Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner OT - Holiday Gift Suggestion for Piano Teacher

Hello to the group - after a 30-year break I finally decided to restart piano lessons. I'm attending a local music conservatory where they matched me up with a teacher who is a Russian woman, about my age (~45), and generally specializes in classical music. For several reasons, this was a great find and we work well together.

The lessons are 30 minutes long which, as a kid, felt like an eternity, but as an adult is not nearly enough time, as we barely get a chance to run through a couple technical exercises and one or two pieces. Since I'm not a beginner, the teacher has been kind enough to schedule me as her last appointment and extend the lessons an additional 30 to 45 minutes. She doing this without the school's knowledge and has not accepted my offer to compensate her directly for her time.

So, that's a long build up to my question...what would be an appropriate holiday gift for someone like this? I was thinking about an American Express gift card in the general amount that covers the additional time she's been spending with me (could be a couple of hundred bucks). Does that sound OK or does it come off as too tacky? A small box of chocolates or some music-related trinkets just doesn't seem to cut it. Any thoughts?

A gift card is a nice idea and based on what I've read in the teacher's forum, many teachers are very appreciative of this. On the otherhand, many teachers seem to prefer a more personal gift such as something homebaked.

My teacher is especially fond on the Beethoven sonatas so this year I bought her Barenboim's master class CD's. In the past, I've baked thousands of tiny, cutout cookies.

Gift cards are nice, but don't do American Express because not everyone accepts it. I got that once and it was a pain to find stores that will accept the card.

Try to find out what the teacher likes. We teachers appreciate this little bit of research. Does she drink?

In my opinion, the amount you put on the card doesn't matter. It's the thought that counts.

The original maunuscript of Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto A biogtaphy of Rachmaninov or another composer your teacher likes. As long as you ask Barnes & Noble I'm sure they'll make it returnable for store credit if your teacher has already read it or would prefer something else. Or a gift certificate to a store that sells sheet music.

DP

I got my teacher a "gift card" that allows him to contribute to his favorite charity, here's the one I bought:
http://www1.networkforgood.org/good-card

All very nice suggestions...thank you. What little I know about her personally is that she arrived to the US less than 10 years ago. In Russia she played piano as well as organ to accompany a church choir. She did mention that she had to leave behind most of her sheet music and scores before moving to this country.