Do I need a teacher right now? Or wait?

[callaeie]

Hi. I'm Calla. I have taken piano for 11 years or so. I even took piano lessons from a great teacher in college, but I was all uncertain about a music bachelors'. NOW I want one. But while I was in college, I had bad self control and discipline and I didn't make myself practice. I was LAZY   My poor piano teacher was at his wit's end trying to motivate me to do something that only I could do: PRACTICE a lot more than I was doing.

So right now, I practice piano more often, but I should admit that it's not very serious practice, probably because I don't have any specific goals, and because I am a lazy person, inherently I guess. And I blanch whenever someone puts pressure on me to do hard work, which is really just an issue I have and I need to be motivated on my own and less sensitive, hehe

So now, I am punishing myself a little bit by not having a teacher and trying to make myself practice by my own design.

Now that I've changed a little and I realize that having a teacher is TOTAL privilege, should I get a teacher right away? Am I ready to have a teacher again?

OR will I make progress if I spend more time learning how to practice more consistently, like three hours a day before getting a teacher? This option seems safer and is likeable to me.

[bleicher]

I think you've asked an impossible question. Only you can know whether your attitude has changed enough to be able to make the most of lessons, and really it's up to you to decide whether to keep up the routine even when you start finding it difficult to. But well done for getting this far, and best of luck.

[keypeg]

Sometimes what feels like laziness is actually not having goals to work toward, and not knowing what having goals means.  If you got a teacher, do you know what goals you would want to work toward?

[gsmile]

I think you've asked an impossible question.

Bleicher's got it right. It really is up to you in the end, to decide whether or not you're ready to take up lessons with a teacher again. But knowing that you were wrong in the past (and that you needed to change your attitude) is definitely the first step! Good luck!

[lostinidlewonder]

...... But while I was in college, I had bad self control and discipline and I didn't make myself practice. I was LAZY....
....I am a lazy person, inherently I guess. And I blanch whenever someone puts pressure on me to do hard work, which is really just an issue I have and I need to be motivated on my own and less sensitive, hehe

I think you understand your bad habits and that we do not really escape them but learn to live with them. This is an important life lesson for us to learn, all of us have something that we do that others have no problems with. I for instance am terribly disorganized, I can never keep my things in neat order. It takes a lot of work for me to keep things in order much more so than the average person.

When it comes to attention and discipline however we all fail at this in our own way. Some of us are more naturally motivated and charged with physical/mental energy to do a task, while for others it is more difficult to get the momentum going. Momentum is a real important issue when it comes to work, once you get the ball rolling and start doing constructive work and work towards clear goals/dreams then you really will not feel like you are doing work. For many of us we do not push through that first minutes (~20mins on average for me) of trying to get ourselves into focused work mode.

Some of us need a proper work environment. I need good lighting and fresh air. I really tend to work really well in a dark room with bright light around where I am working, thus I do my most effective work during the evening times. I do not work very well in the mornings because often it is cold (especially in winter time now), the room needs to be heated well before I can do effective work. Simple things like turning off your mobile phone are quite important for most young people now since every time you have to go reaching for that sms or call you break out of that focused work frame of mind only to have to try and reestablish it.

You must setup a space for work, not just sit down and start. The ritual of setting up the lighting, ordering your work for your practice session, getting your pencils sharpened and colors/highlighters out etc, this all starts setting up our mind to do work. Too many people just make the decision to work too fast they do not set things up and I have found even though I am terribly disorganized, that setting myself up for work has always done me much more good in getting into that focused learning mode.

So now, I am punishing myself a little bit by not having a teacher and trying to make myself practice by my own design.

Now that I've changed a little and I realize that having a teacher is TOTAL privilege, should I get a teacher right away? Am I ready to have a teacher again?

OR will I make progress if I spend more time learning how to practice more consistently, like three hours a day before getting a teacher? This option seems safer and is likeable to me.

I think since you have started to develop your own learning path that a teacher would be much more useful to you than if you had not. With your teacher ensure that you express to them HOW you practice your music. Show them your method to memorize and make passages technically comfortable. Show them how you make fingering decisions (Bach is pretty good for this).

You should also express to your teacher your goals, what music you want to play, what composer or style of music interests you the most. From this you both can work towards your own personal goal. Perhaps the teacher may think that you need improvement in certain areas which need to be addressed with material that is not of your main interest, but tackling our musical dreams "side on" is sometimes the most effective path.


Three hours a day is a high rate of practice if you do that EVERY day. Every day is a key word because I hear many people say they do x hours a day but honestly their consistency is never verifiable. Also there is a difference between playing and practicing, some of my young students need to be reminded of that. They think sometimes playing what they already know is practicing, but I tell them if you are not playing the most challenging parts for you and making them better you are not practicing Sure play parts that you know but do that after you practice, that is the enjoyment and reward you give yourself at the end.

Try not to measure the amount of work you do by time but rather achievement of certain short term goals in your music.

All the best for finding yourself a teacher!

[bleicher]

lostinidlewonder, a really useful post. Thanks!

[callaeie]

Thank you everyone, your advice so far has all been very helpful, like a multi-faceted crystal there are many different sides to my problem of being motivated to practice and making decisions that I stick to. So thanks !! for the helpful ideas.