Being an adult student in asia

[etcetra]

I've been looking for a teacher for a while.. I am jazz pianist but i do want to spend some time learning some classical music, because i didn't go very far in it.  so far it has not been easy.. I live in an asia right now, .most teachers tell me that they only teach kids and they are not qualified to teach adults.. other teachers basically told me that it will be a waste of time to learn classical since i will start over completely as beginner and change the way I play.. they told me this without hearing me play at all. I am wondering,  why they can't work on the technique i already have and work on whatever it is that i am lacking?

Things were much different in the US, I knew good number of university professors who were willing to take older begginers if they show enthusiasm.. and they were more accepting of that fact that I am not taking classical music as seriously as other students.

It sort of reminds me of the film "Shall we dance".. I feel in Asia like there is a stigma for adults trying to acquire a skilled talent, like you are daring to cross a territory that is not meant for you.. I can understand their attitude to a certain extent.. most adults play for recreation and they are happy playing easy pop songs.. It's like they start lesson with a teacher with the assumption that will they never play anything challenging.. they dream about playing the chopin etudes, but in the mind they already decided that they just aren't talented enough.

I know we as Asians tends to be more practical, so its hard for teachers to understand why anyone would want to learn classical music at a high level when there is no incentive beyond self-improvement.  Besides there is no incentive for a teacher too since you can't send them to competition. 

I know there are exception, and i may be biased, but I just can't help but  think there is subtle difference in attitude when it comes to adults and music.. I met couple of japan musicians in college..some of them were late starters,  but a lot of them became sucessful and were able to go to a good grad school..they all pretty much told me that they would have never had this kind of oppertunity if they stayed in japan because if you didn't start young there really is place to learn music seriously...

[db05]

We have to be practical here because the standard of life is poor. If you can't make a living out of it, why learn it? Talk about stingy. But that makes the Japanese weird since they're rich but they still have that stigma.

As far as I know, there are no jazz pianists in my country (Philippines). Unless you count the dean who's converted to classical. Oh and classical guitar is just a stepping stone to shredding electric. Classical concert artists? They all studied and are based abroad.

There is no sense in staying here to study music if you can get out.