Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Self Teaching vs Lessons [poll]

I agree that teaching adults is different than children. The teacher must respect the adult student and lessons must become a collaboration between teacher and student.

On the other hand, there are those who truly desire to learn piano and have ambitious goals, but are equally adamant in their biases about what they will and won't try to reach those goals (whether it's scales, exercises, or graded repertory). I suspect that many of these folks struggle to reach their goals efficiently because they have trouble really putting themselves into the hands of a teacher.

Finding a good teacher is hard. Trusting a good teacher is often harder.

Just MHO.

I've been getting sporadic piano lessons since I got back into music; I move around a lot, so I tend to get master classes when I can. But I had regular, intense, and serious piano lessons from the time I was 5 to the time I was 20 or so. My technique, hand position, posture, and all that are more or less set.

I am learning to play the theremin right now, without a teacher, and I am realizing just how hard it is to learn a musical instrument on one's own. I don't know if I'm acquiring any bad habits. I don't know if there are easier ways to do the things I'm struggling with. All I have to refer to are Youtube videos. It's not an efficient way to learn. And mind you, I don't have to worry about things like reading music or learning what an interval is. It would be so much harder if I were really starting from scratch.

Interesting thread…

I consider myself “self-taught”; however, I believe that there is no substitute for a good person-to-person teacher.

I also agree that, collectively, none of us can say we were totally “self-taught” and that somewhere along the way someone taught us something musically; if only watching someone else play and taking mental notes.

Fact is, I could use a good piano teacher .

Take care,

Rickster

I am self taught in many areas - music, drawing, art appreciation, and physics. I never took a physics course in college and now I teach it. I learn well on my own and frankly get very nervous and anxious when I have to perform for a teacher. For me, having a teacher hanging over my head (my perception, not necessarily reality) takes a lot of the fun out of learning and puts the emphasis on preparing for someone else rather than doing it for me.

I do see how having a teacher can motivate people. Knowing that one is trying to meet the goals jointly set with a teacher can indeed help motivate. But I view this as external motivation i.e. "My teacher is going to get on me if I don't play this up to expectations on Saturday," or "I have a lesson coming up on Saturday and I must get better at XYZ piece before then." I'll also admit that I am so tight I squeak when I walk, so the money aspect of lessons is also a negative for me.

[edited for length, sorry!]

I agree with Rickster. There is no substitution for a good teacher. I self-taught for a few months but decided that I really needed someone for some good guidance. I have been taking lessons now for about 3 months and have no regrets. I have learned things that would have been difficult to pick up on my own.

Well, I spent the last 2 years of my life doing what I can with no teacher, and a very crappy keyboard.

I'm the type of person that is parinode that my teacher might not teach me "the way of the pros".

It wasn't untill a couple weeks ago that I finally admitted to my self, that I'm waisting more time figuring out how to teach my self then I would have with a poor teacher.

Why start at the bottom like keyboard players did in ancient times? Serious Piano Teachers aren't superficial or commercial, I learned this when I met one, (incredible player). these folks know how to teach piano, because they have what all amatures don't, experience, proper experience. They will guide you to the big picture.

I'm not saying go ahead and abide by every single order thhey give you. Because when it comes down to physical technique, I think there will always have to be some readjustment from person to person based on physical traits. They'll save you alot of time researching how to play certain forms, they'll up the learning rate of your improvisation skills plenty, and the pitfalls of alot of amatures (including myself), learning how to play fast; lets not forget all the little microdetails.

So I could have summed this up by simply saying something like, "getting a teacher will excell your learning rate, and without one, the chances of becoming pro are low.) But this teacher, Julian, he had me playing a burgmuller piece i've been struggling with in like 15 minutes. it would probably have taken me about 3 weeks total. So i got alot of respect for your serious piano teachers out there. And hopefully I'll be able to play with Julian if I go back to Puerto Rico.

It took me 3-4 months to find a teacher and was self teaching during those months. Based on all the stuff I was doing wrong, I must say my instructor was an idiot...

I tell students that lessons are a "team" thing.

In other words, no matter how much I know, I can't teach it to someone who is unwilling to listen and work. To succeed, I need good students.

So when I get a good student, even one who shows the potential for becoming good from the start, the student is just as important for me as I am for the student.

It's a matter of "fit". If you find one piano teacher in your whole life who is just right for you, you are lucky.

You will also find that those of us who truly love to teach have a few stand-out students, over a long time period, who make us smile when we just think about them.

Mark - not so harsh on that well-meaning, but inexperienced instructor - I'm sure his intentions were good and he was giving it his best shot - but, anyway you were probably not overpaying him - in fact you were more than likely paying him exactly what he was worth

Regards, JF

Another self-taught here!
I played guitar for a decade, and have been playing keyboard for the last 2-3 years.
A teacher will speed up the learning process for sure, but you know what they say, sometimes the journey itself is better than the destination.

Or should i say "the point of the journey is not to arrive"

I am 90% self taught for a number of reasons. 1. lessons are expensive 2. despite the large number of teachers in my area I have yet to find one that is close enough, reasonably priced and is a good teacher. 3. I am dyslexic and this proves to be a challenge for some teachers that just don't get that I don't learn like everyone else. I do much better "discovering" things on my own. I think it is helpful to have a teacher if you can find a good one. I talked to a musician friend of mine because I was going do some group lessons at a school he attended. But, he said they would be too easy for me (he seems to think the I am better than I think I am but idk about that). He said I'd be better off continuing on my own and just checking in with a teacher once in a while. So I continue to teach myself.