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"Late Elementary" is making me laugh right now. "Late" in particular seems to suit me.

I'm a lonely wolf. I got lost as very young because I was a very curious cub, but got no guidance. All the time strolling through the musical landscape searching for treasures. Over the years I have fallen into quite few treacherous pits and spent lots of time getting out of them. Occasionally I have found precious gems. Still searching, and hoping to find better paths to follow.

"Intermediate" seems to be a huge category that includes everything after beginner method books. It seems to be where many people end up, not a beginner anymore, but not an advanced pianist either. Having heard my teacher play virtuoso pieces, I don't know if I will ever be "Advanced"! Being intermediate is a very long journey towards proficiency and skill.

I would agree that it is hard to cover everything in a 1/2 hour lesson at the intermediate level. My lessons often run over an hour, and sometimes an hour and half. There is so much to learn, and my teacher often doesn't want to turn me loose until she is sure I am doing something correctly. She doesn't want to have to fix it next time!

Adultpianist, it sounds like your teacher recognizes that you are serious about piano and wants to help you reach your goals, and doesn't believe she can do that in 1/2 hour lessons. You will probably advance faster with longer lessons.

SwissMS, I totally agree with you. It's all relative too. Among advanced pianists, I'm a long term beginner and here in ABF I'm a long term intermediate player. Listening to my recording, I was thinking that definately I'm not advanced. It's frustrating to be at this level since I know how it should sound like or how I would like it to sound.

Re duration of the time of lesson, agree with many here. 30 min not enough. As you advance your pieces get longer and tougher. Teacher won't assign you just a few bars any more unless you want spend a year to learn a piece.

Je pense, donc je suis.

That's enough self-definition …

I don't really know what level I'm at - I'm all over the map with various strengths and weaknesses. Certain aspects of my playing are multiple grade levels apart. But I do know what my strengths and weaknesses are, I have a fairly clear understanding of the overall plan, and I do know I'm improving over time.

One thing I've come to believe more and more is you can't necessarily figure out what level you're at by looking up the rated level of the pieces you're working on.

Also, I'm not so sure accurately classifying oneself as being at a certain level really matters.

I think 45 minutes is fine for the most part but the amount of time needed depends on the person which is best judged by his/her teacher. The extra time is useful for working on technical side of exam requirements. Both aural, reading, and scale/chord requirements are getting more demanding and could use extra attention. Also for adults, typically Gr 1-3 is fairly easy, then Gr 4 and 5 is where a lot of heavy lifting happens.

Well I can afford the half hour lesson but not an hour. If I left the school, and kept my teacher she would come to my place and teach me for a lower fee but she did not suggest that. Not sure why.

Your teacher probably has an agreement with the school not to poach students for herself. Doing so may get her into some legal trouble.

Surely though, if I eventually find the school too expensive it is my right to leave and then find a cheaper teacher. Surely if I leave of my own free will and then ask my teacher to take me on privately it would be my decision and the school cannot have a go at her because she would not be poaching me. I would not want to start over with a strange teacher with different teaching styles. I had a stand in teacher once when my teacher could not make the lesson and although the teacher knew what they were doing I felt their teaching style didn't suit me. They said I was not sitting properly and I should sit upright more and they carefully looked at my finger position and said they were not curved enough. I guess some teachers pay more attention to detail. But at the end of the day I pass my exams so that's good enough for me. I do watch video clips of pianists with my teacher and point out the good hand and finger position and my teacher agrees but she never pulls me up on it and let's me get away with sloppy fingering but I do pass exams so I dunno

I tend to interpret this the same way. If you take the initiative to quit the school, then later hire your own teacher, I would think the school has nothing over your teacher though you should check with your teacher just to clarify if there are any cool-down periods requirements.

Undoubtedly learning piano with lessons and through a formal exam structure is not cheap. But when you compare it to many other activities after the initial cost of buying a piano the ongoing costs are relatively small even considering a weekly lesson.

You have a big decision ahead if you are considering leaving the security of your current school. So just have a very open discussion with your teacher to help with that decision.

How can a school be more secure than a private teacher? If the teacher is dedicated and needs to earn a living and has a dedicated student then they will go on as student and teacher for as long as the student wants to learn.

Yes I am dedicated alright. I have seen people start piano with all good intentions and then after a few years they leave and dont do it anymore. Someoone I know from my own music school has done that saying he is now too busy to carry on. It is a great shame when that happens. It makes me think that they are not so dedicated to it. If you love music you will make the time for it. Nothing and nobody will deter me from my piano studies but I have done other things in my life and given them up so obviously they werent that important to me. The piano captivates me like nothing else has ever done and I wish I could make some people see and recognise this, because I get the odd comment from certain people who do not have this urge for music that I am going into it too much and when I explain my love for music and how it makes me feel they say oh I do understand.... but I dont think they do. I said would you tell a profesional muician that they were wrong to have this yearning for their music and the answer was no, so then I said why should it be any different for me then simply beause I am not a professional concert pianist doesnt mean to say I dont feel for the music the same as those profesionals who spend hours and hours pouring over their key playing concert after concert