Is it time for a new teacher?

[pianoplayer1224]

Hello,

I am having a bit of an issue deciding whether or not it would be suitable to find a new piano teacher.

I have had the same teacher for over five years and have progressed from RCM grade 6 to ARCT which I have currently worked on for one year and will finish next summer. I will be entering university in Fall 2013 for music and at that point must get a new teacher.

I am wondering if now would be a good time to find a different teacher, as I fear my teacher is somewhat slowing down as she ages (mid-seventies, I think) and perhaps not teaching me as well as she used to, especially now that I am advancing to more challenging pieces. Also, unlike many teachers, she is not a professional examiner or adjudicator, and I am not totally sure that she will be able to prepare me extremely well for my university auditions and final ARCT exam.

Lately, in the past 6 months to a year or so, I find that I have been doing a lot of work on pieces on my own with very little of her input. She tends to repeat most obvious musical things like, “be sure to bring out the melody and accents” on most pieces and hasn’t had any suggestions that seem to be a new idea that I perhaps have not been told in the past.
Also, the teacher is quite stubborn, and is not very open for me to choose my repertoire, even if I indicate to her that I would prefer to learn something else that I like better and will therefore put more work into. If I tell I would like to learn a certain piece that she doesn’t approve of, she will have some sort of response such as “I don’t like that piece” or “I don’t think you are mature enough for it” which was her response to the Moonlight Sonata, despite the fact that I am supposedly mature enough and already learned the Pathetique.
Sometimes I think that she is wasting time, as she repeats herself and takes way too much time putting in fingering on pieces. Also, instead of going on to new repertoire, she often wants  to use lesson time to hear pieces I learned months ago, even when I don’t need to polish this repertoire as I am not preparing it for a performance of any sort. Is this what is usually done? (during my home practice, I review my old repertoire and keep it in decent shape, and usually she doesn’t have much new input when she hears it at the lesson) 

Despite my long list of complaints above, she is kind, and patient and always gives me longer lesson times without extra charges.
Being that I only have a year left to finish ARCT, before I must change teachers for university, do you think it is a good idea to get a new teacher for just one year, before going to university where I will have to change again.

Thanks so much for reading such a long post. I’d greatly appreciate a variety of suggestions and advice from anyone who has been in this situation before and might know what to do. 

[ajspiano]

she is not a professional examiner or adjudicator

I don't feel that that is relevant.

My own teacher for example, who was teaching successfully at a similar age to yours - along with another in my town - we're neither an examiner or adjudicator but both have successfully prepared numerous students over the years for Amus examinations and for university entrance.

........

Whats relevant is whether or not you are still learning from your teacher. I left that teacher around  grade 8 standard because I felt perhaps similar to what you do now, as if I was getting the same run throughs, same advice.. and that I could do it just as well on my own.

“be sure to bring out the melody and accents”

Complaining about this might be fair, but..  are you bringing out the melody and accents? One of the main reasons to have a teacher once you are at least familiar with how to approach a piece technically and musically is just to get that feedback. To have someone listen and observe the things you're failing to pick up yourself.

-at your level you could perhaps do with something a little more in depth but that may also be all you really needed.

.........

Not allowing an intermediate/advanced student to choose repertoire annoys me. But hey, thats just me. The teacher not liking the piece is a crappy reason..  maturity may be an acceptable reason, but at the same time - you're not 9 - and I personally think there's nothing wrong with allowing a piece to mature with you. I did the moonlight when I was a bit younger than you myself and I don't think it did me any damage, tough it probably did damage the sonata for a while (if you can call it that ) . I certainly 'feel' it more now than I did then. When I learnt it I just wanted to play the 3rd movement because I felt it was so impressive. Now it has a story.

You could always just go trial another teacher (or 2) and see how that goes without cancelling your current one..  or take a break from your current teacher and gauge your progress working on your own for a month or 2.


**Based on your story I'm assuming you're roughly 17 or 18 years old. My apologies if this is incorrect.

[kclee6337]

I personally would say yes, but then again no.
I say yes because, well, she is old, sometimes older people can't really focus on the inter workings of a piece if you do go out to find another teacher make sure she has credentials, and not some "stay at home mom" who know a little bit on the piano.

as far as the rep. goes (and this is why i say no) most teachers are like that. all my life I've been plagued by not being able to pick my own rep. only recently have I been able to pick some myself but only after I've finished doing what my teacher wants me to do. Most of the time teacher will do this because they can spot certain weaknesses in your playing, and pick pieces that will help you overcome these problems, and in the end even though you may hate it, it helps you in the end.

as far as moonlight sonata goes, no disrespect, but maybe your not mature enough, only a few years back I wanted to play chopins prelude in e minor. which is extremely easy I sightread it in front of my teacher and yet she said I'm not mature enough for it. basically what that means, especially in some of the slower pieces and more melodic pieces they take a great deal of concentration to get it right, and to convey the right emotion to the audience. this generally comes with time as you move past the technical aspect of playing the piano and and piano piece isn't just notes on a page but becomes like a story, hope this made sense sorry if it didn't 

[pianoplayer1224]

Thanks for the input. 

The business about maturity is a challenging question, as I have played (convincingly) pieces I would think require quite a bit of maturity such as Chopin’s op.48 no.1 Nocturne and the Revolutionary Etude. Is it a different sort of maturity (or is it something else, thats not just more challenging technique) that is required for the Moonlight?

Anyone have any thoughts regarding a teacher wanting to use lesson time to hear old pieces (which I review at home anyway) that aren’t being prepared for anything upcoming?

Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences from changing teachers (mid-level) with only a year left before the final diploma exam?

[ajspiano]

Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences from changing teachers (mid-level) with only a year left before the final diploma exam?

When I was 17 I was planning to audition for jazz performance at the conservatory in Perth, Western Australia. I went directly to the head of the jazz dep. and took several once off type lessons for the purpose of discussing and working on exact audition requirements.

That may me an option for you without ever leaving your current teacher - and it will help you gauge not only exactly whats required to get in, but also whether or not your current teacher can help you with that.

Slightly different to what you are planning ofcourse, but it did help me.. My original teacher whom I left actually told me to do this, she openly admitted that her field was classical and that she couldnt help me with jazz and improvisation in general.