Hey~~ Just want some opinions on this subject, haha.

I was with my piano teacher, Mario, for the past.... 8 years or so. He's a friend of the family and quite a good pianist but the thing is... he doesn't know how to teach properly. My notes for the past 8 years were HAND WRITTEN in sharpie with no bass clef whatsoever. I learned about dynamics in grade 5, in the school band... 4 years AFTER I started piano lessons. Not good. I learned nothing from Mario himself in the past three or four years now and it's starting to get annoying because I want to pursue music as a career after high school.

About 2 weeks ago, my mom contacted a REAL piano teacher that could possibly help me out. She's going to call back soon to tell me if I can get in. This will either be in the next three weeks or so, or in September. Thank God. Really.

The only thing left is telling Mario that I'm switching. This will NOT be interesting to say the least. Like I said, he's close to my family, and everyone loves the poor man. Oh well. What must be done will be done.

Anyway, just wanted to let that out there. Also, what are your thoughts on how I've been taught for the past 8 years(1)??


1)

At the beginning, Mario was good for me. He taught me the basics and that Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, and also All Cows Eat Grass. I was happy. My music was fun, I had a good half hour on my piano days. When I reached Grade 5 in school I learned of the Royal Conservatory. Up until this point I had NO classical training whatsoever. I learned how to chord. Yeah.
I decided I wanted to go in the Royal Conservatory tests. This was a mission for me because I've never exactly read bass clef before this. Mario gave me the music to something-or-other and I got an 88 on the test. I was pretty proud of myself! The comment on it said 'Watch your dynamics.' I had NO idea what dynamics were. It wasn't until a few weeks later in school band that I found out what dynamics were. So confusing.

Still, after all this, I continued to get Sharpied-out music that I could barely read it was that messy. I also got some fiddle music from a book that I put my own chords to in a basic pattern. This was my piano life for the past 3 or 4 years. It is now now. And I am thankfully switching piano teachers, to someone who can TEACH CONSERVATORY FOR COLLEGE!


Thanks for reading. =)


JustBeingMe

I know of some real crap teachers. It's frustrating.

Hi JustBeingMe -

It sounds good that you're going to be changing teachers. Hopefully you'll learn lots of new and exciting things, and be ready for college auditions!

Does your current teacher actually make his living teaching piano? It sounds more like a family friend that also happens to play, who offered to teach you. Perhaps your parents were worried that you wouldn't stick with it when you were younger, or that the costs were too high, and thus chose this friend?

Since you are not really in a position of having to "solve" a problem (ie you already have solved it, by finding a new teacher!) I would try to find things that I am honestly grateful to the current teacher for.

For example, I might say something like - "I've really enjoyed studying with you for the last eight years. I especially appreciate (that you always found interesting music, that you taught me to play with chords, whatever - but I'd try to find something true!).

I'll miss coming to see you, but I'm also excited to be starting the next part of my piano adventure!"

I honestly think that, after 8 years, he's going to understand just fine that you are ready to move on to another teacher who can prepare you for college.

Good luck with it, and with your new teacher!

- saerra (not a teacher!)

Yes, he makes a living teaching piano. He has quite a lot of students, actually!!

Thank you so much for your opinion and advice. This will be kind of weird, telling him I'm switching, but It's better to tell him now than to hide it from him and have him find out later.

I love hearing advice, thanks again.

It's very sad to read your post. A beginner should start reading both bass and treble clef from the start. It takes many years to develop hand independence. Look forward rather than backwards. You have many years ahead, and once you get to your new teacher don't be shocked and discourage at what others your same age can play. Resist the urge to quit. Just remind yourself that at your age, you still have easily 60 to 70 years left to play the piano, so starting over now is still early compared to an adult beginner.

However, you also need to be realistic. If you want to do music after high school, you may find music programs are generally quite competitive and you may not have learned enough to be admitted to one of them at the this point, but that all depends on how many years of high school you have left, and whether you are willing to devote yourself to the piano completely from now on. If so, you still have a chance.

It is important to be kind to your teacher, no matter how well or badly you were taught. Try to bite your tongue if you catch yourself wanting to say something mean to your former teacher.

All piano teachers know that at some time the student is going to stop taking lessons from them.

A simple message about your new plans after they are in place and you are ready to make the move will be enough. Thank your teacher for being part of your musical life for 8 years even though you now recognize that you might have done better with a different set of circumstance. Now is not the time to have this discussion with him about what should have happened. Not to have known this about your lessons is really too bad. But, you are now moving toward a better circumstance and that is what is needed.

Your job is to get yourself into better instruction and to learn what you have been missing. Hopefully you have qualified your new teacher as having a track record in preparing students for successful testings.

And, you know you will be working hard to make some corrections and learn about things that are missing in your education. Don't let all of these past circumstances contaminate your new sense of direction. Go forward.