Bad piano lesson

[chemblue]

Hi

Yesterday I had the worst piano lesson I have ever had since I started learning as a 56 year old adult student just over 3 years ago. I struggled to remember, play the right notes. My teacher is amazing and has the patience of a saint. I knew it was going to be difficult when my practice before the lesson was not going well.

I love playing the piano and have been doing well according to my teacher. I don't want to give up. Can anyone offer any advice.

Regards and blessings to you

[keypeg]

If you think it was a bad piano lesson because you did not play well, then you don't have the right perspective - and then maybe there can be some help.  Lessons are not bad and good depending on how well we play, because lessons are not performances that we give with the teacher as our audience.  Lessons are for learning, and if you learned, it was a good lesson.

Playing poorly in a lesson can indicate a problem or difficulty.  That is good news, because a decent teacher can help, and as soon as you are helped you have learned: if you have learned you have grown past where you were - and that is GOOD.

[brogers70]

I agree with keypeg; a good piano lesson is one which identifies a weakness and gives you a way to work on it. So playing badly in a lesson is often a good thing. Try to figure out why it was harder than usual. Often whatever the stress was, it will highlight weaknesses in technique that you can work on. Your post doesn't really talk about what you think was different about this past lesson, harder piece, less preparation, more performance anxiety. A lesson in which you play badly is often a good opportunity to make progress.

[outin]

Yes, lessons are not supposed to be about performance. But here's another point of view: For me bad lessons are normal. The reason is often not related to practice at all. Physical and hormonal changes just seem to affect my ability to concentrate and remember more than an average person. When I notice that my memory is failing me I get irritated and the lesson seems ruined. There have been times when my body just seems so weird I cannot manage something I have played a hundred times before.

On such lessons I have found it best to focus an small technical things or fingering problems instead of actually trying to play through pieces. Having regular lessons has the downside of them sometimes happening on bad days...I have found it best to be honest with the teacher and just say that I am not up to playing.

[quantum]

Struggle and hurdles are a natural part of learning.  Bringing a struggle to the lesson opens up the opportunity for you to learn about a strategy for solving that struggle.  When you encounter a similar struggle in the future you will be better equipped to work though the problem yourself. 

Hurdles, when undertaken at a manageable pace, are a fantastic learning tool.  It allows you to build up your problem solving skills and encourages a work ethic with a focus solving problems in manageable pieces. 

***

There was a time a university when my work load was particularly heavy: writing, various ensemble performances, vocal accompaniment.  There was a lot of music to go through, and I didn't have my time to practice my repertoire for the weekly lesson.  My teacher thought of doing something different since I didn't have much chance to work on repertoire.  We spent the entire lesson sight reading a book of Mozart piano duets.  Neither of us had planned to play them that day, we just sight read though it and enjoyed the rather spontaneous musical discovery.  It was a fantastic lesson!