Equilibrium, my teachers problem, please help us

[mplim]

Iīm new on this forum, so this is the first time I write something, just hoping to get some advice from the teachers who are member of pianostreet.

I have been playing the piano since I was about 6 years old. Because my family has been moving around a lot, my piano playing and piano lessons were often interrupted. As a child I didnīt enjoy nor hated to play the piano. My mother just wanted to discover her childrenīs talents and encouraged us to join in with a lot of things, one of it was playing the piano.

As a teenager I started to love piano playing and had a very nice and good teacher. Moving to another country at the age of 16, I worked during summer holidays to safe money to buy a piano and with the help of my parents was able to do so. So during secondary school I had piano lessons almost most of the time. After that my piano playing was interrupted again, because my study was a very demanding one and I didnīt have the time to take any lessons, unfortunately. After I finished my study my personal situation allowed me to play and take lessons again. During this time I played a lot and was able to reach level 8. When my personal circumstances changed, I had to stop taking lessons because my work took to much time. However I continued to play without any guidance.

10 years ago I got health problems and had to stop working. But unfortunately, it was not only that I was not able to work, but playing the piano was impossible too. So for 10 years I didnīt touch the piano at all. I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Now, being a lot older and after moving to another country again, I found a doctor who gave me some medication, which gives me energy to function a lot better during the mornings. So now Iīm able to play again, but only during the mornings. I feel so grateful for this and started to take lessons again and found a really good teacher.

After teaching me for 3 months, he told me that he has problems teaching me because he canīt find my "equilibrium". Because of the language barrier from both sides (both his and my English is not so very good and we always have a dictionary at hand during the lessons), I canīt understand what he means by this "equilibrium" expression. I can understand that it is difficult for him to teach me, because me myself donīt know anymore what I can or cannot play. I only noticed that Iīm not at level 8 anymore, but maybe more between level 6 and 7. Also a lot of mistakes in the way I play has crept in, which he tries to correct. During the last lesson he has asked me to help him by finding my equilibrium so he can teach me in a better way. He was a bit desperate. Both he as a teacher and me as a pupil are very motivated. I thought that by taking lessons all my problems will be resolved. Little do I know about teaching!

My question now is, can any of the teachers who are member of pianostreet help us? Does anybody understand the problems my teacher has? Can anybody explain to me what "equilibrium" in pianoplaying means? Does anybody has suggestions or advice for me? I can understand that my situation is a bit exceptional for a teacher. So now Iīm only hoping for help from other teachers.

Any advice, suggestions or comments would be appreciated very much. I would be very grateful for any kind of help from anybody. Thank you so much in advance!

[bandsoul]

I'm also new in pianostreet ... and this is my very first post 

Well, when he asks you to find your equilibrium, I guess he means that you have to find a balance in your playing mode... that's maybe because you have changed many times teacher and had all these problems that interrupted you and didn't let you concentrate into your studying...
I'm a brand new teacher and my experience in teaching is very small, and @ this time i see the things in 2 points of views: as a teacher + as a student....
I've also changed many times teacher... I recognize that all of them had some differences...
but I guess I am a little bit lucky that maybe all my teachers had alike theaching methods...

I don't know if I was clear... my english are not so great either.. 

[lostinidlewonder]

Equilibrium means a balance, and equality. There is no offical term called "Equilibruim" to define someones musical ability so I can only guess at what your teacher is specifying.

Maybe they mean, you are good at somethings, but at the same time bad at other things. You can do some difficult things, but at the same time there are other things you cannot do. I see this in students as well, we all have "holes" in our technique and inefficiencies in our musical approach (physical and mental approach).

Equilibruim might also relate to your disipline to your music, but rather the word erratic would be more suitable. If your efforts are erratic (you do not work in a balanced nature, there are some days of much work, and other days of no work) this can also disrupt your progress.

There is no such thing as finding an equilibruim or balance point in someones playing and trying to improve them from there (unless we are considering quality [rate in which pieces learnt] and quantity [mastery of pieces] of someones musical output. these two things should be balanced at a high level for mastery). As a teacher we can see the holes in a person overall ability and we aim to patch it up or draw the students attention to these details first.

As for your English skills, learning the piano cannot be described in words, in fact the simpler the words and the more direct the physical instruction, the better you learn. As soon as a teacher tries to describe what is supposed to happen with fancy words, you lose the message. So if a teacher is talking too complicated tell them to simplify their language, if they cannot, then they don't really know what they are talking about and using "smokes and mirrors" of their language to cover it up.

[mplim]

Thanks a lot for replying.

I think you both are right about me not having any stability or balance in my piano playing. Iīm good in some aspects and really bad in other. So there are holes in my ability of playing. Also it can be true, that due to my health problems (I have good days and bad days) my practicing is not a constant one by for instance 2 hours every day. During my good days I can play for hours and during my bad days Iīm really not able to do anything. This was not the case when I was younger and in good health. As I have mentioned before, me myself am not able to know anymore what I can do and what I can not. I thought by taking lessons, my problems could be solved.

I will ask my teacher to explain to me in a more simple way what his problem is.

To give more information to this forum: my teacher has asked me to improvise and just play without scores, so he would be able to judge my playing better. This has disheartened me, because I have never done this before. I tried to do it, but also in doing this, I found out that my own improvisations are so different each time, depending on the mood Iīm in. I donīt think my teacher is trying to cover up anything. He has admitted that he has a problem in teaching me and was so honest to ask me to help him.

If anybody has more ideas to help both my teacher and me, please do so. I would appreciate this very much!

[timothy42b]

Just a suggestion.

We are trying to guess what the English word equilibrium means when used by a non-English speaker to a non-English speaker. 

And the English word equilibrium itself has a number of meanings even to those of us who are native English speakers.

Maybe you should tell us what the real word is in the teacher's language.  Probably there is someone here who speaks that language and can help.  This is an international forum. 

A quick story:  I was at a seminar where a French musician was going to speak to a group of Americans.  A French interpreter was hired.  She quickly gave up.  She apologized, but said that while she knew French and English well, she did not understand the technical musical terms and could not explain them.  As it turned out, the musician could also speak German, so we found an audience member who was a musician and could translate. 

[go12_3]

I thought this thread was another thread and I cannot delete here....pardon me...

[slobone]

Yes, I'm also wondering if it isn't just a language problem. Maybe your teacher doesn't know how to explain it in English and he thinks "equilibrium" is what he means. I've had 5 teachers over the years and none of them ever used that word that I can remember. Maybe he could sit down at the piano and show you what he means?

But I'd also like to add that I think it's wonderful what you're doing. To carry on with lessons after  everything you've been through shows real bravery and persistence. A good teacher will certainly take all that into account. If you think your teacher is unsympathetic, find another one.

And PS your English is excellent!