Choosing a piano teacher

[aerostranger]

hello,

I'm 20 years old. I play the piano for 4 months all by myself, I'm able to play easy classical pieces.
I want to start taking lessons in order to improve my technique and become more advenced player.

I visited a teacher today, 48 years old guy who plays the piano for 40 years.
He's very kind and I can imagine myself learning from him, but I'm not impressed from his abillities as a pianist. I played for him what i've learned till now, and he played for me two nocturnes of chopin, knowing that I'm deeply touched by his compositions. the cost per lesson is a little bit above average, but he lives very close to me, so it's still worthwhile.


my question is whether a decent piano teacher should be highly capable as a pianist? or maybe his ability as a pianist is almost meaningless as a teacher?

how should I find a decent piano teacher in your opinion?

[kuya]

that teacher sounds like a really nice person.
I think there are alot of important things a piano teacher has to have, and being a good pianist is not one of those. You are the student and he is the one trying to make you as good as possible, and not himself. Im sure he will teach you alot, but somewhere you might hit a wall and swap the teacher after.

When you're starting out, the teacher is not really important, what is important is that you have fun and are diligent. Then, when youve mastered all the basics and you develope your own style and play bigger pieces like sonatas you need a teacher to make sure you play with emotion and develope your own style. But first things first, he seems like a great teacher for starters.

[solstyce]

Well, when I started lessons I had already been playing some beethoven and mozart, and I definitly started with a teacher who wasn't very talented. I mean, she was great at other instruments, but not piano. After about a year of lessons from her, I could honestly say I could play better than here. But she is the person who started me off, taught me how to read music, and for that im greatful. But the teacher I had after her was definitly better for improving my technique. And she was an amazing piano player.

[drorperl]

I think its a good idea to give it a chance and after a few lessons you'll surely know better if you're getting what you're hoping for (guidance and inspiration )or not.

Being a great player/performer doesn't necessarily mean being a great teacher, and vice versa...

Good places to start looking for a good teacher in your area would be:

Google, Craigslist.com, Piano Teacher Federation, and asking at the local conservatory ?

good luck

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dror Perl. Pianist, Composer, Teacher.

https://www.sheerpiano.com/

Sheer Piano: The First Full Color Piano Music Books
simple jazz & contemporary compositions that are fun for beginner pianists & up

[gyzzzmo]

Ofcourse a pianoteacher doesnt have to be a great pianist. Understanding technique/music and being able to explain that, is alot more important than being able to express that. Especially when teaching a person new to the piano like you.

But personally i'd be quite disappionted if a teacher cant even play something fairly simple like most Chopin nocturnes properly, unless he has some medical issues causing it. I dont know though if your teacher prepared playing those abit, or if you are musically able enough to recognize good playing

[myrrha]

Ideally a good teacher should be a good pianist first of all. Especially if you are already playing something then you would need someone who can sit down and demonstrate well. But it sounds like the you are talking about is a good choice. And Chopin Nocturnes are really extremely hard! To say that they are 'fairly simple' is just not professional.

[sucom]

I think a teacher should be a good player first and foremost.  A teacher, after all, is teaching you to sharpen the tools that will develop the technique required for expressing the music.  Just knowing how the music should be expressed doesn't necessarily mean that they know 'how' to develop the tools.  The more a teacher has developed the tools, the more easily he will be able to demonstrate how to develop them yourself.

But on top of this, a teacher must have an affinity with his students and the desire and understanding to develop their ability in the best way possible for the individual involved. So two issues are important here  - the ability to demonstrate knowing the difficulties involved through their own development, even if a little rusty through teaching rather than practising, and the ability to teach.

[music32]

I agree with elements of all the previous postings. Having had many piano teachers during my life, I would say without doubt that  one who stood out as the best, and I will give the reasons so this may guide you. She loved the piano with a passion that was so infectious that it trickled down to me very quickly. She was a fantastically sensitive musician who performed in public sparingly, but when she did,  (in New York City) it was more than an inspiration to listen to her. She went back to basics with me.. I was 13 at the time and starting out at the HS of Performing Arts, where I was highly influenced by the presence of Murray Perahia. All my previous teachers did NOT teach me how to approach a piece of music from the ground up, so I was lost, frustrated and tearful along the way.
This teacher, and her name was Lillian Freundlich, imparted a universe of intuitive knowledge about the singing tone dimension of the piano, and all others before her, were locked up and quite inhibited.
A good teacher, must be in love with the instrument and know how to produce a beautiful singing tone. He should have a competent technique and have analyzed aspects of it in order to communicate that knowledge to a stduent. He or she  must be sensitive to the students' needs at the moment that individual enters the sanctuary of learning. He must play well.. and I am talking here about the teacher being conscientious enough to have prepared whatever pieces he or she is teaching. In my own studio, I have a few advanced students who want this or that pyrotechnical Chopin Etude, and if I have not studied it, I won't teach it. I will take the time to study it BEFORE embarking on a teaching adventure with a student, and in this way the learning experience is shared. We learn so much from our students.

I just happened to post my most recent teaching video and this has been fun, because this undertaking helps me clarify my own ideas about teaching and communicating.
https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/piano-instruction-harmonic-rhythm-and-phrasing-part-1-mozart-sonata-in-c-k-545/