Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but "All Steinway School" means all the pianos are from S&S, which include Bostons and Essexs. Both are fine instruments, but if you're looking for a Steinway B in the practice room you probably won't find it.

In both cases, no. An adult student who practices effectively to the best of their ability for a year, and then comes back, doesn't get the pay-in-advance treatment from me, nor does an adult student whose history I know, when that history is told to me by another teacher who I trust.

All Steinway School means Big Marketing Gimmick, that's what it means.

I've had a couple of teachers in my life who, even if my practice piano had been a Steinway C with my own personal technician, I still wouldn't have learned anything.

And what about children whose parents are untrustworthy. What about the children who don't practice effectively? Do they get put into that policy?

Can you see how unfair this is to anyone of good character, to bear the consequences of other people's reputations by association? If you started lessons in a new instrument right now, would you expect this policy to be applied to you?

You have to realize where I'm coming from. When I started lessons as a novice they were all year, 52 weeks, and we were subject to normal expectations. There was no question that we would not attend or pay or practice. All this seems strange to me. And I'm afraid a tad insulting even if I'm trying to be understanding.

Yes. Everyone pays in advance. No favoritism, no problems for either student or teacher. Tuition is always due by the first lesson of the month. What's so strange about that?

David proposed a special policy to be applied only to adult students, where they alone must pay several months in advance. Children are not subject to this policy. The message is that because of my age group I cannot be trusted. Not because of who I am.

It was also unfair for me as a responsible, intelligent fourteen-year-old to bear the consequences of other people's reputations by not being permitted to drive, or to vote. It is not up to you how I run my business.

David, I'd appreciate it if you lifted the aggression. I have at all times addressed teachers respectfully, tried to see their point of view as well as my own, and you know it. In this forum we are going beyond how any one person does things personally. We are also getting at general views collectively and I assumed it was a dialog. Nobody ever said anything about how you should run your business. I have policies because of being cheated in the past, but I am also aware that it may be unfair to some individuals, and I wish that human nature were not as it is. Do you see the difference?

If you were a good enough teacher and you felt forced to have such a policy, then I'd comply with it. But the human feeling is there. I take pride in what I do. I expect consequences for my own behavior and that my reputation is based on what I do, and not what others do. This is not pleasant.

ks, the problem with stereotypes is that they are true often enough that generalizations are safe. I, too, have had a number of adult students, and the ratio of students like yourself to those mentioned by David is something on the order of 6 to 1 or higher. Which means that good students such as yourself, who are both regular and also punctual with payments, don't have a high absenteeism rate, don't quit after 4 or 5 months, end up paying a price for the many who do. It's not fair, but in case you daddy didn't tell you, life isn't fair. We simply have to work around these issues and make the best of it.

John, precisely. On a pragmatic level, there are two things I hold important:

- That students who are serious about music study are not locked out of the chance to do so because of the stereotypes. I would hope that teachers reading these generalizations will not then conclude that everyone in that 80 year age bracket is like that. A requirement of a larger prepayment, if I can swing it, is a lesser concern. Not even being able to get in is the biggy. If we can't get a decent teacher, everything else is moot.

- The stereotype of what we all want to learn, and how. This should really be determined rather than assumed. The whole direction of our learning hinges on this.

In the least, I'd urge teachers and students toward better communication if this isn't already happening, and on our side, to be informed. There are a few things that I wish I would have known when I started out the first time.