What would you do if you had a student who was "more serious" about music and the piano than you are?
Or do you mean they value it as extremely important?
Well then that's strange, because a piano teacher should certainly value music as important!!
Certainly not all music teachers are teaching because they love/value music, or even because they love/value/want to be teaching! Many individuals in many fields end up doing the work they are doing because that's just what they ended up with, and some people feel stuck with their occupation; music is certainly not exempt from this.
As a student music is very important and I take it quite seriously. If you are a relative beginner, you cannot expect a teacher to get excited about the fact that D is between two black keys everywhere on the keyboard - which the poor fellow has had to teach for several decades. But you can expect a professional attitude even on an off day that makes sure you get taught what you need. The days it gets mutually exciting is a bonus. I think that the music is exciting for the student, but often the student's progress is exciting for the teacher. And then the D between the black keys is exciting too, since the teacher will know what that will give the student.Of course you can also be "serious" in an academic intellectual way which sort of kills the music for the musician I imagine.
This thread started for me in thinking about somebody I know who loved music SO MUCH, loved piano SO MUCH, that I think it actually scared the teacher. Teacher would comment about what a big responsibility that was, and even another friend would comment on behalf of the teacher about the same thing. "You know, that's really a big responsibility" ... seemingly as though the student were doing something wrong.
? I don't see that as being implied at all. It shows that the teacher realises that when somebody is passionate about something, they deserve someone who will be genuinely useful to them. In no way whatsoever does that imply the student is doing something wrong. It reflects how important it is for the teacher to either be do something right, or help the student find someone else who will be good for them.
Well, I appreciate your thoughts but you weren't there. Even if I got it wrong though, what I really care about is not the past but rather the present, and I see through reflection that the present is in a good place regarding this.
? Of course I wasn't there. I'm not talking about tone of voice. I'm talking about what is implied by such a statement. Why would anyone who recognises that it's a responsibility to teach someone of enthusiasm resent that? If a teacher seriously thought "God, not that student who actually cares about music again" every week, then it would be a ludicrous situation. I deeply struggle to believe that recognising responsibility might in any way imply such students to be a burden- except in the unlikely event that a teacher realises that a student deserves better but is too proud to tell them (if that can even be deemed "responsibility").
Regardless, I'm not ruling out that such a situation might have been the case. I'm pointing out that recognising responsibility in teaching someone with serious enthusiasm does not inherently suggest the student to be a burden. That just strikes me as a rather improbable interpretation of a perfectly natural sentiment.
I'm pointing out that recognising responsibility in teaching someone with serious enthusiasm does not inherently suggest the student to be a burden.
First of all, two recent decisions I have made in my life are that I do not talk about personal matters with individuals who do not acknowledge reasoning I have already put forth, and who do not have the decency to talk on those points with me, and instead stay only in one standpoint to encourage debate, and furthermore tell me how I am feeling when I am not feeling that way/and or they clearly don't recognize how I am actually feeling. Second of all, no, I am not the teacher (that I know of ).So, if you have a question for me and would like to acknowledge what I have actually mentioned and have pointed out as what actually matters to me, then please feel free to try again - if not, then I thank you for your participation within this thread as it has helped for me to come to better grasp some important points.
This thread has been extremely cryptic from the start and I'm afraid this post only makes it more so. While you obviously understand what you are referring to in that post, I haven't got the first clue as to what any of it means. Obviously you have some kind of personal connection to this in some way that you have not disclosed, but it's very hard to be sensitive to that when everything is shrouded in total mystery and when it's impossible to put any of your comments into any kind of context. Not that I wish to sound unsympathetic, but I entered this thread to discuss the topic raised. It's all very well being judgemental about people's "decency"- but if nothing outside of that is revealed, there's no way to treat it as anything but a topic for discussion. If you don't establish a personal connection to the issues, there's no way for it to be regarded as anything other than the abstract debate it was presented as.
To be fair, though, I perhaps should never have asked the question in the first place .
As far as I could tell, it seemed that you were berating people for treating it as a discussion- rather than being sensitive about things we have no knowledge of?
This falls into the second category of what makes something non-discussable territory for me, as you are deciding how I feel without providing me any way to meet with you on mutually respectful grounds, all I can do is deny this or reveal something personal. That is not a discussion. As well as still not addressing my points from above regarding a teacher's sense of responsibility towards a student (falling into my first category of non-discussable territory).
Teacher would comment about what a big responsibility that was, and even another friend would comment on behalf of the teacher about the same thing. "You know, that's really a big responsibility" ... seemingly as though the student were doing something wrong.
I'm thinking that the teacher might be scared of the responsibility, but not think that the student was doing something wrong. I could see, however, that the teacher might be scared of hurting a student who cares so deeply.
Topic: Students who are too serious about music? 