My teachers strange?

[darcyhj]

I have been learning the piano for 13 years now and I got a new teacher this year as my old one could not make it to my area for private lessons any more. Now my new teacher doesn't seem to point out any technical problems with my playing, she just points out some wrong notes some times or gives me some style tips. I feel like all i do is play my pieces, she'll point out a couple of issues and then we'll go onto the next one. I could do this myself, is it worth getting a new teacher, or is this what you do?

[lostinidlewonder]

What you should do is take control of the lesson and ask questions. Say you find this passage uncomfortable and could she direct you how to make it more comfortable or practice comfort into it. That is a fair enough question to ask and her response will make you know if she is the right teacher for you or not. A teacher should increase your rate of learning, should reveal things you didn't know you didn't know etc, so if you don't find that is happening you should try to find another teacher.

[guendola]

To me it sounds like your new teacher is trying to teach you making music rather than operating the piano. This is a very strange approach indeed if you are used to technical studies, scales, speeding up your fingers etc. But it automatically leads to new challenges and there will be moments where you must be very careful about selecting the correct techniques in order to play exactly the way you want to play. I guess that after 13 years of lessons you have a pretty nice repertoire of techniques and it is more important now to refine the use of them.

But what do you mean by "a couple of issues"? Working on those is probably meant to be your homework. And if you don't know how, you have to ask her. She might expect that after 13 years of learning you know how to practise.

Of course I could be completely wrong. Perhap your teacher is just lazy and doesn't care if you learn or not. It is up to you to find out. Lostinidlewonder is right, you should take a bit of control over what is happening during the lessons. After 13 years of lessons there can still be a lot of detailed work to do but finding out exactly is much more difficult than it was during the first two or three years.

[db05]

I have teachers like that. The trick is to ask questions. Lots and lots of them. Start a conversation. Talk about your goals. Some teachers are like that, they wait for you to say something.

[janef88]

Perhaps your teacher has faith that you know what you're doing and is giving you a chance to work it out yourself.  In College I had a teacher who wouldn't immediately  correct me, but let me try to figure it out myself- that way I could learn more myself and not need a teacher sitting by my side always.

[communist]

develop a technical ploblem and see if she notices it

[mr music]

I agree with many comments. However if it were me, I would get to that teacher where she could teach me. I use to know players who would commute (fly) from one state to another every fortnight to get to their teacher.

[alexalin]

I appreciate that you are learning the piano from 13 years.It's very bad the your new teacher is giving you  wrong notes and wrong tips to play the piano. It's better to talk with your elders.

[m19834]

Well, there are definitely going to be some pretty strange teachers in the world since teachers are people and people can be pretty strange  .  However, I wouldn't say the teacher is necessarily "strange" in this case.  Yes, you could ask questions and such, but what really matters is figuring out if this situation is going to work for you or not, and that is something that only you are going to be able to truly decide.  If you are going to be playing for the rest of your life, and always wishing to improve, you will probably have a number of teacher experiences throughout your life.  I think that one of the best things a person can do for themselves is observe one's circumstances and one's reaction as a person and as a musician to those circumstances.  Get to know yourself !  Sometimes it may just be a matter of needing to get used to a new style or so, but observe very carefully what the experience induces within yourself.

Remember, the teacher/student or apprentice/mentor relationship is afterall a relationship and it can either be a huge blessing or a huge curse, just like any other relationship.  In most cases it is not just the teacher or just the student that is making something work or not work, but rather the combination of the two of you and how you do or do not match up together as individuals.

[alexalin]

Hi,as per my knowledge you are the best in playing piano,but the problem is,you don't have confidence on you,do you  think that you really need a guidance to play piano, by the text i got to know you are excerpt in piano,i can say it because when you got the doubt that the teacher is perfect to teaches you,is it not enough for you ? Just think a while...

[alexalin]

Well,It will be really good if you respond to me and concentrating on your piano classes,i just want to say you are really good enough to play piano,may be your teacher is strange but you still gain knowledge from her Sharing the information is nothing but gaining the information.

[lung_elrancho]

She could be lazy but she could be doing the best that a good teacher can do. I am not with you in the lesson and I don't know your playing ability, so it is difficult to say what kind of teacher she is.

I recall that when I was younger, I had very good technique, really liked music. But I was immature, not fully understand the richness of a standard repertoire...My teacher at that time kind of behaved the way you were describing yours.

That was about 17 years ago back in high school. Now I've grown up and have been realizing, ever since leaving my teacher's studio, that there's much more in music than what he had taught me.

Should I say that he was a bad teacher? Maybe, Maybe not. I think rather than determining whether he was good or bad, what's more appropriate to say is I wasn't ready to understand music at such a lofty level back then that he did not lecture and nag me on the "musical things" that I could have done better.

Then was he irresponsible? Thinking back, I don't think so. Music is for enjoyment. If I could only understand and really enjoy the little aspect in music, then he was just being realistic and work on those aspects that I can handle. (And I read that you wrote your teacher, in here and there, would point out some tips on style...) I really did enjoy my little world of music (the technique...)so he celebrated with me--although he did try to, from here and there, point out the more mature, musical, and important aspects in piano performance.

Now I am not necessarily saying that your playing is nonmusical, or that you're just not ready to accept lofty ideas. Maybe your teacher is just really lazy!! So, that's why I said from the beginning that I haven't heard your playing, seen your teacher, to conclude anything.