ALL teachers should be able to play La Campenlla?

[immortalbeloved]

Hey everyone,

So, as some of you may know, I am quite new to the piano--so whether this question falls under obvious, or stupid, I cannot yet know.

I was having a discussion with a semi-friend of mine about the piano and somehow the conversation came upon teachers and their ability to play Liszt's la campanella (or his piano transcription of it). Anyways, he seems to believe that a good yard stick for whether I should even continue until my advanced years with the same teacher is whether they could play it.

Is this true? The more I advance, I am on level three now, should I ever, somehow, try to find out my own teachers ability, and use my friends advice on la campnella as being a fair yard stick? Of course I would NEVER bring this up to my wonderful teacher but maybe innocently say, ''hm, you know, I was always curious about this song .  . . would you know how to . . .?''

[lostinidlewonder]

No it's not a measuring stick for how good a teacher is. You will know if your teacher is good because you learn faster, feel progress and all in a more structured manner. Personally I don't mind playing pieces students bring into lesson because they would like to hear/see it played. If you are at the La Campanella level then you should be worried if your teacher can teach it well to you rather than be able to play the whole piece from start to finish at performance level since that in itself doesn't teach much at all (if it were so valuable then we just could view many videos of the masters already, it does help but it's not going to replace proper instruction).

[chopinlover01]

Your friend is full of shite, no offense to him.
La Campanella is for violin. What it has to do with piano is beyond me  


In all seriousness, there are lots of good teachers out there who either don't or can't play La Campanella. Simply because you can't play some of the most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire doesn't make you an inferior teacher.
Oh, and before you ask, my teacher can  

[rubinsteinmad]

Oh, and before you ask, my teacher can  

My new one can too.

The b!tch teacher couldn't though; yet she claimed (in her nasal whine), "No Liszt Etude is harder than ANY Chopin Etude. ANY OF THEM."

Once I told her about how I wanted to learn Chasse-neige, and she was like "Oh yes, 'The Chase'. Ill think about it." LOL.*

*'The Chase' is the nickname of the Paganini Etude #5, one of the easiest Etudes Liszt ever wrote. 'Chasse-neige' is the nickname of the Transcendental Etude #12, one of the hardest Liszt Etudes in common repertoire.

[outin]

My teacher can too, but to be honest I am more impressed on her skill to sight read and teach whatever I take to my lessons, obscure pieces she has never heard before.

[pencilart3]

My teacher would say, "Why would one play 'La Campanella', when you could put all that effort into a Bach French Suite or Prelude and Fugue?"

[chopinlover01]

Or a Partita? Or a Schubert sonata?

[mjames]

Shallow piece of music. Please start listening to works with actual depth, and like Chopinlover said:

SCHUBERT SONATA

[adodd81802]

My teacher can too, but to be honest I am more impressed on her skill to sight read and teach whatever I take to my lessons, obscure pieces she has never heard before.

I agree with this.

And to the OP. Not sure on your age, but take this example, when you're doing driving lessons do you watch the instructor drive? No, you get in the drivers seat and you listen to what they tell you and mark your progression.

Having a piano teacher isn't about watching them play, otherwise you may as well just go to a concert. It's about them teaching you and marking your progression.

I had 2 driving instructors, 1st one was OK but the 2nd one was great and I passed first time. I don't know how either of them drive and couldn't care less.

[bronnestam]

If you take a "master class" for someone, it should be someone who know this particular piece(s) very well, that is, a master.
With "master class" I mean the kind of occasional lesson you have once or twice with a guest teacher, not your regular teacher. Your regular teacher should rather focus on your general playing, ergonomics and exercises that will be of benefit to you. How you interpret a particular piece is perhaps of lesser importance, IMO.

This means that a "regular teacher" does not have to play very well at all, but must be a good teacher and instructor who can take care of your development and study planning in long terms. Just as a good football trainer does not have to have qualified into the National Team himself.
 
My regular teacher is a good pianist but not a renowned star in the field, but she is very good at teaching and giving me exercises that I need. Recently I went to the best Beethoven player I know in this world, to have a private lesson about some Beethoven sonatas, and I also watched another student - waaaay better than me - who had a lesson too with this pianist about the same works. So it was kind of a master class, but without the pressure of having an audience, on my behalf ... Truly enlightening!