Honestly, my teacher is demanding and he can be quite stern if he feels I am not catching something he deems easy.
I assume she just want to forge a good character out of you.
The question is: How can I continue with her and either 1) get her to be less cutting or 2) just suck it up, not let it get to me.Thanks!
I'm not a child and I don't need to be verbally beaten up to work.
(She has also said that she is surprised my childhood teacher let me quit since I'm one of the 4 o 5 of her 50 students who actually seem to work.)
Why not just tell her this, just like you wrote above. If you don't want to be verbally beaten up, then say so. Why would you say thank you to a verbal beating, if the verbal beating is exactly what you don't want? Be upfront and frank.
I think you're onto something.She's Russian and her mother was a piano teacher. From what she has said on occasion, learning from her mother was no picnic. Then, it seems that she went into the "system", which was more of the screaming and humiliation approach to teaching.I'm not a child and I don't need to be verbally beaten up to work. Hmm, maybe I simply need to say: Thank you. I'll work on that (and variations of this)...cause what she may be trying to do it so motivate me with harsh methods which I really not necessary for a grown-up.(She has also said that she is surprised my childhood teacher let me quit since I'm one of the 4 o 5 of her 50 students who actually seem to work.)
She's a great teacher in the sense that she is pushing me to a level beyond what I thought I could ever achieve. In our months together, I've gone from some of the simpler Bach Two Part Inventions to a Beethoven sonata (albeit an easier movement) and the 2nd Schubert Impromtu, Opus 90.
Getting someone to play difficult music, i.e. "pushing" does not make a teacher great. It depends if they can also teach. A "pushed" student might try everything they can to play pieces beyond their level. Well heck, I can do that myself without a teacher too. Just find something hard and try and try to play it. Is there teaching going on?
Okay, the hunt is on.What has convinced me...finally...is how I have avoided the piano for the last two weeks. Not because I fear the work (I actually love the work), I dread the inevitable battering of the lessons.My city has about 15 teachers who are members of the music teachers' association...so now the hunt begins.Thanks all!
QuoteGetting someone to play difficult music, i.e. "pushing" does not make a teacher great. It depends if they can also teach. A "pushed" student might try everything they can to play pieces beyond their level. Well heck, I can do that myself without a teacher too. Just find something hard and try and try to play it. Is there teaching going on? I'm not really sure in this situation of course but I feel like it might be bit bold to assume there isn't teaching going on..
I proffer two quick suggestions, which are 1) when you are interviewing for a new teacher, ask them what books on technique that they have recommended in the past, AND what authorities they are currently studying now. All good teachers are continual students of piano pedagogy, without exception (Nobody has all of the answers).
And 2) get on with it and don't pay any attention to any further posts!
That is insulting to anyone posting in this thread. It also makes the assumption that the advice offered is the be all and end all. In fact, if I were to interview a teacher and that teacher started listing books and names that I was supposed to recognize, I would become cautious. This is due to my experience, just as your advice probably comes from yours.Were I to interview a teacher tomorrow, I would want to know that teacher's priorities, philosophies, and something of what they expect of students. To know how they guide a student, I'd have to experience it. The teacher would have to be interested in my goals, and I would hope to have feedback on whether they are realistic, whether there are better goals, how such goals would be reached - something of that nature. If I sense an all pervasive formula and cookie cutter mentality, then I'm cautious again. In fact, that's where the books and Names come in. It depends how those books and names are taken.
Very well put. I agree.