I don't mean good piano player... I mean good in terms of personality clicking with me, not arasive, not too demanding but not too lax etc.

How do you go about picking a teacher that will click with you? What are good questions to ask?

Does one needs to go back to the basics and redo Hanon exercises for example. Help me prepare to 'interview' and 'hire' the right teacher.

As a teacher, what do you wish your student would ask about you so that you can also decide if you want to take this student...

A little about myself....
I need a piano teacher. I have exhausted everything I learned 4 decades ago. The last lesson I had was before I was 10 years old. I am nearly 50 now. I think I had about 3 to 4 years of very intense lessons as a wee little kid. I don't have much memory of those lessons or what I learned.

I have been 'tinkering' and 'fingering' with my kids piano books after their lessons (they come home after their lessons and I practice the pieces more than they do!) and my 'old piano books' that we found after my parents passed away. For example, we found a Czerny compilation that I was working through when I was 9 or 10. I started go through the Czerny on my own recently.

Now that I have exhausted my own abilities AND I have bought a new piano, I am ready to take piano lessons and get better. I can read music fairly well enough to play easy Mozart, Fur Elise etc. Currently, I am trying to work through Mozart Piano concerto in C major, for example. I think I learned to play that as a kid. Eventually, I would like to just play and improvise so I can 'doodle'. I would like to be able to sit and just make pretty sounds in a few years. Not sure if that is something that will happen or not but it is a goal.

I don't want to use my kids teacher. I am not sure why but I don't. One was not very good teacher and the other does not use a good piano to teach.

Pleas help me be efficient about finding a good teacher... I hate to go through multiple teachers that do not click with me before I find a gem.

Thanks!

So, first you need to know what it is you're wanting to accomplish at the piano. Composition, facility, ear playing? What type of music - classical, new age, jazz, hymns and church music, etc? This is just for starters.

Where did you purchase your piano? Sherman-Clay, Prossers, Kennelly-Keys? Or some other place? Most maintain some kind of teacher list.

Have you discussed your desire for lessons with your children's teacher?

I can tell you that there are two teachers who specialize in working with adults, who teach out of Sherman-Clay. Both are excellent. One is jazz oriented, the other, classical. Also, SC maintains a roster of teachers in the area. They host the Seattle chapter of MTNA and should be able to steer you towards a listing of their members, who's certified, etc.

"...Pleas help me be efficient about finding a good teacher... I hate to go through multiple teachers that do not click with me before I find a gem."

I hear you. Been there, done it the hard way. It seems to me you could improve your odds with a good self-inventory, which includes what you don't want as well as what you do, followed by a good interview. Still, in the end, looking at what's on the table is one thing, eating it is another thing, and digesting it is yet another. A teacher may be a delicious banquet or an indigestible, toilet-hugging horror.

Trial lessons (six or twelve) before you and the teacher decide whether to continue together is probably the only real way to find this out. Of course, you can help yourself with a frank, honest and focused interview which will help you cull out the ones you don't want for sure.

Even gems take work--- not only to find (or afford) them, but cutting, polishing, setting... and of course, wearing them to one's best advantage.

The bad news and the good news are the same: you get to choose. Try to do it in a light heart; it will go better. Good luck--- you sound like a gem-like student who will attract a similar teacher.

what i have done is offer the teacher a premium price (5 bucks above the hourly rate for instance) for a trial lesson or two at his or her convenience. In the meantime i would be doing exercises,scales, etudes, Czerny, reviewing and practicing old repertoire to get in shape for lessons.

I have rejected most teachers.. I must be hard to deal with.

I have like one very much and learned so much... and agree with wise Jeff's post.

Think first about what you didn't like abotu your children's teacher, the one who didn't teach very well. Were they poor communicators? Did they not have consistency in their lessons (always going through scales or technical exercises, repertoire, theory, sight reading), or did they not seem to have a lesson plan or long-term and short-term goals for their students? Those things right there would be great questions to ask a prospective teacher.

You mention the current teacher of your children not having a good piano to learn on. So obviously that is an important factor in deciding to study. Now some teachers cannot afford a good grand piano to teach on. Some may even have to settle for a digital. But they may be a high-quality teacher nonetheless. If it's a matter of the piano needing a good tuning and regulating, perhaps talk to the teacher and let them know your reservations and perhaps they can have some work done on it if that's your only reservation. Personally, I feel that while it's nice to be able to play on a nice piano, there are very few times where you actually get to. Most often you're playing on an instrument that has it's own quirks - even your instrument at home. A good pianist learns how to make good sounds from a mediocre instrument. Still, if you insist on having a good instrument to learn on (and what quality instrument do you have to practice on at home? That is where you'll be spending most of your time and that is perhaps what matters more), then that would be an important thing to ask a prospective teacher as well.

What other things are important to you? What styles of music, what things do you feel are holding you back from progressing further in piano? Are there specific pieces you'd like to learn how to play?

As a teacher, I want to hear something that the student can play well. Not to show off anything difficult to impress me, but something that they can be confident in playing so I can see what they do well and what we can work on. I would bring any books you are currently working on to the interview for the teacher to see.

Too bad there is no online service like eharmony.com to set up music teachers and students.

EMelody.com?

I want the perfect teacher too.

Thanks all.

I would like more specific questions that I can ask the potential teacher...
Any ideas?

The teacher we are not using any more did not have ANY tessons plans or reportoire. She basically worked through Bastien books and nothing else. No scales, argegios etc.

I hated scales and fingering exercises when I was a kid so I let her do what she did to keep the kids going. I really HATED my lessons and I kept at them because I was afraid of my parent's disapproval. I guess 40 years puts a very different perspective on life in general!

My older son no longer plays the piano and has switched to saxophone, which is fine.

My younger son's current teacher teaches out of a tiny music school and they use a digital piano, which is fine for my 9 year old. She seems to make sure the lesson objective is learned before they move on. Currently, my son and she are working on keeping time accurately because my son is not able to do that well. Not only that, she is more of a performer than a teacher. My read on her is that she is teaching to supplement her performing career. She performed in Europe last month and had to miss 2 weeks of lessons.

The complication of using her if I ask her to come to our house is that I would feel bad about stealing the teacher from the music school. I am sure the music school has a contract with her and would like to keep the students in the school.

Ask friends, family, coworkers, etc for referrals. Even if they don't play, maybe they know someone who does. Almost all referrals I have found, regardless if for a teacher or for something else, have been far better than anyone I've found on my own. Most would not have taken me as a student or let me use their services if I was not a referral.

As a "teacher," I also don't accept students unless they are direct referrals.

1+
I found my wonderful teacher via a referral. My neighbor's kid (teenager) played beautifully, great technique and with expression! That was it - it's been a great relationship + experience, although I *was* prepared to perhaps have to hunt around a bit. Glad I didn't have to.
BTW, I really dislike her piano...but that's not a good reason ,in my opinion, to leave an excellent teacher and musician.

So you already have your first few questions here: Do you do lesson plans for your students? Do you use a method book/what method is it? Do you do any supplemental work with students outside of the method books?



This is something you should discuss with the teacher. It certainly is no breach of contract to ask, and simply assure her that you don't want to cause problems for her.