When does a student need his/her teacher the most?

[m1469]

When the student is down or when the student is up?  When the student is looking for his/her feet or when s/he has found them?  It's just such a curious thing to me...

And when do you, as a teacher, feel most inclined to help your students?

And when do you, as a student, feel most inclined to need your teacher?


Just curious what other people's thoughts and perspectives are on this.


m1469

[Torp]

The time when a student needs the teacher the most is that exact moment when the teacher realizes they have nothing left to teach the student.

OK, after staring at the blank space beneath that sentence for the last 20 minutes I have come to the realization that I cannot explain what I mean...

Jef

[m1469]

Actually,  I think I understand.

m1469

[Nana_Ama]

I think I need my teacher the most when I am really discouraged after, lets say, playing a piece for awhile.   

[greyrune]

i need my teacher most when i've not been doing well.  For instance the other week i didn't really practice much (had a heavy weekend and the rest of the week suffered with it) and when i went to my lesson just the look on my teachers face when i palyed through what i'd learned (she's usually a really enthusiastic person) was enough to force myself to work really hard the next week just to get her smiling again, lol.  As well as obviously giving me technique and interpretation ideas, i think the most important thing for a teacher to be is just someone to try and impress.

[Kohai]

I would suppose we always need a teacher, whatever form they come in (even if we are our own teacher) and never at one time more than another.

Kohai

[clariniano]

When they haven't practiced! 

Meri

[Torp]

I would suppose we always need a teacher, whatever form they come in (even if we are our own teacher) and never at one time more than another.

Kohai

This is an interesting concept.  What would you call your inner teacher?

This also, at least for me, emphasizes something I have a tendency to forget; teachers are not always more advanced in the subject then the student.

Another thought...a student needs a teacher when the student has decided they no longer have anything to learn.

[Kohai]

This is an interesting concept. What would you call your inner teacher?

This also, at least for me, emphasizes something I have a tendency to forget; teachers are not always more advanced in the subject then the student.

Another thought...a student needs a teacher when the student has decided they no longer have anything to learn.

Does it really need a name at all?  I suppose it is suitable for the sake of clarity to know its name, but I consider knowing a name to be different than what is a mere label.  I consider knowing a name as in knowing the fundamental quality of something.  Perhaps similar to that popular slogan: "I've got your number". 

How would I call it, you ask? Truth, I suppose, though giving a name seems to disperse its power from my sight.  I can, at times, just see its face.  Perhaps it is simply "ME" or "I AM" in the broadest sense of the words... I don't know.

Your closing thought is beautiful and very pertinent.

Kohai

[clariniano]

Another thought...a student needs a teacher when the student has decided they no longer have anything to learn.

I like this part...I have a clarinet student who, at 13 (he is now 15, almost 16), thought he knew everything, and ended up quitting for a year--then returned a year later with a bunch of things he didn't know how to do on the clarinet. An 11-year-old piano student also consistently thought they knew everything about playing music and the piano in her lessons, (she wouldn't listen to my suggestions on rhythmic corrections (she generally plays correct rhythms, but in a popular selection, she wasn't, or dynamics (within phrases and between the hands), for example), and after a few times, I spoke to her parents, she ended up listening to me after that, and the music sounded much better.

Meri

[Torp]

Does it really need a name at all?

No, I suppose not.  I think I was more interested in you perceived this "inner teacher."  Whether it was something inherent to you, i.e. some sort of higher self that has all the answers, or whether you felt it might be some sort of connection some other source.

How would I call it, you ask? Truth, I suppose, though giving a name seems to disperse its power from my sight.  I can, at times, just see its face.  Perhaps it is simply "ME" or "I AM" in the broadest sense of the words... I don't know.

Yes, applying labels to things can often take away from the magic of what simply is.  The only value of a name really is its ability to facilitate conversation.

Your closing thought is beautiful and very pertinent.

Thanks.

[Kohai]

No, I suppose not.  I think I was more interested in you perceived this "inner teacher."  Whether it was something inherent to you, i.e. some sort of higher self that has all the answers, or whether you felt it might be some sort of connection some other source.

Perhaps I would see it as something inherent in me as well as some sort of connection to some other source.

Yes, applying labels to things can often take away from the magic of what simply is.  The only value of a name really is its ability to facilitate conversation.

You're right.  I suppose words and labels can help to clarify meanings and conversations can as well.

Thanks.

You are welcome.


Kohai

[i_m_robot]

when it is too late

[Kohai]

when it is too late

Whatever constitutes "too late" and when exactly would that be?

Kohai

[Dazzer]

i always thought that the purpose of a teacher is the teach the student how to be self sufficient. to be able to think for he/her self and not regurgitate what is taught.