Is it rude to ask to study with another teacher?

[mishamalchik]

So a visiting piano teacher will be at my school for the spring term and I was wondering if it would be rude to ask to take a lesson with them. Not permanently, or out of some sort of doubt about my current teacher but I'm more curious about how other teachers teach/ give lessons. I've only had the one piano teacher so I wonder how other teachers work, plus he will only be here for the spring term so I think it's a good opportunity to try and diversify my instruction a bit.

Is it rude to ask to take a lesson with someone else? Is this "piano cheating" ? How should I phrase this? I know many teachers don't like their students taking advice from other teachers and most are very careful not to give unsolicited advice to someone else's student.

[bronnestam]

As I have been to piano summer schools during the last three years, I have managed to have had 11 different teachers since 2013 (ok, that includes one teacher in improvisation, one in composition and one in sight-reading, but the rest have been "pure" piano teaching). Most of them I had for just 2-3 lessons, one was my regular teacher for three years, then I felt I should make a shift and now I have a new "regular" teacher.

I think each and everyone of these teachers have been of great value to me and I strongly recommend everyone to see as many teachers as possible. They will all give you new perspectives, even those you don't get fully along with. So you should definitely take the chance to get a "guest lesson" if you can. Remember that the teacher is there to serve you, not the opposite. Why do you think you would be rude? Your goal is to evolve as a pianist, in the best way possible, not to please a certain teacher. 

[dogperson]

I, too, attend summer piano camp, and therefore have had many different short-term instructions.  In addition, my regular teacher encourages me to take sporadic lessons from another.   

I would recommend that you  notify your current teacher that you plan to do this--- It will give you the opportunity to get and REVIEW TOGETHER the advice of another instructor. 

[mishamalchik]

I guess I thought it might be considered rude, and while my piano experience doesn't revolve around my teacher's happiness, our relatively good relationship is important to me and I wanted to make sure this isn't some kind of weird piano faux pas. There's quite a lot of foreign culture in classical music instruction that I'm not very familiar with.
     I've always found my teacher to be very agreeable, but apparently that's not that the opinion of some of his other students. I'm probably the least advanced of his students, but some of them appear to be on his "bad side" so to speak, and they've told me tales a good deal more severe than any interaction I've had, even during my early lessons where I was a nervous wreck the entire time and literally struggled to play scales. So with that in mind, I see that it's in my best interest to keep our relationship on good terms. Especially given that as a student in college, my options for study are limited to the two department teachers, and the other teacher would probably sooner attempt to teach Chopin to a chimpanzee than a student with my limited background
 

[dogperson]

I guess I thought it might be considered rude, and while my piano experience doesn't revolve around my teacher's happiness, our relatively good relationship is important to me and I wanted to make sure this isn't some kind of weird piano faux pas. There's quite a lot of foreign culture in classical music instruction that I'm not very familiar with.
     I've always found my teacher to be very agreeable, but apparently that's not that the opinion of some of his other students. I'm probably the least advanced of his students, but some of them appear to be on his "bad side" so to speak, and they've told me tales a good deal more severe than any interaction I've had, even during my early lessons where I was a nervous wreck the entire time and literally struggled to play scales. So with that in mind, I see that it's in my best interest to keep our relationship on good terms. Especially given that as a student in college, my options for study are limited to the two department teachers, and the other teacher would probably sooner attempt to teach Chopin to a chimpanzee than a student with my limited background
 

Since you currently have a good relationship with your teacher, please let him know that you will be requesting one lesson with the visiting teacher.  You want to maintain the good relationship; in addition, your teacher can recommend which repertoire to use for the lesson.