What do you do when you do not like the interpretation teacher suggest?

[julytwenty]

For intermediate students. If teacher suggests different interpretation/voicing/dynamic from what you think/feel about the music, would you do it?

Noted this is besides what composers noted in the score, what if teacher suggests certain tempi, dynamic not in your tastes?

[dogperson]

This has happened to me several times and the solution is always the same: we discuss the differences.  What is important is that you think about why you don’t like your teacher’s suggestion rather than just ‘I don’t like it’.  If I am prepared to defend my choice of interpretation, I sometimes can convince my teacher; sometimes she convinces me that my choice is not best.

[lelle]

I have been quite defensive about my interpretative choices - or my failed attempts at realizing them - and unwilling to try out teacher suggestions at times. What I concluded though was that it is always useful to TRY a suggestion, even if you don't like it. You might change your mind about it. Or, you'll get a deeper understanding of why you don't like their interpretation and prefer your own. In either case, you'll learn more by trying the suggestion out instead of not doing it.

[ranjit]

Especially as an intermediate student, I would follow them. Not because they are "right" in some kind of objective sense. But because with an experienced teacher you will learn more than how to play that specific piece, you will gradually understand the entire framework upon which interpretive decisions are made. As an intermediate student, you likely know very little about interpretation, and don't know how to hear a lot of things such as how much pedal is used, whether interpretive decisions made throughout the piece are coherent. By all means, ask your teacher and try to defend why you think your interpretation works (I've had several times when my teacher actually agreed with me). Hopefully the answer isn't just because they said so, but even if it is, I would argue you'd be better served by trying to do it their way. After all, interpreting it your way is "easy". If the reason for your interpretive choice is simply because "it feels right", you aren't doing it correctly.

Put it this way, in a sense, there are a very large number of ways to interpret a piece, but they are not arbitrary. Each of them has a certain internal logic to it. If you do something in your interpretation which goes against that logic, you are subverting the efficacy of your own interpretation, and that isn't good.

[julytwenty]

Thank you all for kind response.

This happens between my child and the teacher several times. My child usually tries to remember to play teacher's version at the lessons.

Meanwhile, my child would get so much criticism on the interpretation that gets me wonder the teacher simply does not like my child's playing.... I try to keep in positive but my child rarely gets praised. Is it normal? I wish this won't end up killing the passion for piano.

Note: the piano teacher is famous in our area and probably really influential in our area. This means if we leave the teacher, there might be consequence (ouch)

[ranjit]

My child usually tries to remember to play teacher's version at the lessons.

I don't think this is really how it should be done, ideally the student should have an understanding of what the teacher wants and not simply parrot. I would encourage him to speak up and explain that he doesn't understand the changes and interpretation the teacher is suggesting. Hopefully, it ends in a way where the student and teacher understand each other.

Meanwhile, my child would get so much criticism on the interpretation that gets me wonder the teacher simply does not like my child's playing.... I try to keep in positive but my child rarely gets praised. Is it normal? I wish this won't end up killing the passion for piano.

I think this is very typical for very good teachers (influential and famous etc.). It's a form of pushing a student to see bigger and have higher standards. Now, on whether it's optimal from a child psychology perspective, I'm not sure. Usually, I've found that teachers will reserve praise until a piece is actually played quite well. I've sometimes found it discouraging that teachers will simply point out a million mistakes, but now feel it's par for the course. Praise usually comes from other people, not your teacher. It's worth it when you improve quite fast.

What does your child think? It might be a good idea to ask them if they find it demotivating, and perhaps explain that the teacher is trying to focus on improving their weaknesses and assure them that they are improving.

There is this interesting concept of extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation. If you keep giving someone extrinsic motivation for doing something (such as praise) or if their motivation is simply to use it in order to obtain something else, they are less likely to stick with it than if they develop motivation on their own. For something which takes several years to develop, such as piano, it might end up being a crutch, as the student learns to associate success with praise from the teacher. The journey needs to be the reward and motivation needs to be internal for long term growth. I don't know for sure to what extent this may be the case when it comes to the piano, it's just a thought.

The piano teacher is famous in our area and probably really influential in our area. This means if we leave the teacher, there might be consequence (ouch)

This is a tricky one, but oftentimes teachers don't take it as personally as you might think, as long as you break up with them on amicable terms. That is, if you explain that the child (if they indeed do) doesn't want the kind of intense training the current teacher is putting them through, or wants a break from lessons for a while, or whatever. I'm not telling you to stop lessons with the teachers of course, but just saying. It depends on where you are, Eastern Europe will be very different from America. At least in the US, teachers usually understand that you are paying a lot of money to be their student, and sometimes it may not work out, be affordable or a good fit etc. It probably happens much more often than you think, and they may be more than willing to take back a student after a year or two.

[lostinidlewonder]

Meanwhile, my child would get so much criticism on the interpretation that gets me wonder the teacher simply does not like my child's playing.... I try to keep in positive but my child rarely gets praised. Is it normal? I wish this won't end up killing the passion for piano.

Note: the piano teacher is famous in our area and probably really influential in our area. This means if we leave the teacher, there might be consequence (ouch)

What a crap teacher. I don't care how famous they are in your area. Go find a less famous teacher who actually loves to teach piano to children not critique them. I've specialised in teaching young children in the past and rarely praising a child is just cruel, I don't care what kind of garbage psychology someone reads up about, children are precious and need to be nurtured, ALL of them and you simply cannot encourage and cheer them on enough. They do not need some authoritive figure commanding them at piano.

[ranjit]

I've specialised in teaching young children in the past and rarely praising a child is just cruel.

Not praising someone is different from criticizing someone all the time, isn't it? I took critiquing to mean  pointing out what needs to be improved, not berating the student. I think that the problem is that empty compliments don't work after a while if the student sees through it.

[lostinidlewonder]

Not praising someone is different from criticizing someone all the time, isn't it? I took critiquing to mean  pointing out what needs to be improved, not berating the student. I think that the problem is that empty compliments don't work after a while if the student sees through it.

The Op brought up the teachers critical approach and very little praise given to their child during the piano lessons. Then a fear that this may squash the joy for playing the piano itself. This is a well founded fear, teachers can make learning something very distasteful.

Teachers should understand the psychology of children. Children all yearn for adults to believe in them and encourage them even if what they do might look a failure. If you are constantly correcting them and never giving them positive reenforcement then this sets up quite a brutal regieme for the average child and does nothing to help them develop a healthy mind.

When you set up a lesson where a student can be totally relaxed you then have much more ability to teach them effectively. Is a student relaxed when they have all their short comings pointed out to them left right and centre every single lesson? An effective teacher should be able to prioritize what needs help and the student then shouldn't feel so much as being corrected but rather learning something new, or seeing something in a new light which should naturally improve them with a little assistance from the teacher as required. If the corrective is effective and important enough for the student it will naturally cause a large change, ramming corrective in any sort of order just to me looks like the trait of a teacher who just sees a lot of mess and doesn't know how to deal with it so just ram and jam everything you see in whatever order without caring about the students ability to deal with the correctives.

[anacrusis]

Thank you all for kind response.

This happens between my child and the teacher several times. My child usually tries to remember to play teacher's version at the lessons.

Meanwhile, my child would get so much criticism on the interpretation that gets me wonder the teacher simply does not like my child's playing.... I try to keep in positive but my child rarely gets praised. Is it normal? I wish this won't end up killing the passion for piano.

Note: the piano teacher is famous in our area and probably really influential in our area. This means if we leave the teacher, there might be consequence (ouch)

Yeah this is not good at all. I had some teachers who would criticize my interpretations and other things I did during some of my formative years. While technically a lot of their feedback was right, and they weren't necessarily harsh, the constant stream of just hearing things that were bad and very few compliments set me up to be anxious at the piano and playing to please others. I still hear their voices in my head and things they might attack about what I'm doing sometimes. It's definitely hindered me sometimes.

Of course, we can't just tell somebody they're great all the time when there are things that need to be improved. I think children see through that as well, especially after a certain age. But there are ways you can guide somebody into improving that feels loving and encouraging, without resorting to neither criticism nor misguided praise.

I think it's concerning that your child feels they have to try to "remember to play the teacher's version" in lessons. What about their own version and artistic voice? Maybe it's undeveloped and maybe there are issues with it, but they won't develop their OWN voice if they're not allowed to play with it. As a teacher, you can let somebody do some things that are "wrong" while gradually guiding them towards understanding why it's "wrong" and what they could do instead.

What consequences might there be if you leave this teacher? And does it matter if there are?

[julytwenty]

@anacrusis

What consequences might there be if you leave this teacher? And does it matter if there are?

The teacher seems to be involved in many teachers' organization where they exchange students information. I've seen students who left this teacher end up being avoided by other teachers (and end up moving to different city)

[lostinidlewonder]

The teacher seems to be involved in many teachers' organization where they exchange students information. I've seen students who left this teacher end up being avoided by other teachers (and end up moving to different city)

What kind of demented organisation is that? That sounds like a gang of school kids running a piano school.

[lelle]

@anacrusis

The teacher seems to be involved in many teachers' organization where they exchange students information. I've seen students who left this teacher end up being avoided by other teachers (and end up moving to different city)

I wouldn't want my kid in the clutches of a teacher that talks sh*t about the kid to other teachers if you leave. It's very unprofessional, at best.

[dogperson]

If this were my child, I would interview new teachers, have either a ‘get acquainted session’ or a trial lesson with the potential new teacher and get a committed lesson time before you notify her present teacher you are leaving. You should not provide either teacher with the name of the other.  Be careful with the new teacher not to provide specific details about why you are looking for a new teacher.  Keep it general.

You really should not keep your daughter in a negative environment.

[ranjit]

Having a "strict" teacher can be open to interpretation, but it's very unprofessional to prevent your students from leaving. I wouldn't want to continue with someone like that.

[lostinidlewonder]

You can be hard but soft as a teacher, I don't come across any kids who actually like strict teachers so why do that to them? I can be extremely tough on my students but still make them feel that I am being soft. It's not really something easy to express in words here because its in the dialogue/interaction with your student and your demeanour as a teacher. It depends on the student too, what I do with one student may not be possible with the other.

I never get students or parents telling me that I am too strict or not strict enough because I observe carefully what will work best for my students and I discuss always with my students and their parents how piano music functions in their household etc. The fact that in this situation the parent and student don't feel safe enough to tell the teacher to make some changes to the lessons isn't a good setup. Afterall the teacher is a SERVANT job, you are serving people not yourself, you should be asking your students what you could be doing better.

[ranjit]

You can be hard but soft as a teacher

If you have to pick between a teacher who is strict and one who isn't demanding and with whom you progress slowly, it might be a better option to pick the strict one within reason. Of course it's best if a teacher can balance both! That said, simply not making progress can be more dejecting to a student than how a teacher interacts with them. I knew I grew very frustrated with myself even when teachers were really nice, because there was so much that needed to be improved and I simply wasn't getting anywhere.

[lostinidlewonder]

If you have to pick between a teacher who is strict and one who isn't demanding and with whom you progress slowly, it might be a better option to pick the strict one within reason.

I think both are pretty bad. No healthy human behaves in that manner, we are a balance of forces. If one constrains themselves in such a way they are semifunctional, that's my take on it at least.

If of course a strict teacher is teaching golden knowledge and a gentle one also teaches golden knowledge, why would you want the strict one when you can learn so much better with one that actually makes knowledge taste sweet and enjoyable?

Of course it's best if a teacher can balance both!

Yes, I think any normal teacher dealing with one on one lessons need be a balance of both. If you are teaching a class of 30 little kids who are shouting and screaming, if you are nice they are going to walk all over you lol, but if you are all vicious and angry they are simply going to be glad when they are not in your classroom even though they behave.

That said, simply not making progress can be more dejecting to a student than how a teacher interacts with them. I knew I grew very frustrated with myself even when teachers were really nice, because there was so much that needed to be improved and I simply wasn't getting anywhere.

Well you can have idiotic strict teachers and idiotic nice ones. If I can transfer knowledge to a student in a nice way and a strict way does not improve it, why would I choose to be strict? The poor kid in this thead gets merely critique and a fear of being outted to other teachers, thats just freaking twilight zone stuff right there!

[winsto7]

In my opinion, this is why classical music frustrates me. Oftentimes people talk about classical music as expressive and interpretive, but then everyone and their cousin goes and plays it like everyone else around them. Granted, there are better ways of interpretation than others, but I think what you do in a situation when your teacher presents a suggestion you don't like, is listen first and foremost, because they are your teacher after all, but then feel free to offer your take on it. After all, music should be portrayed how you want it to sound; not how your teacher says it should sound (though often these match). I recently had a situation with my college piano instructor where she had a different take on a piece than I did, and it got tense, but in the end, you're the pianist and the only one who is control of the piano when you sit at that bench.