if you really want to take lesson from him, you need to sugar coat a little bit, otherwise, he did not even want to audition you.

How do you even find this teaching in the first place?  And if you've found him, should you not contact him and ask him any important questions you have about the way he teaches?

It's not easy to research a teacher before contacting him.  And asking for an "audition" by sugarcoating an elicit email or message is an easy way to be taken in for a ride.  This seems more like wanting to take lessons from a famous name, and not interested in learning from an appropriate teacher.

It's amazing how many students are suckered into thinking a famous teacher's name means this teacher is an excellent teacher just like thinking a famous conservatory or university means it's an excellent school.  They almost always are not.  The requirements for acceptance are very high and they only accept students who can already play their instrument.  Such teachers are not interested in teaching piano but it's good for their reputation - all their students are good with no effort on the part of the teacher.  Maybe someone should ask who these students first teachers were...

[nyonyo]

My assumption is that the student knows how to play piano already.
Therefore, he wants to take lesson from a non average piano teacher.

The best way is just to take a lesson for a month or so to find out the way he teaches.
There are many people who are not good in expressing themselves, but when comes to teaching they will be wonderful. On the otherhand, many people who talk big but cannot deliver...Just try the teacher if you do not like him, just quit. Why make this notion so complicated....

[faulty_damper]

My assumption is that the student knows how to play piano already.
Therefore, he wants to take lesson from a non average piano teacher.

So in other words, you are not looking for a pianoteacher.   Any excellent musician would do at this point, even a performing violinist, et al.

The best way is just to take a lesson for a month or so to find out the way he teaches.
There are many people who are not good in expressing themselves, but when comes to teaching they will be wonderful. On the otherhand, many people who talk big but cannot deliver...Just try the teacher if you do not like him, just quit. Why make this notion so complicated....

And you spend your money on something you may not want and may end up wasting your time as well.  This would be wonderful if you have a limitless bank account but most people don't. 

Finding a good teacher is difficult even when there are lots of choices.  Just like most people are only mediocre, so are most piano teachers (and lawyers, doctors, nurses, etc.)  And just like some are absolutely terrible, so too are some piano teachers (and lawyers, doctors, pianists, etc.)  For this reason, finding a gem among grains of sand is like finding a needle in a haystack.  A student has to ask questions and the teacher's response should tell a lot more than just the questions asked.  This is one way you narrow your choices and one way to learn about potential teachers.

Teaching requires trust from the student.  The student must trust that the teacher can help him/her in his goals.  Without trust, learning will not take place.  Just taking lessons from any teacher and then quitting after a month if it does work out creates the perception that it's just a service and gaining trust with a potentially great teacher difficult.  A student who's looking shouldn't have to think that there are no good teachers for him, or worse, that he is not worthy of being taught.

[nyonyo]

And you spend your money on something you may not want and may end up wasting your time as well.  This would be wonderful if you have a limitless bank account but most people don't. 

You got it right...It is hard to deal with people who have such a limit amount of money. They are becoming so picky in order to preserve their limited amount of money. They need to ask tons of questions. It is merely a piano lesson, it is not like you are getting married that you will be stuck and hard to get out.

To me, I take the lesson first, and then I decide whether I like the style or not...As I said earlier, people can say whatever they want, but the most important thing is whether he or she can satisfy what I need.  The trust that you mentioned is not from the talking...but from the service that they provide!

Students also need to be realistic in choosing a teacher. If you are an intermediate students, you should be cautious to take a lesson from an extremely well known concert pianist. In general, a concert pianist will not have enough patient to teach you, because they used to deal with very capable students. Therefore, I do not agree with faulty damper that we should not feel that we are not worthy to be taught. There is level for every person. We do need to feel not worthy when we are facing a high caliber pianist, for they may not have the patience to deal with us.

In addition, it is a two way interaction. You may want to take lesson from certain teacher, that teacher, however,  may not be willing to teach you. Especially, if you are not good and ask to many questions. Just take  lesson first, and then later you are the one who decide whether you want to continue or not.

[faulty_damper]

In addition, it is a two way interaction. You may want to take lesson from certain teacher, that teacher, however,  may not be willing to teach you. Especially, if you are not good and ask to many questions. Just take  lesson first, and then later you are the one who decide whether you want to continue or not.

As a teacher, I want potential students to ask questions, lots of them.  This lets me know they are serious.  If they don't ask questions, that gives the impression that they are uncertain about the role of the teacher and student, among numerous things.

If the student is not a good pianist, isn't that not the reason they are looking to take lessons?  Obviously it is!  There is a huge different between someone who teaches how to play the piano and make music and someone whom you only pay to listen with some feedback.  The later doesn't require a piano teacher.  Any musician will do.

Students also need to be realistic in choosing a teacher. If you are an intermediate students, you should be cautious to take a lesson from an extremely well known concert pianist.

But this gets back to the point of how to find one.  Most students don't know the difference and usually will stick with a teacher because they don't know that there are differences among teachers.  Teachers just fall under the title of "teacher".  It doesn't matter if they are only able to teach reading & basic skills, or advanced listening & performing skills.  As students, they don't realize what actually goes on.

It is the duty of teachers to inform students what they offer in terms of instructions, expectations, etc.  Educating potential students that there are many possibilities is something all teachers sould do.

[nyonyo]

You and I have totally different approach in choosing teacher.
I do know what I want and trust my own finding not based on what the teacher said or bluff ahead. I give them a chance to prove to me. I will approach a teacher based on her or his background. I will not deal with unknown teacher. The teachers whom I approach must have won a competition in the past. They may not be a good teacher, but at least they know how to play piano well. This is my job to get info from him or her. I will direct them to help me to solve certain playing problem. I am active in this stage of the lesson. I do not ask too much thing at the beginning, because I only care to what they can do not what they say.

All good piano teachers whom I know always play well. I do not agree with your assertion in another topic saying that playing ability has nothing to do with teaching. The better a teacher plays, the more likely he or she will be able to help to solve our problem.

I do not know what your rate per hour. If you charge at least $60 per hour, you know that the student must be pretty serious. If your price range less than $30 per hour, you may want to find out whether the student serious or not. In addition, I know the pool of students in that price range (lower than $30) is big...so you may want to interview them more. But when the rate is $60 and above, the pool is considerably small, therefore, those concert pianists cannot be too picky too to choose students. There are many concert pianists who are starving.

We may  be discussing difference class of quality and price range here, that is why we never come to an agreement.