This is a bit of a long shot, but...

[hildegarde]

...does anyone know of any excellent piano teachers in Ottawa, ON?

I am an adult (21 yr. old) beginner.  I play the flute at an advanced level, but would like to take up piano as a second instrument.  I just moved to the city, and have been poking around, but haven't had much luck yet.  I've tried out two different teachers--however, I didn't really click with either of them.

Also, for all the adult students here: how do you get a teacher to take you seriously?  Since I picked up flute as a child, I never had much problem with finding an instructor.  However, it seems to me that with piano most teachers take the attitude that if you're not a kid, you don't deserve the same level of attention/dedication.     It's really frustrating me as I'd like to be treated as though I have the same level of potential as a six year-old.  Am I expecting too much?

[elspeth]

It can be really difficult. I was in exactly the same position as you when I started - orchestral-standard flute player taking up piano as an adult. I was really lucky, I signed up for lessons at the college of music in my city and got a fantastic teacher.

I think when you start with a new teacher you can do a lot worse than just ask them outright about their approach to adult beginners. How many adults do they teach? What kind of standard are those adults now, and what standard when they began with this teacher? Is the teacher open to not teaching you exam syllabus music if you don't want to take the exams?

One point I again was very lucky with... you, like me, are a beginner pianist but not a beginner musician, therefore (as long as you can read bass clef, even haltingly) you probably won't learn well from the usual beginner books that teach you to read music as well as to play. I never even tried, but had I been made to it would have driven me mad. So you need to ask your teacher whether they can teach you to play from 'proper' music, rather from run of the mill tutor books. You'd be surprised how many teachers don't know how to teach beginners if not by working through a particular set of tutor books... and a whole set of tutor books will set you back a lot of money considering how much more time the books will take teaching you elementary theory than how to play the piano.

It's a minefield! But there are good teachers out there who teach adult beginners very well, you've just got to ask them right at the start if they regularly teach adults and what their attitude is to teaching adult beginners.

If there's a decent music department at your local university, it can be worth seeing if you can find a piano student to teach you. They'll usually be cheaper than professional teachers, and you'll be valuable experience for them!

Good luck!

[m1469]

Hi Hildegarde,

No, you are not expecting too much.  There is a right teacher for you !   Now, you mentioned that you have actually interviewed with a couple of teachers, but that neither one of them clicked.  Do you know what the leading factors were in why these teachers did not click for you ?

I would suggest that you make something of a portfolio for yourself, so you can take this to each teacher that you visit.  Put in there what your musical experience is and what your musical goals are.  Write a paragraph or so about why you would like to be studying music and piano.

Teachers who have something to offer their students are happy to have students who want the information they have to give and whom are serious about learning the craft that the teacher has devoted his/her life to.  For you to make a sort of portfolio for yourself, you will in a sense be helping to weed out those teachers who are not right for you.  A serious teacher is doing the same thing, weeding out the time-waster students, and is looking for somebody like you.  The right teacher for you is looking for the student that you are.

Hope this helps,
m1469

[hildegarde]

Thanks guys,

Elspeth--I was thinking about checking out the local universities--however, I kinda live on the fringes of the city, and they're rather out of my way, so I was combing my neighbourhood/area first for teachers.

m1469--writing down a little "portfolio" sounds like a brilliant plan.  Thus far, I've been trying to verbally communicate my needs, but a written document is far more concrete.

I will tell you what the first two teachers I interviewed were like:

The first lady seemed fairly promising.  She was a brisk ten minute walk from my house, had her diploma in music performance from the RCM as well as a degree in education.  She specialized in teaching children, but when I called her she sounded quite open and enthusiastic about teaching an adult--I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, halfway into my introductory lesson, her small daughter of 7/8-ish comes down into the basement of her house crying (where the piano is).  The teacher proceeds to ignore me for a full ten minutes while she tries to soothe her daughter.  She finally goes upstairs and comes back down alone.

Me (giving her the benefit of the doubt): Oh, couldn't get a babysitter tonight?
Teacher: ... Why would I need a babysitter?  I'm a stay at home mom.

And... she counted those ten minutes as part of my lesson.   

The second teacher I interviewed had fabulous credentials.  However, she seem dismayed that I wanted to take the RCM exams, and kept trying to dissuade me.  She all but said that I would never be anything but a rank amateur because I didn't start when I was young.  While I don't see myself playing at Carnegie Hall, or anything, I'd like my teacher to at least to have some faith in my abilities.

[danny elfboy]

The second teacher I interviewed had fabulous credentials.  However, she seem dismayed that I wanted to take the RCM exams, and kept trying to dissuade me.  She all but said that I would never be anything but a rank amateur because I didn't start when I was young. 

This is such a bullshit plain and simple!
You know that theory called the "critical period" according to which the first years of one's life are vital to learn new things and after that period your ability to learn new things proficiently is curtailed? Well that theory has been debunked massively and has been disproved over and over. It is know nowadays that if a child can learn more it is not because of something special in his/her being so young but about the social circumstances that being that young imply (less pressure, less competitivity, less self-loathing and self-criticizing, less anxiety, less narrow-mindedness.

So in truth someone older than a young child has all the potential of a child as long as he/she approach things like a child. Being a "sponge" that absorb information has nothing to do with age, but with a mindset which is stereotypically and wrongly socially linked to a certain age while in truth everyone can choose to nurture and keep such mindset.

[m1469]

Yes, so you have already learned a lot I think from these two interviews.  Also, since you have been a flutist for so long, you have undoubtedly had some form of ongoing lessons, so in terms of learning environments, you already have a lot of experience to pull from.

Your learning environment is very important and the fewer distractions, the better (in my opinion).  It seems that you are already witnessing the fact that "credentials" don't necessarily mean that the individual teacher is going to actually meet your needs.  If you have your particular goals and you have an idea of your particular environmental needs, all that really matters is you finding the right individual who will give you the attention that you need and get you going in the right direction.  

Bare in mind, a serious teacher will have ideas of their own for sure, but a good teacher/student match up will not have these ideas dominate you in a way that blocks out your own desires in your musical endeavors (unless that's what you want).  A teacher is naturally "supposed" to have a broader view than you of what you need, that is why you are paying them to help you.  Those should be congruent with what you ultimately want though and not mere dissuasions from your musical goals.

For me, it was very important that I got at least my Bachelor's Degree, and it meant a lot to me to have that be in music/piano.  Those were personal goals of mine that had to do with my personal sense of self-worth and achievement.  If you feel you need to accomplish something in particular for personal reasons, that is perfectly valid and it's of course important to find somebody whom will help you toward these goals.

m1469

[rc]

I think having a good idea of what I wanted helped me find the right teacher.  I spread the word among family and friends then got the number of a guy who teaches at the university who recommended me to my teacher.

Rather than asking his teaching policies I told him what I wanted and we went from there.

I've found respect is something to command.  If I work hard and do a good job, even if people don't like me they really have no choice but to respect a job well done.

Well, good luck in your teacher hunt!  I know what it's like to deal with bad teachers, as a kid two teachers had me wanting to quit guitar.  I think the key is to be direct and explicit with your goals, then you can judge the teachers response.  If they're humming and hawing then you can expect resistance, if they're accepting of your goals then all is well.

[hildegarde]

This is such a bullshit plain and simple!

I completely agree.  Hence, I didn't stay with the teacher.

OK,  I'm having a preview with another teacher this Wednesday night.  She's only a few years older than me, but has a degree from McGill (in Montreal).  I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Thanks to everyone who commented!

[keypeg]

I've changed my message since I now see the quest for a teacher was a few weeks ago and a good one was found.  Note to self: read the date.  Glad you found a good teacher!