Opinion of the teacher's quality.

[faa2010]

I have been playing piano for 9 years with the same teacher.  She is right now grandma of 4 kids, she has been a piano teacher and music teacher in a Kindergarten (now she is retired as a Kindergarten teacher).  She gives private piano classes at her home, and since she got retired, older students returned with her.  She is very patient with her students and despite not being a very know pianist she has earned my respect (when I was in a business trip last year, I bought her a book with piano scores).

2 years ago, I met a teacher who is from the National Conservatoire.  She was recording in a studio I was doing my practicals (do free work in a radio station), I asked her if she could help me with some piano pieces, to check how I played them, she said yes.

I only went with her 2 or 3 times to the Conservatoire, and during those days, I wanted to "show off" the pieces, but she turned out very demanding, I felt that she struggled with me, that I have a clumsy way of playing, and that I need a lot of years to reach an acceptable piano playing.

One day, it turned out that during the day of her recording (I hadn't been all the day), she was demanding to the others about repeating the record because there had been a lot of mistakes during her playing.  One of the people I have know for her good character mentioned me that she was not a very nice person because she cared a lot that everything sounded like she wanted.

I haven't cared about what she told me about my clumsy piano or that I am not an expert in the subject, but I cared a lot when she told me that my teacher doesn't have a status, higher recommendations or an acceptable reputation as a piano teacher.

Well, she may not be the most highly recommended teacher in the world of classical music, she might not have been in concerts or her name is not widely known, but that doesn't show a true quality of a piano teacher, does it?

Of course, having a big reputation as a concert pianist, being a teacher in a conservatoire or being at the finals at piano competition can help a lot, but those are not the only things that can help a piano teacher, does it?

What do you think?

[m1469]

To those who have been open to me, including extraordinary generosities, I am deeply grateful, wherever you fall.

The rest I have erased, but left what I really mean in my life.  Sorry if I would have somehow offended anybody who I would not have meant to offend.

[perfect_pitch]

I used to be taught by an old retiree for a couple of years, before I hit university... and the sad thing was that she didn't prepare me at all for it, nor did she correct a lot of my bad habits, terrible practicing or shoddy playing.

As much as she was nice and kind - she was a sh*t piano teacher and I resent ever going to her. I paid money for 3 years to be given bugger all help and no advancement on the piano. She let me play hard pieces badly, instead of easy pieces brilliantly.

Faa2010... If I were you, and you were interested in pursuing music further - I'd dump your original teacher. I did and I haven't regretted it a single day.

[mcdiddy1]

You want to choose a teacher that tells you the truth based on the music. What does she mean by you were playing clumsy? Notes , rhythms, phrasing, it would help if she was more specific. Every excellent teacher I have ever had has never lowered their standards of music to accomadate my feelings. There has been times I have felt upset at them and felt angry I did not reach a level to where they found it was acceptable but I would not be the player I am with out it. I now have higher expectations for my playing and it has allowed me to reach goals I set for myself now. Now I adopt their standards for excellence and it pushes me to try and exceed that. Learning is not always an easy and comfortable process but the ones that succeed are the one who can go through it and pick themselves up from it.

That being said there is no room for a teacher who uses personal attacks to their student that is unfounded in the reality of playing or in the music.  I would choose the teacher that pushes to a new level of excellence even if the teacher is not "nice". It does not matter if you have a big reputation or in a Conservitory but if there is truth in what they are teaching.

[perfect_pitch]

Every excellent teacher I have ever had has never lowered their standards of music to accomadate my feelings. There has been times I have felt upset at them and felt angry I did not reach a level to where they found it was acceptable but I would not be the player I am with out it.

Actually - that is probably the best answer to the question... You're right.

I feel that way about my teacher... heck I've only ever had one good teacher in my life (and about a dozen crappy ones), and she pushes me to achieve my limit without lowering her standards of musicality and compromising her judgement.

[Bob]

To those who have been open to me, including extraordinary generosities, I am deeply grateful, wherever you fall.

The rest I have erased, but left what I really mean in my life.  Sorry if I would have somehow offended anybody who I would not have meant to offend.

Huh?


There are different kinds of teachers who can match to different kinds of students.  A friendly neighbor teacher might be a great match for a student who just wants to do piano for fun.  (That teacher could produce some high performing students too.)  A demanding performance artist style of teacher might be horrible for a student who just wants to have fun.  It's just the match. 

And there are other threads on here.  You can generally judge a teacher by how their students are as musicians, how they perform, how musical they are, etc.  How satisfied the student is with the teacher.  Possibly by how happy the student is about their musical progress, but happiness isn't going to be as much of a factor for the performance track students.  (At least from what I've seen.  The ones I know of seem extremely concerned about what's wrong in their playing.)

[nanabush]

I used to be taught by an old retiree for a couple of years, before I hit university... and the sad thing was that she didn't prepare me at all for it, nor did she correct a lot of my bad habits, terrible practicing or shoddy playing.

As much as she was nice and kind - she was a sh*t piano teacher and I resent ever going to her. I paid money for 3 years to be given bugger all help and no advancement on the piano. She let me play hard pieces badly, instead of easy pieces brilliantly.

Faa2010... If I were you, and you were interested in pursuing music further - I'd dump your original teacher. I did and I haven't regretted it a single day.

The EXACT same thing happened to me.  In my first year at university I was embarrassed to say I had played the Chopin G Minor Ballade... I was scared my teacher would get me to play it for him  

A nice teacher is a nice teacher, but if they've only done up to Grade 10 piano (RCM) then they have not played, let alone heard, ANY of the piano repertoire!!!  It sounds 'prestigious' to parents when they hear someone has their Grade 10, but that only covers about 1% of all piano music lol.

My technique was pretty good, because I did have to play every scale/chord/arpeggio in all keys, but my arched back, excessive hand movements, and sloppy-as-hell practicing really took its toll.  My teacher tried getting me to get the sheet music for Kapustin's second piano sonata for god's sake!  There is no way I can play that today (3 years after leaving that teacher and having more formal lessons).  It kind of sucks.  It's mostly cleared up now, but a few of the students in my year have done lots of chamber music OR have played a lot of classical sonatas.  I've got the Pathetique (probably because that was the only Beethoven sonata my teacher knew other than the Moonlight), and the Grieg Sonata (not even classical) whereas these other people have several Mozart Concerti, a Mozart Sonata, and like 3 Beethoven Sonatas under their belt.  During this time they were learning all that, I was probably struggling with the second page of the Friska from HR2...

From Grade 7-9 the lessons were fine, but I started noticing it when the teacher stopped having opinions on my playing (grade 10-ARCT).  I managed an 84% on the ARCT, but I think it was as if I had learned all that repertoire without a teacher (imagine if I had studied those pieces with a teacher who knew them!!).

Uggghhhhhh.... the worse thing is that my parents don't play any instruments, so they wouldn't have questioned it when I was younger taking lessons from that teacher.  She's not a registered music teacher in the ORMTA, and to be honest I didn't even know what that was until my university prof asked me if my old teacher was one...

I feel slightly stupid   but I can sight read like a demon after having to sit and attempt crazy stuff for 3 years.