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ANZ:
All you said here could cause serious problems. If it is that "obvious" why is MTAC not taking discipline actions? I am sure that once MTAC taking its role to ensure all the code of ethic is being followed, start an investigation towards its suspicious members, then these activities can be reduce right?

That is not close to how I understand it. Have you read everything in detail?

Good question.

+1

I have yet to meet a piano teacher over the age of 18 and under the age of 85 that is serving the general public as a teacher for free, or a public service or as a charity. All paid, professional piano teachers are per definition commercia.

Sounds like -- if this is true -- that he is acting like any normal, red-blooded and as American as Chevrolet, baseball and apple pie business anno 2013. Ethics are so last century. If this is the extent of his transgressions, then he makes the banking industry, for example, sound like Mother Teresa's chapel choir. The surprise is not the (successful but sleazy) tactics, but that they are being applied to a sleepy old, mom and pop kind of marginal business that has operated on written and unwritten codes of honor for hundreds of years (that have of course also been violated by aggressive players also for hundreds of years.)

On the other hand, it is hard to argue with success! I have never heard of a contemporary piano school with 200 simultaneous paying students before. If half of the accusations are true, and the parents decide they don't like it or that the other benefits he offers don't wash up to it, then sooner or later the pigeons will come home to roost and the wised-up customers will leave, tell others via word-of-mouth (rather than unprofessional, petty blogs or competitor websites) and his business will crash and burn. However, if a majority of his customers see value (and results that meet their expectations which don't have to meet your expectations), especially value relative to other options in the market, then he may be on to something.

Wal*Mart has not decimated the entire lineup of stores on main street in many towns because that is better for the community, better for the people who lost their independent business and are forced to work there for peanuts or necessarily better for customers. Their success is based on a model that cuts corners everywhere it can until everyone else is destroyed. Once you have that market position, you are essentially the market maker.

I can understand the emotional tirades against this studio.

hey keystring~thanks! I appreciate that. I've gotten quite a few transfer students who've had horrible fundamentals, whether it's hand position, ability to count, note reading, or just bad habits in general. When I ask where they studied piano previously a vast number of them got their starts at commercial music studios. That's kind of where the name came from.

Can you explain the rambly part of my website? I'm not sure which section you're talking about and I'm really interested in figuring out what you mean

There is absolutely potential for these academies to work and some do indeed prosper without the use of shady tactics and have upstanding owners who keep their eyes on passing on the gift of music and not purely on maximizing profit.

Thanks Peter, I labored over the name for awhile, haha. If I had a doctorate degree I would have just gone with Dr. Kao's Piano Studio. HAHA. But, unfortunately I only have a masters.

Actually I've explained the way the word "commercial" is used in this case with a few dictionary definitions to Kreisler's question already. It's on the 2nd page of this topic.

I might be reading you wrong but I think you meant the banking industry makes him sound like Mother Teresa's choir?

Anyway, you hit a few good points for sure. While I don't agree that a lack of ethics makes someone a normal, red-blooded American--call me an optimist--the unwritten code of honor bit is definitely true, ESPECIALLY for educators. We simply shouldn't compare a teaching institution of young children in ANY subject to big, corporate companies.

Why is it so shocking to hear news of teachers committing statutory rape? Why was the recent shooting in Connecticut so devastating and shocking? Because it involved children and because educators SHOULD be hold to a higher moral standard as we are often seen as examples for young children's malleable minds. I take that part of my job VERY seriously.

I think in this case it's hard for the pigeons to come home and roost because as part of the condition to work teachers have to sign a non-compete clause as mentioned in a previous post. The clause forbids teachers from giving away any personal information even if requested by parents.

In my case, my termination went something like this: Cameron calls me and tell me all my students can't make the rest of their December lessons because of their holiday schedule, says I don't have to go in for the rest of December. I go in for a "meet and greet" with a new student previously scheduled after my regular teaching time, sees the parents of my students. Confusion ensued. They were upset already because Cameron apparently moved their lesson time but didn't tell them they have a substitute teacher, and that they will have this sub from now on because I'm on a "leave of absence" until JUNE. Plus now they find out Cameron flat out lied to them and to me. And June is quite a big difference from my I get December off story.

Now, because I followed the rules and refused to give out my personal information to my students there even when they asked for it, the REST of my students that I've already formed a close relationship with just lost their piano teacher without any warning. That is a HORRIBLE feeling as I'm sure any piano teacher here can understand.

Alright, sob story aside, I agree with your statements on value, that is how things work. I think another problem is the fact that music instruction is so hard to evaluate for the average consumer; It's unlike a crappy sweater, burger, or even a poor quality car.

Another characteristic of a commercial music studio as opposed to a private piano studio is that it provides music lessons of all types of instruments, not just piano. Hence my one teacher teaching multiple instruments statement.

By the way, I take offense to your "unprofessional, petty blog" statement. If you have a professional, un-petty blog, I'd love to see it and learn from you.

Hi Kevin,

I have followed this thread from the outset, and quite frankly, nothing you have said, or done thus far, has given me any reason to be sympathetic to your position.

If you have just cause to take any kind of legal action against your former employer, you should do so in a private and professional manner.

Airing your dirty linen on a public forum, and also on your 'blog', will not strengthen your case in any way, and could come back to bite you IMO.

If you can put the past behind you, and move on, you will have far more chance of success in the long term.
I wish you well.

I would question the insinuation that unethical = American or that American = unethical. I think we can find ample examples of unethical in ANY country.

I'm sort of surprised you would choose to go down that road. I thought Frank Baxter made himself perfectly clear to you on that subject, didn't he?

+1. I know of many bad teachers out there, ones who take student's money and don't teach them anything, or worse, teach them bad things that prevent the student from reaching their potential. These are facts. However, as a professional, it really reflects more poorly on me for speaking the truth about that teacher than it does on that teacher.

What you as a teacher have to offer and the way your students sound coming out of your studio speak volumes about the quality of teaching - much more than any comparison - however correct you may be about your criticisms.

One other comment. I, too, and Christian, and while "offensive" isn't quite the right word, I found your comment actually misrepresented Christians. We do not think of ourselves as superior to non-Christians; we are humbled by what Jesus did on the cross. Being Christian does not make us perfect or necessarily better in our day-to-day actions. In fact, it is because we are incapable of being perfect that makes us in need of a savior.

I personally feel that you can tell your readers that you are a Christian and therefore hold yourself to a high standard of ethics and quality in your studio, without taking a dig at non-Christians as your statement does.

I was referring to unethical BUSINESS practices in general and the unethical AMERICAN banking industry specifically which as a matter of factual public record tanked the world economy through unethical practices, yet to be unpunished.

I did not mean in any way that Americans are unethical nor that all businesses are unethical but rather indicate, as you yourself state, that unethical business practices have become common everywhere and too often normal operating procedure both within and outside of the United States. Since Irvine, CA is in the United States it would be non-sensical to say that unethical business practices have become commonplace in Nigeria. In fact, if companies want to succeed they find themselves forced to cheat or cut corners (at least that is what managers say to themselves guilty of such behavior say when they look at themselves in the mirror in the morning).

I doubt that a studio could ramp up to 200 students by acting like a typical passive-marketing home piano teacher just waiting for students to show up. More aggressive business practices are required.

Hope this clears up any confusion.

Indeed.

This is not what I said or at least what I meant to say. What I mean to say is that in big business whether in America where you are located or in Europe where I am located, playing hard ball, or pushing the envelope at the least or as far as aa lack of ethics and even illegal behavior in big business has become, unfortunately, almost a given.

The problem does not seem to be with the teachers, some of whom seem to be exploited themselves, but with the business practices of the owner, which for a typical independent studio would come across as unethical but for the successful studio with 200 students they might just think they are smart businesspeople.

Might there be some gray areas?

Is it unethical for Pepsi to advertise to Coca-Cola customers, in the honest belief that their product is superior?

Is it unethical for piano teachers to advertise to other people's students, in the honest belief they can teach better/

Now we are back to the ancient, unwritten codes of honor of cottage-industry piano teachers (including codification into many regional and national professional associations) versus what is normal for businesses everywhere: aggressive marketing. It is always cheaper and easier to market to an existing user (student or piano-cultured household in this case) than to try to market to the entire world in the hope of finding someone who wants to become a student. What better place to find them then at the recitals of other teachers or among the siblings of existing students, for example. It is logical.

It is not hard to understand why this business model would be successful: this studio competes like an aggressive business while many of the professional piano teachers freely tie one of their own arms behind their back in comparison.

I still believe that in the long run, this business will only be successful if they are giving parents and students what they think they want....which incidentally may not be even close to what traditional piano teachers think that they want....which is something to think about....

In fact, what you wrote quite nicely sums up the exact story of a local "music school" here.

You might laugh at this. Yesterday I started a student. I asked the student, "How did you pick me?"

Her answer: "I just came in and asked for a teacher."

I teach in a music store. If you come to our store, you get me. I could be horrible. The people who pick me for a teacher do not know that. That fact that I am not horrible means that they got lucky.

It's ironic, isn't it?

It sounds like the local professional organizations should be involved. With skating, every coach has to be a member of PSA. There is a code of ethics that members have to follow.

They deal with very strict rules on promotion, solicitation and tampering. It still happens, but it is usually dealt with. parents sign agreements, coaches sign agreements and rink management signs agreements.

http://www.skatepsa.com/What-are-solicitation,%20promotion,%20and%20tampering.htm

I guess that is why the website felt so negative to me. Instead of self promotion, it was in the direction of tampering and solicitation.

How many prospective parents/students find it important whether or not a school is affiliated with a professional service organisation or teacher's union? They might just think it is overhead they don't want to pay for.

As far as I know, the piano teaching profession is not a protected line of business such as a medical doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc. where you can only put yourself to operate in that business if you have the qualifications and membership in or licensing from the professional assocations.

Can't any piano school operate independently of any associations?