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This is my first message on the forum. I am hoping people who have taken lessons for many years can give me the benefit of their experience.

My problem is that I cannot tell if the teacher I have is normal because I have not had many lessons. But I am not a beginner, and I have many recital programs ready to go. I taught myself pretty quickly at a young age and have been performing regularly since (I am now middle aged).

At this late age, I heard from a friend about a great teacher and I thought the time had come for me to "go legit" and get serious about studying the piano. I started with this teacher and felt it was a revelation. Yes, this experienced, effective, gifted teacher could get me ready to do the Chopin competition in Warsaw (if I were 20, which I am not!). My playing improved immediately, and has continued to improve with each lesson in very obvious ways.

Okay, why am I writing this message if this teacher is great? This teacher is one of the most negative people I have ever met, and it is starting to make me uncomfortable. Every minute of every session is based on cutting down other players, other teachers, other methods. This method is the ONLY true method. The way the teacher presents wonderful ideas is by going into how everyone else does it wrong, how even the great concert pianists are clueless, how nobody knows how to do it right.

At first I didn't mind this way of presenting things because the content of the teaching was awesome. But recently I have started feeling like a loser that should cut off his hands and just buy records. After all, if the teacher thinks Rubinstein, Richter, and a dozen other greats are clueless, what does that make me?

Are high level Classical teachers usually put-down artists? Is that what it takes to be a perfectionist? Also, it doesn't make sense to me that all other teachers do it wrong, because many people sound good (to me, at least).

I am afraid I will not be able to find as good a teacher elsewhere, especially given that I am not in a big city. Or should I just learn how to filter out the negative talk? Is it the norm that classical pianists develop a kind of "strong stomach" for the eccentricities of great teachers?

It can get pretty spooky during the lessons. Thank you for listening. I hope your comments can put my experience in some kind of context.

Happiano

I'm perplexed by a few things here, so I have an observation and a couple of specific questions.

It seems quite unusual for someone who's self-taught to have had success performing regularly. Did you mean to say you've been playing regularly?

What are the background and credentials of your teacher (i.e., what qualifies him/her to be described as "great")?

Is the negativity you describe directed at you and your playing? You haven't said so except for the statement that you feel like a loser because of it, so I don't understand the connection.

Finally, what is your teacher's method? How does it differ from all the others that allegedly stink?

Steven

Happiano,

How much of that can you take? Do you not trust your gut instinct?

Piano lessons are about you, the student, not a tirade about all the other things in music that the teacher would negate. You don't need to touch upon the opinions of the teacher at all.

It should be about the music you are learning, developing your abilities, having a good relationship with your teacher, and building a self esteem while pursuing music. Positive gets you there, negative clutters your mind and is a need of the teachers, not beneficial to you at all.

My opinion.

Betty

Dear Steven and Betty,

Thanks for responding (and within minutes of my posting!). Let me start by answering Steven's questions.

I know it is unusual, and I can perhaps go into how I acquired a classical audience in some other messages. I have been performing a full classical recital to a sitdown audience 10-12 times a year consistently for the past six years, and I have done many of the big pieces. I did my first pass through the main standard repertoire in my teens. I have played nonclassical paid gigs since my early teens, and as a main income source in my 20s and 30s. My early start in nonclassical paid performing initiated a pattern that in effect steered me away from classical piano lessons, even though I have always mostly played classical material when I get home.


Taubman credentials. I think the teacher is great for knowing how to get me to take apart passages that I have played for decades in ways I would never have figured out on my own (and hadn't figured out on my own).

No negativity directed at me.

Taubman. Other methods lead to injury and inept playing.

Now to Betty's question:
I am not sure how it is affecting me. I feel preparing for concerts has become more efficient, and my gut likes that. But I am starting to dread going to the lessons since I am used to cheerful people. My real question is if I am just experiencing culture shock--maybe high piano culture has this put-down aspect but it isn't as negative as I think it is?

Well, that's unfortunate.

I did study with a great Taubman teacher. She did not have to put down other pianists, but she did point out why her method is the most logical one and how other methods (or lack of method) would lead to injuries. Her teaching completely changed my way of playing the piano. I only wish I had known the technique sooner.

The longer I learned Taubman technique, the more I realize that it is the most logical way to play the piano according to human anatomy. I am more in tune with my arms and hands; any sign of pain or fatigue means I'm doing something wrong, that muscles are working against each other instead of with each other. Best of all, my tone quality improved tenfold.

I know Taubman teachers are hard to find. If you can't handle the teaching style of your current teacher, perhaps you can look up another Taubman teacher in your area? It's really a great method. Don't give up on it.

Okay, why don't you just be honest and confront this teacher and tell him/her how you feel. Why not be honest and share what you are feeling. The worst thing that can happen is the teacher kicks you out!

By being honesty, you might be doing this teacher a favour. And might be just what this teacher needs to hear! Just do it nicely! But be brave!

Thanks for clarifying!

Yes, definitely say something (trying, of course, to be as delicate and polite as possible).

I think the most important points are that you're already a convert with respect to Taubman (so there's no need to preach to the choir!), and that time and energy are being needlessly expended on a distraction from what you're there for.

Steven

p.s. Whatever you do, don't even think about cutting off your hands!

Dear AZN,

I would love to correspond with you further about the specifics of your experience.

Question:

1. Was there a point where you had a good sense of Taubman--i.e, of Taubman tone production, rotation, in and out, shaping--and felt that you could stop lessons? How long before that point was reached?

2. Are the videos worth buying if I decide to go it on my own?

3. The better-sounding pianists in this area are not Taubman. Do they need Taubman, but just don't know it?

Thanks!

P. S. to Steven and Diane. Thanks for the idea of speaking up, which I have considered. Here's where I am on that.

I've learned to stay totally silent during lessons unless asked specific things about how I feel when executing some movement. When I say anything, it is perceived as a disruption. The slightest input on my part always triggers an extensive defensive reaction that eats up large amounts of time. I learned by lesson 3 that things go best when I totally shut up. (Perhaps this is the etiquette of piano lessons that I never learned?) So if I brought up something big, I feel rather certain that the the reaction would probably be mutually traumatic in an unproductive way.

Wow. Dang.

Well, this sheds new light on your circumstances and gives some insight into the teacher's personality that we wouldn't have otherwise known.

Before saying anything else, I need to make plain that I've been self-taught since my teens (a long time ago). Therefore, I don't know the norms for lessons for adult students. But I would find this disturbing, to say the least!

The important thing, of course, is how you feel about the need for those self-imposed constraints in the name of keeping the peace. Were I to pursue lessons again, I would take it for granted that the environment would be collaborative and the communication comfortable and open.

I thought the days of imperious professionals in ivory towers were on the wane; even doctors have to listen to their patients nowadays when they are well-educated and wish to participate in informed decisions about their own care. Given the proficiency you already have at piano, it's so hard for me to imagine you being lectured to in silence lest you provoke a defensive reaction. How can one learn without asking questions?

I hope that others—teachers and students both—will share their viewpoints on your situation. I'm mystified!

Steven

Dear Steven and AZN,

Thanks for your comments again. This forum is a great resource. I think my teacher is great, truly, but maybe for a different kind of student.

I am realizing from this mini-crisis that I actually care a lot about progressing in my playing, and that it is worth finding a solution to my dilemma. This teacher has definitely awakened in me an awareness of how good teaching can make a difference, and for that I will be always grateful. But I do have a lot to think about.

You need to set up your profile to allow private messages. I can't send you any pm until you set it up.

1. I spent four years learning Taubman. I wish I could spend more time learning it without the distractions of chamber music, vocal accompaniment, and concerto competitions. There are still aspects of the technique that I didn't get to because I was so busy learning repertoire for all of my course requirements.

2. Don't get the videos. You need someone to teach it to you and, more importantly, watch you play and correct you.

3. Not everyone needs it. But everyone can benefit from it.

Dear AZN,

I think I did it right: changing my profile to accept messages. I look forward to hearing from you. Since reading your message I have been trying to use Google to locate a Taubman instructor in my area (so far without success). Perhaps we can pick up where we have left off in messages.

Happiano

I sent you a pm.

Sounds like it isn't Taubman method that's the problem - your teacher sounds a bit insecure. And take our word for it, high-level classical training is NOT about putting down every other pianist or method. Clearly a variety of methods work for a variety of people and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching (or learning). Don't give up on the method, or high-level classical training in general, because this one individual has a control-freak mentality and is so insecure as to be unable to handle questions and possible asides. Lessons aren't about a forced march, they are about learning and exploring. Some of this involves questions and answers (without attack and defense) and some of it involves a little flexibility.