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Now I'm really confused! Your student have or doesn't have an ear for music? She sings or doesn't sing the songs? She can or can't learn the new song?

Nahum, AZNpiano - I read the original story you are talking about. The student had lessons with another teacher before coming to AZN; her thumbs so to say glued to middle C. This to me suggests previous teaching because this "middle C" thing is an existing teaching method. It's technical. As much as playing the piano is musical, it is also technical and if there is misteaching on the technical side for that many years, it's entrenched and hard to get out of. Even if you are aware, and motivated, and want to get out of it, it's hard.

In this case whether or not she can sing (this is piano )or is musical, are moot. We join together musical feeling, physical action, and also reading skills when we play. When one of them is out of whack, it throws everything. I know that you believe strongly in the primordial role of singing, Nahum. I imagine that might work well in starting out. But if a student has a 5 year entrenched reflex of being glued to middle C with the thumbs and who knows what else, then it's a different situation.

I'm dealing with different things of that nature. I assure you that I am a natural singer with a strong musical sense. But the work that I have to do involves relearning physical things that were mislearned and which interfere. That is as an adult with strong motivation, with an understanding of what is going on, and with the ability to persevere which comes with a more mature age. Otherwise I, too, would be "impossible to teach" even with the ability to sing and being musical.

Keystring,   In this case, I'm not trying to solve a problem that is unsolvable, but get around to it - for example, go just to singing, and temporarily stopping to touch the piano.

[facepalm]

Your line of questioning makes absolutely no sense.

This student may or may not have an ear for music. I don't know. She may or may not sing. She takes private voice lessons, but that doesn't mean anything. She may or may not learn songs via singing--I don't have facts to support or refute that claim.

Stop asking hypothetical questions. What good can possibly come out of your line of reasoning?

It's in your eyes, not in my .
In my experience of 45 years of teaching I have also had failures, in which, however, blame only the me .I already talked about student 24 years old, who suffers of dyscalculia and although playing on the notes, but absolutely without rhythm. She came to me after a number of teachers who didn't help her.
The first thing I did, forced her to walk with counting and without to establish whether she has a sense of rhythm. It turns out that, yes! And then I threw out a routine method of teaching piano, suggested she to purchase melodica : and we began to work intensively according to my method on the development of sustainability sense of rhythm, but without the piano.
This helped greatly, and now enables to laugh at the standard material for the study of rhythm.

This is the first thing that I would find out.


If you don't want - don't answer; but please don't tell what to do!

AZN, after I've figured out my percentages, I will respond. But I think we understand one another.

You guys are making me wonder which of these categories my teacher would place me in, but all the same, I'm glad I don't know. As long as he keeps on being my teacher, I will keep on following his instructions.

At least, we don't fit into the 'adults who take a few months of lessons, don't practice and then quit' category. One negative category excluded, many more to knock out.

If it makes you feel better--

Even if the student is on track to reaching the advanced level, he/she may cause more headache than the "waiting to be fired" student. The lack of progress. The slow progress. The excuses for not having practiced. yadda yadda yadda. The most talented students can also be the laziest.

Heck, I have a student who has already reached the advanced level, and she's giving me more headache than ever! She was never much of a practicer, and she relied on her natural talent to make it all the way through. Now that she got her level 10 certificate, it's like she stopped touching the piano altogether.

And what I find so frustrating is those advanced students who only practice on lesson day. I always entice them with a comment like, "just imagine what you could play if you practiced more!" Dreaming, again......

"Talent is wasted on the lazy" - Groucho Wilde

I'm sorry but I have to ask -- what is "step up" and "skip down" for? I don't think these terms were ever used with me.

It's entirely possible that your teachers used a different kind of method books, or didn't use method books at all.

Steps and skips are different ways of teaching seconds and thirds, reading notes by intervals (intervallic reading). Most modern methods use this method to encourage faster reading of notes.

Oh thanks! Yeah, never learned it that way. Very interesting.

i'm new here but old in life and just read through all of these fine comments; I'd like to provide some life education to someone that has made several statements in here and that is: Never give up on a person especially a child. Stay with them through thick or thin as it may and most likely will make a difference in the long run. Take the problem child under your wing.

Thank you for being honest. Your distribution is very realistic. When one's income is from teaching, one needs to bear all the torture from that 10% to be fired students. Close to end of my teaching career many years ago (at the time, I had had good job), I started firing students who did not practice, parents who were difficult to deal with. But now close to retirement age, I am thinking of teaching again after I retire.