Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum What should I look for in a piano teacher?

One practical thought about lessons, assuming you've managed to land a good teacher:

Pay attention to the thing that the teacher seems to stress in a lesson, and work at that thing in particular when you practise at home. This is not as obvious as it sounds, so some examples.

Supposing you are working on piece X, and your teacher talks about even notes or feathering with your wrist. You work on the piece at home; you find ways to make it expressive; you discover some cool thing about the harmonies ---- but at no time did you work specifically on the even notes, or feathering with the wrist. You will be preventing your teacher from building your abilities. Yet this is so easy to fall into!

Some years ago I had a study buddy with whom I exchanged e-mails. At one point it dawned on one of us that the teacher wants to see the simple thing that she stressed. The reaction was "Is that all? Goodness, I can do that!" You may be intent on producing musical beautiful playing, agonize over what comes out in the lesson - yet the teacher wants above all to see signs that you worked on that simple basic thing she stressed in the lesson.

Thanks for this excellent advice. As an adult beginner what I have realized is that you do not know the right questions to ask at the very beginning of your piano journey. So gathering as much knowledge about methods, styles etc. own your own and even noodling/self-teaching provides the opportunity to self-evaluate the requirements one might have in a teacher.

I don't have a teacher ( my daughter's teacher will take me in Sept) but from observing him with four kids in succession of varying ages I would say a great teacher is intuitive and spontaneous. They are not teaching the same lesson to every student. Our teacher is a classically trained musical prodigy with double degrees in music and education, but he understands that 99.9% of his students won't be great musicians and are in lessons for some enrichment and skill building. He lets them choose their music and doesn't have them endlessly drilling. I think he could flip the switch and go fully technical if that's what the student was looking for.
In short, if you enjoy conversation with a prospective teacher, they might be a good fit. It's important you feel like you're being heard.

I forgot about technique was thinking interpretation, so great points.

+1

For interpretation you are probably right. I had lessons as an adult on an instrument that was heavy on technique and a pile of not-so-good things came together. I'm now relearning starting with the most basic things after dropping it for several years. That's why this is the first thing that springs to mind.

[quote=Peter K. Mose]If they have no sense of humor, or sound like your grade 4 Sunday School teacher, look elsewhere.
quote]

I'd like to amend or even withdraw this assertion, because it's just reflecting my bias. Someone could be a fine piano teacher without humor.

They don't have to become your buddy, either.

While I think you phrased it wrong, I think you might take back your take back.

It's a style point.

There's constructive criticism, criticism, and destructive criticism. It takes a long time to tell the difference. Part of telling the difference is developing a thick skin. As Joyce diDonato says, paraphrased, "Criticism is -CONSTANT-. It's part of being a musician."

You guys who watched the Joplin recital saw my teach play. What you haven't seen is my 2 1/2 years with him. He has let me get away with zilch. (Ok, correction. I'm sure he's let me get away with lots, but he lets me get away with the stuff that's out of reach and doesn't let me get away with the stuff that's in reach.)

If you're with a teacher who is telling you that you are a bad pianist, that you're doing something -wrong-, that's a bad dynamic. While it's par for the course to feel that you're being asked to do something difficult, there's an ineffable line there where the criticism is about 'what you're doing' and instead becomes about 'who you are'.

If you find yourself in a teaching relationship where it's about the latter and not the former, then you are in the wrong place. The trick there is that 'what you're doing' can be entwined with 'who you are' on the student side, so you need to be very, very careful not to confuse the two!

I -just- had a lesson with my teach on a new piece where 1) he did give me significant constructive criticism (musicality and fingering) but 2) I got through the piece and, for the most part, he said that he didn't have much commentary.

IMO, from a teacher, you're looking for productive honesty and good guidance. As a student, you MUST listen, as much as it can hurt. You don't have to become a buddy with your teacher, but it's a bonus.

The 'schoolmarm' trope is accurate. You want a teacher who inspires you to reach achievable standards, not a teacher that has inflexible, prescriptive standards that don't take into account that learning is a process that's fast for the gifted and more measured for the majority of us.

This is surely possible, but I can't imagine that such a teacher would be remotely appropriate for me.

You need to look for a teacher who is very patient and willing to help you learn the songs you most want to learn but also put in good training exercises such as scales and finger exercises.

You will know if you have the right teacher for you from your very first lesson and whether you have a musical connection or now.
Have fun!

I just got done with my lesson. I thought of this thread.
The absolute biggest thing a person should look for in a piano teachers is:
When you leave the lesson you are wanting to play. You are wanting to learn. You are wanting to get down that piece right, for next time, now. You are looking forward to what you could do if you put in the discipline now to learn. You leave that lesson thirsting for more.

For sure, be sure the teacher you pick not only has experience with adults, but try to find one that specializes in adults. Also, find out what genre of music he/she plays, and see if it's the same. Don't go to a traditional classical pianist if you're looking for jazz riffs and don't go yo a rocker if you want to play Mozart. Those ,I think, are the 2 important things.