> At 10:55 AM 2/4/03 -0800, you wrote: >>He eventually yelled at >>me and threw me out for good when he found out that I was playing >> traditional music. > > That just makes me cringe! I can't stand teachers like that. Actually, > no, I change that. I appreciate teachers like that, because those > students generally end up coming to teachers like myself, and that's > one way I make my living. I have 18 piano students now, and I'd say > half of them came from a teacher who "fired" them because they didn't > progress at the "proper pace" or wanted to play "inappropriate > repertoire" or didn't "pay attention" or some such fool thing.
There actually are a whole lot of teachers like that, aren't there? It's too bad. I've become good at sniffing them out. One quality that I think is essential in a good music teacher is being able to pick up on the character of any particular student. Some people like to be pushed hard, some people not so hard, so people need things to be really ordered and regimented, so people need things to be more loose, some people like alot of explanation, some people like to figure it out for themselves, some people need alot of verbal reassurance, some people are good with just a nod, etc. I've said this before, but I believe that being a good teacher and being a good player are two entirely different skills. My voice teacher is great in that respect. I think she sized up me up in one lesson, because I'm very happy with the speed of my progress and I constantly feel like I'm being pushed with hard stuff, which is important to me, because I get bored easily if I'm not constantly challenged. Toby Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
