Ok strange question... does anyone have a teacher that will touch their fingers and move them to show them how to play something? It kind of freaks me out a bit and definitely gets me all flustered so I can't think and concentrate. It seems when my teacher gets maybe a little frustrated or impatient with me she will say look you just do this and will take my hand and move it and my fingers. That only makes things a millon times worse for me and I don't like it.

Your teacher will never know that behavior drives you crazy unless you tell them.

I do it to my kids all the time, but they haven't told me that it drives them nuts so I keep doing it. But it is probably annoying them, so perhaps I'll cut it back!

Perhaps at the beginning of your next lesson, bring it up before you start and suggest an alternative method of correction. You're both adults, so just get it out in the open.

And have fun with it. Your teacher's method is surely habitual, so it's bound to happen again - demand a dollar (jokingly) every time afterward it happens, or slam your free hand on the keys and freek out (scream ).

I don't know your relationship with your teacher, but if you can find a way to correct your teacher's behavior in a fun way, perhaps it might work - and even correct your teacher's behavior to other students (if that drives them crazy too).

In the end you might just wind up bonding a little more with your teacher if you can address this in a very open way.

I agree with Ben.

My previous teacher had this habit of constantly telling me to "relax," which of course has the complete opposite effect of actually making me relax. This became so irritating and so much of a pseudo-explanation of her's for why I couldn't play certain passages that I finally had to tell her to stop saying it.

I also had to tell her that her counting the beats out loud while I was trying to sight-read was not helpful. (Incidentally, she did not believe that this could be the case, until she saw a vast improvement in my sight-reading just by the inclusion of her silence).

Yes, my teacher does so occasionally.
Sometimes we get stuck, unable to execute the directions we hear. A quick help is to bypass the confused brain and let the body/fingers feel and experience what is required of them. Works sometimes wonders in Yoga or Feldenkrais classes, too ("Ooooh - it's that simple???")
I agree, if you don't want to be touched, tell your teacher.

In a way, you're fortunate that your teacher is making this effort for you. It does not sound to me as if anything creepy is going on. Still, you have a right not to be touched--- or at least, to be asked about it first--- if it makes you feel at all uncomfortable. A one-minute conversation would put the matter to rest.

I've had teachers who would move my hand and fingers to directly demonstrate things like hand and wrist position, or a fingering that didn't seem to want to go into my brain through the ears or eyes. One of my better teachers would move my back and shoulders to remind me (since I didn't get it) about keeping a healthy seated posture for playing. Though, come to think of it, I believe she did ask me first if I was comfortable with it.

Piano is so directly physical, sometimes actually being shown physically helps to fix our kinesthetic memory. But, if this information is overwhelmed by other stimuli then it doesn't help after all and demonstrating without touching is probably better.

I suspect all of us find something annoying that our teachers do! Just have to find a way to say something about the really destructive habits and find a way to live with others. My teacher writes in my music with black pen. I keep reminding her to use pencil so I can erase if I want (and I do - sometimes the writing is a distraction, not a help). She also blurts out when I hit a wrong note. This is pointless as I usually know when I hit a wrong note (my fingers made me do it) and it often startles me into distraction. But oh well, she's a great teacher and I learn a lot from her!

This is simply just your teacher's way of trying to communicate to you what you need to do differently. It's probably either just her natural instinct to want to want to show you by guiding your hands and fingers or it may even be that it's what she finds works from experience.

I would try and view her actions for what it is (a method of communicating what you need to do differently) and not think of it as something strange or freaky. You never know, if you change your mindset about this, you may find it helpful.

If it's something that continues to be an issue for you, then just tell her that you need her to communicate with you differently, because her guiding your hands and fingers isn't helping you.

As Ben says. Why are you freaking out from such a simple thing as your hands getting touched?

Thanks. No I'm not freaking out that my hands are touched. It is just that I don't think it helps me because it seems to be very distracting and I seem to lose total focus of what I'm doing. For me I sometimes have to go really slow and think. I get overwhelmed just trying to read the notes, play with both hands, play smoothly and everything else that goes along with playing. Sometimes I have to stop and think for a second partly because I'm not used to someone sitting with me too so when the teacher tries to move my hands and fingers for me it seems to totally break whatever concentration I had or was needed to play. Part of it is me not being relaxed enough I guess. I hope maybe I can become more relaxed over time. I know I can't be the only one that gets this way ??? Thanks again for all the feedback.

My teacher does this. It took me a long time to get used to it and not freeze up. Now it doesn't bother me.

He's trying to move your hands while you're playing? I would suggest then to focus on your hands instead of WHAT you're playing, to feel how you should have your hands. In fact, I think this is SUPPOSED to break your concentration, as in total concentration you can not even pick up the new hand setting? Maybe you should just stop there, or play something roughly what's there, or play something very slow, as long as you focus on what he's trying to show (instead of the stuff you want to play).

@wouter - it is when I'm playing what I'm supposed to play for my lesson. Usually at the lesson we'll move ahead in a piece or maybe go over a section I'm having trouble with. It is when I'm not getting something. I know it is meant to show me I guess but I get so frozen up and distracted I don't think I'm getting the benefit of what she is trying to show me. I'll have to try and be more relaxed or something. Sometimes I'm just too slow. If it is a new section because we are moving ahead I am still at a point that my sight reading is not too good and I have to think of what the notes are and then think where to place my fingers. Maybe I think too much too instead of just trusting that I do know the notes better than I think. It is like I don't trust my site reading and I'm afraid to put my fingers down on a wrong note.

As always it is interesting to hear others experiences.

My first piano teacher used to do the same thing. Just relax and know that by touching your hands and fingers,placing them where they have to be, your teacher is adding a sensation that will allow your brain to store the information better. If I may paint a little picture, it might help you to understand what I mean: if you want to create a path in a wheat field, you have to walk the same route back and forth every time.

The more you walk using the same initial route, the clearer the path becomes. If you drag your feet, the job will be done faster and soon your path will be clear of weeds and you won't have to search for it anymore. Dragging your feet and killing the weeds does the same job as your teacher touching your fingers and putting them where they belong. Just remember where they have to be, so you don't make TWO wishy-washy paths instead of a nice wide one that will still be there next year. I'm sure this can be explained better than I just did, but that's how I explain things to my own inner child.

If you want a more scientific explanation, you could read: "The Brain that changes itself" by Norman Doidge, M.D. or this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity

Eveewonder, have you talked to your teacher about this? Including all the things in your last post, about trying to concentrate on so many things at once, and being afraid to make wrong notes.

I wouldn't say it works anywhere - the part of the brain that needs stimulating (motor) is neglected.

same here:

Yes, and it's wrong!

I think there are 2 issues.
a) does it bother you because of the timing (it breaks your concentration
b) does it bother you just because you don't want to be touched.

In either case a simple conversation should do the trick.

My teacher touches my arms or shoulders to get me to relax when I tense up (hey, come to think of it, she hasn't done it for a while).... However we have a very comfortable relationship and it doesn't bother me. Quite the opposite actually because later I can remember the sensation and it triggers a relax reflex!
I have also put my hand over or under hers to feel the weight and try to understand how she was applying pressure.
However I'm pretty sure that at the start she did ASK if it was ok. And I ASKED too - for the demo on weight and pressure. If my teacher were someone I was less comfy with, or a man, I'd have been very startled and not as comfortable with being touched, especially without being asked.

My teacher does this occassionally. He did ask if it was OK the first time. I thought nothing about it, part of the teaching/learning process. Can be helpful when I just don't follow a demonstration.

Yes, playing the piano involves hands, and hands need to be trained.

Agreed, but moving them for you doesn't train them. Training happens as the student's motor cortex fires.

The brain will be active even if you don't move a muscle but only imagine the movement. And your proprioception will be at work when somebody else guides you through a complex movement.
I suppose Eveewonder's teacher will not move her hands through a complete sonata but just help her understand/grasp/master a little bit using non-verbal instructions instead of explanations (something that works well for a lot uf us). Afterwards, you have to train that part by moving your fingers all alone, that's for sure.

You can't imagine movements you've never made.

I know the feeling of not being relaxed or losing concentration during my lessons. I remember how frustrating it was to be able to play a piece fairly well while practicing it at home and then playing the same piece for my teacher and making a mess out of it. I think the majority of students have experienced what you are feeling. For some, it goes a way after they get comfortable playing for their teacher, for me it was something that got better but I still struggled with.