I agree, *and* has spent the money on the technology for such things. There are complications that come with this, and it may not be worth it for a teacher to do this for a student who can and does come once a week.

While I don't have a problem with replying to a student's email, if they are stuck at some point, between lessons, it can sometimes turn into a marathon, with each answer generating another question, and so on.

Maybe this has happened with your teacher in the past, and he/she, is reluctant to get into that situation again.

Having said that, your teacher should make their policy on the subject, clear from the outset, so you both know where you stand.

In my own case, as I also provide lessons via Skype, I would offer a 'mini lesson' (10- 15 mins, maybe) payable pro rata, if a student requested it.

I know that this method doesn't suit all teachers, but it can be a useful, extra income stream.

Well, it should spur the old-heads to get with the program.)

Old-heads?

I was wondering about that too. Sounds like an insult but I've already used up my vitriole for the week.

I hope someone will laugh, but the first thing I thought when I read this was "What are the "young whippersnappers" doing calling us "old-heads"?

You know - if you consider the choices - what option is there to growing older? You got it, dying.

There definitely is a creative force that has planned for everything - if ego was in charge - no one would grow old, there would be no fat people, no wrinkles. But we're allowed to decline and pass away and make space for other people to populate the earth. Early warning: we all leave the planet.

I admire technology that lets us do so many things - but when the lights go out everything that plugs in ceases working until the electricity is back on or there is a power backup or generator power.

We older teacher's are still running on our own power without the desire for enhancements and if we really wanted the "toys" we would have them. The conditions by candlelight and with ink and ink quill were good enough for our early musical masters. They filled up their live spans quite well with a minimum of enablers.

Just something to think about and a perspective that older people are likely to have.

If you want technology in your studio is yours for the investment.

Betty Patnude

Very nicely said, Betty! Here's to us Old Heads. (better than being called Old Farts )

Betty, what you said brings two thoughts to mind:

1. I like my white hair and wrinkles - they are evidence of a life well lived. I actually find them quite amusing because they remind me of what is truly important!

2. While I consider myself to be very techno-savvy, I'm always grateful that the piano is not dependent on modern conveniences such as electricity. Even when the power goes out, I still have the things that count - family and my beloved piano.

You young "whippersnappers" need to realize that an older face hides a young, agile mind. We still think like youngsters - but have some wisdom and more patience and we are much clearer about what is really important in life. Trust me, it's not about knowing how to Twitter! I remember my 98 year old grandmother expressing surprise when she looked at herself in the mirror. She was expecting to see a 16 year old girl because that is how she thought of herself. Getting older is quite a pleasant surprise. Just wait. You'll see.

There is clearly a generation gap in the use of electronic communication.

There is also a technology gap - the ability to do emails, IMs, and text messages has outpaced our thinking about how to use these ideas.

My teacher and I use email to adjust schedules, etc. Brief messages that require no thought. "I have the flu, can we reschedule?" "my other student will run long, can you come 15 minutes late?" This could be done by phone, but it's hard to catch either of us. Anything longer is simply inappropriate. I get 100 plus emails a day including weekends, I struggle to keep unreads below 1000. "how do I do the trill in the 2cnd movement of the Clementi?" Not gonna happen.

Most of us have one teacher, it is easy to assume they have only one student. If so they are broke! Why can't they remember? Why don't they respond instantly? Because there are 20 of us and one of them.

But the answer is simple.

You don't send your daily thoughts by email to your teacher for personal response, anymore than you would write a letter every time you wondered about a fingering or an ornament.

You have THE FORUM! That's what it's for. This one, pianostreet, there is probably one that fits every need. Use that for your daily between lessons crises rather than going to your teacher.

Or, pay for daily lessons. That works too. I'm told.

This is not about old-fashioned teachers needing to "get with the program". If a teacher offered "Video lessons $20" or some such, and was expecting and encouraging their students to use the video option as a supplement to weekly in-person lessons, it would be great for everybody. In a case such as we're discussing, it's the STUDENT who appears not "with the program", though here the evidence is one-sided and indefinite and sounds rather strange, so I'm not honestly sure what to make of it. (In defense of the original poster, getting no answer at all from repeated emails is confusing and frustrating, and easily avoidable from the other end.)

Again, with a slightly different use of the same example as before: you can't just email your doctor and start explaining some new health problem you've noticed, and expect her to respond by the end of the day with a diagnosis. Why should a piano teacher suddenly be different?

Part of the problem can be (and I'm not referring to anyone in this thread, but speaking from past experience) some students feel that since music is a recreation activity for them, then it must be the same for their teacher too. Nobody makes that mistake with doctors or plumbers, for obvious reasons.

I am always open to using new technology, when it can work to my advantage. I suspect most of us are.

For the record, this 'young whippersnapper' began offering lessons via Skype, at the tender age of 55

And one does wonder how the OP would feel if they received an invoice for the time it took to answer said emails. This is what lawyers do when you call to talk to them.

It's one thing to say you'll pay for a video conference mid-week, but another to pay for a 20 minute response to an email question multiplied by how many emails were sent and responded to. One would think such a thing would instantly reduce the number of emails sent to a minimum.

And, like I said before, Skype lessons are not the ideal. I take Skype lessons with my voice teacher because he is half way across the country and there is literally no one closer I trust. However, even though I am set up for that, I really would not want to give Skype lessons at this point in my life. There are certainly many students who would prefer that, but I'm already at my max for students and adding more on the plate would not be a wise decision. Perhaps the OP's teacher is in this boat as well.

I'm young. I like the computer. The video thing sounds like a real PITA. Teaching via email sounds like a PITA, too-- it takes too much time and effort to compose in an email something that could be more easily communicated in person.

Wow, this thread has turned into a mess =P.

There is obviously a gap between student expectations and what the teacher is willing to do. It seems to me that teachers (high school and college) are expected to spend time outside of class if their students request it. Professors at both colleges I have gone to have assigned office hours, and students can visit them then. They also encourage email questions, and are very prompt in responding (provided that you get to them before 5 on a business day).

Just an interesting comparison: I pay roughly $350 tuition for a quarter class. During this quarter we get 5 hours of a teachers time a week and then we can email whenever we want, and get individualized attention if we so desire. I'm not going to try to make a point with that, but I thought it might stir some thoughts.

Firstly, I would like to say it is completely unreasonable to EXPECT a teacher to want to do video lessons. If she wants to, then that's just gravy. I personally wouldn't want to bother setting up a webcam at my piano and trying to teach someone that way (not that I will ever be a piano teacher).

Emailing is a different matter. I was told when I first started lessons that emailing questions is okay, and I have taken advantage of it on occasion. I believe the teacher should have clearly outlined what she regarded as acceptable for outside-of-lesson communication.

Further, not responding to emails is just plain rude. That is undeniable. If someone contacts you, then you contact them back. I refuse to believe that anyone has so little time on their hands, that they can't email, "I'm sorry, but I do not answer questions outside of lesson time. Please write down your questions, and we will go over them next week." That is common politeness, and typing it cost me all of 15 seconds. Ignoring someone like this isn't acceptable in my book. Saying no is okay. Ignoring someone is not.

As to the teacher not being tech-savvy, and not using email...well, if that was the case, then she probably wouldn't be giving out her email to students in the first place.

I don't think it is unreasonable to want a teacher to correspond with you via email. However, I do think the student should take some care in what they ask. Waiting a week for an answer to a simple yes/no question does seem a little on the ridiculous side. However, I wouldn't expect any teacher to be giving me an essay-length piece of instruction. I think asking for clarification on something already done, or something of that nature is great, but the teacher shouldn't be teaching outside of lesson time.

I think that in this case, the student should have long since talked to the teacher about this issue, and the attitude that he/she came to this forum with is all wrong. I would empathize with someone who is upset at being ignored. I am not concerned with someone who expects his/her teacher to jump at his/her beck and call.

The student's attitude needs a little work, but I feel that the teacher handled this poorly. It's all well to say that the student should bring this up, and perhaps that is true, but I don't think the student should have to. I wouldn't be comfortable with asking someone, "Hey, why have you been ignoring me for the past week?" I know that's not what the student would say, but it basically comes down to that.

Bottom line: the teacher should have communicated what she was comfortable with when the lessons first started. Failing that, she should have responded to the student. Giving her email implies that she can be contacted that way. If she doesn't want to be contacted, that is perfectly acceptable, but she should have told the student her position on the matter.

I'm hoping that Mary will come back here and tell us what happened at this week's lesson when she talked with her teacher. We are missing the other side of the story. One thing I find interesting here is that "this has gone on for 2 months now". Does this mean the OP has taken lessons from this teacher for just 2 months?

Daniel brought up a very good point. Teachers at universities ARE expected to get back to their students outside class time. Much of the learning happens outside of class anyway, so it would be unrealistic for the student NOT to have questions when they're practicing outside of lessons. I agree too that I wouldn't feel too comfortable asking the teacher why he or she has been ignoring my emails. It's all very weird. But it did sound like Mary's questions were answered during lessons so teacher DID read her emails! Why not shoot back a quick reply after reading them?? I know piano teachers out there may slam me for this, but I don't think this teacher is very responsible nor cares much about his or her students. It's one thing to have a life outside of lessons -- of course we all do! -- but still, a teacher has responsibilities that go beyond just hte lesson and should have laid the rules out to Mary from the beginning if he or she wasn't going to meet her expectations as a teacher. The teacher has essnetially been ignoring Mary and her concerns. I, for one, want my teacher to care about me as a person too and not just someone who pays them x amount of money every week to teach me piano. I don't think we need to slam Mary too much. She was frustrated and found her outlet to vent on this forum. Let's not be unkind people. I sense that many teachers here were offended by Mary's post, but realize that all teachers are different.

If a teacher answers a student's questions in lessons, that teacher is not being irresponsible. Taking it a bit further - playing piano is a physical activity which if done wrongly can lead to injury. If the teacher cannot see the student and doesn't understand the question, or the student misunderstands the answer then the student may injure herself. Maybe it is irresponsible TO answer a question outside of lessons! Depending on the nature of the questions, there may be another reason. Learning to play is a physical process. Our ability to master something involves working on it for a number of days and no answers can speed that up. This is why there is a period of time between lessons rather than daily lessons.

Since teachers are human I can imagine some teachers, especially younger ones, might feel shy or rude to say "stop e-mailing me this often" and so say nothing, hoping the problem will go away.

(as student, ofc)

Great point, Bella, that Mary's teacher did read her emails but chose not to respond to her in that format.
I agree with you that Mary is venting her frustration here and that's fine, many of us do it and get support.
Mary's frustration in her first post comes across as though she does not respect her teacher. If that is the case, don't you think she needs to change teachers? Find one who does skype lessons and more internet communication?
There are teachers here who do internet lessons exclusively.

Great post, Daniel. I agree with you 100%. Unless there is more to the story than Mary has told us (always a possibility), I think it's wrong to characterize this situation as being entirely Mary's responsibility or fault, as some on this thread have done.

Bella, I think the main reason for the "outrage" was because of the topic name which was "why don't teachers respond to emails" or some such thing, implying that teachers in general do this. It has since been changed.

I agree with you and Daniel that number one, the teacher should have responded in some way. We don't know if the teacher actually gave out her email or if the student found it by some other means. It is definitely not proper etiquette to ignore emails. I personally encourage my students to email me with questions if they have any during the week, and some have done so. It's usually not something major that requires a lot of explanation, and most often it's clarification of instructions given. I prefer this to a phone call, because phone calls tend to go on much longer than they should (I'm a talker, OK? :P ), and emails can be succinctly stated.

If Mary's teacher feels differently about this, then she needs to state this to her, and you're right, Mary shouldn't have to ask "why have you been ignoring my emails?".

Oh, one last thing to consider. Some people have their email filtered so that only those who are "approved" get to their inbox, the rest go int he Junk Mail folder. And most people do not check Junk Mail folder. If Mary's email is not one the teacher recognizes, then she probably won't open it. It would be a shame if this were all a misunderstanding like this!

University teachers are paid a salary, and in exchange for that salary are expected to be available basically all day or as their agreement dictates. Your ordinary piano teacher gets paid by the hour, and may have another job, or a patchwork of little jobs, to make enough money.

Daniel, this may be a generational thing, but I disagree with you in part.

Firstly, when students begin with me, a private teacher, I do tell them that they can phone me with questions, but that I may not be able to get back to the immediately, or even before the lesson. However, that communications is limited to my business phone line, not my personal phone line. I have not extended that to email, although I do have a few parents who do notify me of illness/absence via email, I generally return communication with a phone call, as we may have to set a lesson reschedule time, and it's more efficient on the phone.

When people show up at the front door uninvited, you are not obliged to answer the door, to let them in, to give them time, etc. Ditto for telephone calls. Calling your house, uninvited is an invasion of personal space. You can decide whether or not you want to allow it, not the initiator of the call.

Emailing someone, uninvited, is a rudeness; choosing not to respond to rudeness doesn't constitute rudeness in return.

So, IMO, it boils down to what the teacher/Studio policies are. If you invite phone calls or emails, then you should respond, unless you have set up other parameters.

I hope I'm making sense here.

You are, John; my comments (and Daniel's as well, I believe) would apply only in the case that the teacher gave Mary her email address, which certainly implies that emailing her was okay. If Mary googled her and found her email address elsewhere and wrote her out of the blue, then I agree with you that the teacher was under no obligation to reply...although I think she should have raised the issue at the next lesson and said something like "I prefer to restrict my email to personal mail, so please ask me any questions in person."

Deborah, even as a 'younger' (in age) member of this forum, may I just say I wholeheartedly agree with you here!!!

If the student has not been made aware of what's acceptable then yes, it is rude not to respond. Uninvited, as in "has never been discussed", does not constitute rudeness. A teacher should at least have the courtesy to say, "Please don't e-mail me or call between classes," etc. if they do not wish to speak. I can't imagine a teacher not even answering the door if a student showed up (because I assume it would have to be important to make the trip).

There is no reason to ignore a student for simply making a mistake or to completely ignore customers really; it's equivalent to sticking your fingers in your ears and saying, "La la la, I can't hear you." As with all businesses and those who sell services, the ones (teachers) without any form of "customer service" whatsoever will always have unhappy customers (students).

I am not talking about you, as you've clearly offered an avenue for students with problems between classes. But I've met teachers (and professors at college) who seemed to think they were doing their students a favor, and their total indifference outside of the time they're being paid for was not conducive to someone with the desire to learn. In these instances I simply found another teacher or switched professors. I would do the same with a doctor or attorney if I could not ask a question unless I was physically there paying for their time, as would most people.

I recognize there is the other extreme (obnoxious and invasive students). Where I disagree is I believe you should tell the student they are not right for you or clarify where the boundaries are in this case, but ignoring them is not right. You are in the position of authority, you are running a business, not doing personal favors; you should be the bigger person.

Keystring said: "Since teachers are human I can imagine some teachers, especially younger ones, might feel shy or rude to say "stop e-mailing me this often" and so say nothing, hoping the problem will go away."

I am not saying that this is how you feel in any way, but I am going to respond to this idea. I am going to get very blunt because I feel strongly about this. I don't care if the person is uncomfortable. I am tired of hearing excuses from people who say they don't like conflict. I don't care. Grow a backbone. Problems don't pick themselves up and go away. Ignoring them won't make them go away. I just lost a highly-valued friendship, due in large part to my friend not being upfront and honest with me. If I know something is wrong, then I can fix it. If I don't know there's a problem, how is it going to get better?

A teacher isn't the same as a friend, but I think they should be held to just as high of a standard, if not higher. A teacher (especially of children) is a person of responsibility and authority. Someone in their position should strive to show an adequate amount of integrity. I would expect someone to show me the proper civility and respect, regardless of whether or not it is easy for them.

I'm sorry if that came out harsh =|


John, there is nothing in your post that I aggressively disagree with. You set boundaries and expectations, and when your students agree to learn from you, they agree to work with you on your terms.

I agree entirely with Monica's response. She took the words right out of my mouth.

As to this,

"Emailing someone, uninvited, is a rudeness; choosing not to respond to rudeness doesn't constitute rudeness in return."

I'm afraid I don't agree with that one. For one, giving your email constitutes as permission. It wouldn't make sense to expect someone to refrain from calling you if you gave them your number; it is the same with email.

It would be a little odd to get an email out of the blue, especially when I did not give it...but is it so much different than a stranger saying hello? Wouldn't ignoring that person be considered rude?

I would never expect someone whom didn't invite me to write them (giving me their email) to respond to me. But it does seem more civil to respond to them anyway, if merely to tell them you would like to not engage in conversation in the future.

I didn't mean to get people so worked up over this. I will discuss this with my piano teacher tomorrow during our lesson. It's embarrassing to ask why I have been ignored, but it seems like the only way.

And how could I have gotten my teacher's email address by googling? That's just silly and offensive to me. I'm not a psychopath. As silly as it sounds, we never discussed how we should communicate if I had questions. Yes, my teacher gave me both email address and cell phone number...so I presumed that I could email questions or call.

I've been taking lessons for a little over 2 months now (2.5 months). My questions are definitely NOT thought-provoking; for example, this week's email was more along the line of "Hi ___ , I know Xmas is coming and I wanted to let you know that I would be gone so and so days. It looks like I could try to squeeze in a makeup lesson between so and so days when I come back if you are available. Please let me know what days work best for you. Thank you."

No answer - and teacher's the one who recommended doing a makeup session!

Yes, of course


I sincerely believe teachers should be available to answer questions from students - but as you say, there must be boundaries. After putting in a long day of nonstop multitasking at a public high school I feel I have the right to say, "Okay, I'm off from work now." Where does anyone come off saying I should be available at all hours to answer student questions? Are you available all day and night to do your job? I am required by contract to be available 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I and most teachers work at school for 10 or more hours a day. That means I put in 50 hours a week at school plus anywhere from 4 to 10 hours more at home. If I (or a professor) don't answer an email it is certainly not because of indifference. It is because I am exhausted. I do not answer school related emails after school hours or during the weekend. I believe it is not unreasonable to spend some of my life off duty! This does not make me a bad teacher. It makes me a good shepherd of my physical and mental health.

Where did the idea come from that someone becomes a teacher because they want to devote 100% of their waking hours to student development? Teaching is not my life. It is my job. I love my job; I do it well and I love what I teach but I have a life outside of work. How can anyone have the nerve to suggest a teacher must be available at all hours? I didn't take vows when I became a teacher.

Edit: Mary, if your emails are simple rescheduling queries that are going unanswered, your teacher is indeed being rude. Don't let us scare you when we become passionate about a topic we relate to.

Mary, we get worked up here all the time so no worries

Teacher gave you her cell number and email address as contact information but won't answer scheduling questions except during lesson time? I don't like that. Let us know what happens tomorrow!

I was not suggesting that. Merely that at my university it was common practice for professors to set aside a brief period where their students could come in after class if they had questions or did not comprehend something. University e-mail addresses were also available and they would answer when they could if it was not something frivolous. All this was expected of them not just by students, but by administrators as well. Mind you we were paying thousands of dollars per semester compared to the relatively small going rate of something like private piano lessons.

Obviously with private teachers it becomes more subjective. While I do not expect someone to be available 24/7, I don't expect that their instruction during class be the only resources EVER made available to the students, either. There is a great difference between an understandable delay in response due to having a personal life, and completely ignoring someone indefinitely.

I'm not an invasive person who asks a lot of questions outside of lessons, but there have been times something genuinely needed to be clarified and I was ignored for a period of 1-2 weeks. Then at my next lesson they acted dumbfounded as to why I hadn't progressed past that issue. That is what I was describing by indifference and it's not my, or apparently most universities', idea of good teaching.