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So I had my first lesson with my new teacher who is an active concert pianist, here's how it went:

I show up at 8:10 with lessons to start at 8:15 and knock on the door. No answer, so I knock again, no answer (trying to tell me something I guess).
8:15 and I knock again and she answers and apologizes and says she didn’t recognize me (I told her what I looked like in a prior email so go figure. I guess I'll stop describing my self as a Tom Cruiz look-a-like).

I go in and take off my shoes at her request to preserve her carpets which I am fine with but had to listen very carefully because her accent is very russian and energetic. I give her my music background that I have had lessons for approx. 4 years with different teachers and what I believe my strengths and weaknesses are.

She tells me that she wants to set me up with a group of adults who perform for each other once a month with skill lvls ranging from advanced to the winner of the Amateur Van Cliburn Competition and also includes the music critic for the Dallas morning news. I am thinking "WOW! Those are some pretty top notch performers and reviewers". She tells me that she wants to set me up with another person for piano duets.

Then she asks me to play (should have asked that before setting me up with performing groups and partners - ha!). I play through the Beethoven Op 14 No 1 piece I had been working on over the past several months with a few slips, mainly due to me not being familiar with her piano and new to playing infront of her. The piece closes and she says: "You survived" (wow I give it a month before I am thrown out on my ear). She points out a few areas that she noticed I needed to work on and asked why I played it the way I did (basically it was 'why did you play it so musically poor?').

She explains what she wants to hear at the beginning of the piece and asks me to play again. I play the first note, "STOP!" comes her sharp reply "Just because it says 'p' for soft doesn’t mean to whisper, it still needs to project to across the room for the audience, that's what 'Beehoven' *Beethoven* intended go again." Her smile quickly turns dry and to a stern composure and I wonder if her smiles are more for satire effect. I play the first note "Good!" I play the second note "STOP! Your not taking me the listener to where I need to go with this we are talking 4 measures here David this is not a 14 measure Rachmaninoff theme its 4 measures." I begin to collect my things and head for the door *just kidding*. We review a few more areas in a similar fashion and I ask her if she would prefer me to scrap the Beethoven for a different piece perhaps and she says no, I have the piece down I just need to work on those areas she described.

She says "David we have a lot of work to do and 1 hour a week is not going to be enough *what a sales person* we need to do more."

The evening closes out with her describing that she knows that she is strict but is not apologetic for it and that people who are looking for constant praise should get it from friends and family. "If something sounds good I tell you it sounds good and if it sounds bad I tell you it is bad." I am assigned study number 3 from Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum and told that no lessons next week she is going on vacation (I guess she needed one after putting up with me for 1 evening).

All in all I like her a lot.

*edit: I like her alot because I prefer teachers who are very honest about my playing, Id rather hear it from my teacher than from my audience. She was very knowledgeable about what she was talking about and seemed to care very much about what I was doing. I still found it amusing to be subjected to the Russian method of teaching for the first time.

Thanks, D4v3, for your very humorous and entertaining post. I especially liked the part about where you contemplated getting up and walking out the door. You must have a more resilient self-esteem than I do. But I'm glad you like her approach. I'll be interested to hear what you think of your lessons after a month or two.

+1 I too hope you tell us more!

LOL! A great post David! Good luck with your new teacher!

Fun post! I don't think I could have dealt with her style, but to each his own!

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your following lessons every bit as much!

Haha, you have a knack for storytelling. That was entertaining.

That was really amusing to read. I can just imagine being there!

Great story! Hmmm I think I would not be quite relaxed enough to study with, I mean under, a teacher like this. YOu are a brave man Post chapter 2 if you feel like it anytime, I'd love to read more.

I will put another lesson posting tonight or tomorrow.

My goal this evening is to get fewer "Stop!"s than I did at my last lesson. I think she was only expecting me to have the first line of the Clementi Gradus ad Parnassum #3 learned but I went ahead and learned the whole thing (allbeit at a slower tempo for accurate technique and dynamics) and I was asked to play Grieg's Notturno for her too we'll see how that goes.

Here is a couple of videos of her performing at the Local Steinway center. Not sure if this is for a recital with students or a part of their on going mini concerts.



Chopin Sonata in B Minor IV mvt.

Great post! She sounds a little brutal for me, but then I took from a Hungarian former pianist once - she had a reputation for being brutal but I loved her! Best teacher I ever had!

I think you are overstepping your bounds in putting up her name and video of her playing. She might say "stop" before your first note next week. I think your story was funny if things are anonymous. However, once we know her identity, it's a breach of trust and her privacy to tell the story AND show the video IMHO.

All I can say is ... wow. I won't go into what I really think about this (since most of you at PW already know) but if you like her teaching style, go for it.

As far as posting the video, it's fair game since it's on YouTube. If she didn't want it to be shown, she could have set it to private.

she plays with great confidence.

I had a teacher like that when I was coming up. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I went to her to learn how to play the piano better than the teachers before me had taught. I did not go for any other reason...not to be praised for mediocrity in that I could actually stumble through a piece, not for a pleasant social time, but simply to learn from a master pianist and teacher.

She was fierce, and I am glad today that she did not lollycoddle me, because everything she said was true.

If I played something unmusical or wrong, she did not sugar-coat her correction. I took that as a sign of her respecting my maturity and inner strength, and the potential she saw in me.

If I wanted an hour of feel-good atta-boys, I would have attended a self-esteem meeting.

It is tricky business to write about a teacher, or to write about a student, and anonymity is probably the best choice.

However, I would tend to see this as advertisement for the teacher, not something to her detriment. This teacher seems to take her students seriously and make demands, even of adults. That was refreshing to read about. None of us wants to be abused or intimidated, but serious work, whatever form it takes, is something that some of us want.

So, how did it go ?

I agree that you do a great job telling the story.
But similarly to what was said in some other posts, she's not my style either, and frankly I was surprised that you ended the post positively. I was expecting the reverse.

And, regarding her playing......I figured, OK, I don't like her personal style, but I'm sure she at least plays very well. But.....she doesn't. Granted, this is just a couple of pieces, and the Haydn is "OK" and arguably good; the Chopin is embarrassingly not. Aside from the obvious slips and glitches, let's talk tempo and character. Take a look at the opening indication (Presto non tanto). Does this have either the speed or flavor of that? And, is the tempo sustained consistently? Where it isn't, are the changes meaningful? This might be the most problematic recording of this movement on youtube; it's certainly the least capable one I've ever seen on there, and it's nothing that someone should want to display. If I didn't know that this was a performer, I'd guess it was an upper level intermediate student, ill-advisedly playing a piece that is beyond her ability.

Of course none of that means she won't be a great teacher for you. But in view of this kind of playing, I'm even angrier about some of what she said to you than I was when I first read it, which already was quite a bit. And I personally would never allow myself to be too influenced musically by someone who shows the kind of musicianship to play like that, and the personal and musical judgment to allow it to be put and kept online -- unless maybe if she were at least more modest and gentle with her input.

I wouldn't lightly trash the playing of someone that you think you like. But I believe you can only benefit from getting the fullest possible input about her before you start taking her criticisms and ideas too seriously.

Of course feel free to forget everything I have said.

Oops I meant I took from a former "concert" pianist (not a former pianist!) in my previous reply. She does play well in the youtube video - give it a try, she may mellow out some once you get to know each other.

@ Candywoman

I appreciate your comments and if I thought in anyway that a light gesture of self-depreciating humor at my expense was in anyway a put down upon her I would never have posted her videos.

Although I have only had 2 lessons from her I like her very much as I said she has a tremendous amount of attention to detail.

@ Mark C

Yes time will tell and I may have selected a performance that came late in her show when she was a little exhausted her YouTube area has many pieces being performed at that location in that same outfit so I can only assume one of two things

1. She did alot of pieces that evening

-or-

2. She really likes that dress.

I am going to assume 1.


Again my original post was a first impression telling the story of a noobie pianist who is set infront of a very strict/professional teacher for the first time.

Just be careful if she answers the door next time with a WHISTLE and RULER in her hand!

Enjoy lessons with her. She sounds like she will take you a long way.

LL