teachers in San Jose, CA

[elsie07]

I just found out that my college piano teacher moved to South Carolina.  Something came up rather suddenly and he left without much notice.  I need to find a new teacher before the semester starts in three weeks.

Does anyone know of good piano teachers with at least a master's (preferably a doctorate) - the college's requirement, not mine - in the San Jose area of California?  Two teachers I'm considering are Hans Boepple of Santa Clara University and Namik Sultanov of San Jose State University, both of whom teach students outside of the universities.

Thanks!

[faulty_damper]

What college requires you to take lessons outside of the school who has a Masters or a Doctorate?!  I've never heard of such requirements before for any school.

[elsie07]

The school requires that faculty - including private instructors - have at least a master's degree.  Any student who takes lessons through the school will be studying with someone who has a master's or higher, so they extend that requirement to instructors outside of the school as well, I guess to ensure that teachers have the same level of education (if not the same level of teaching, which I realize is not always the case just because they have a graduate degree) as the faculty at the school.  The only person not required to have a master's is the staff accompanist.  If the school has faculty for an instrument - piano, voice, or string bass, for instance - students study with a faculty member.  But it's a community college and they don't have the resources to hire instructors for all the main instruments.  My former teacher, the one who just moved, had a DMA, and he was through the school.  He was the only one who taught at my level - the other three teachers could teach my level, since they all have a Masters, but they specialize in beginning and intermediate students, mainly the ones who are doing the piano proficiency for the major.  The depatment chair recommended that I check elsewhere first for a teacher who specializes in teaching advanced students, such as at a local university or even private teachers, but if I get desperate I'll talk to those other teachers at the school.


Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer!

[faulty_damper]

In my experience, the ones with Doctoral degrees (in piano performance) were poor instructors.  No doubt!  A doctorate in piano performance, NOT teaching.  These are two very different skills and one that is difficult to reconcile because most people who are able to do something at a high degree of skill don't know how they do what they do.  And if they don't know how they do what they do then they don't know how to transfer it to others, often reverting to saying what they were told what to do.