Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum A moral Dilemma of a possibly Real Situation

I've had some students who will keep playing no matter what the mistakes, and so each time they play a song it's different. One boy in particular had started doing this at some point and I asked him why he wouldn't try fixing his mistake when he made it and he said he was trying to play it like a performance. I commended him on this as it should be done, but *after* you've worked a piece to the point where you reduce the amount of mistakes. After this conversation, I had to stop him at each mistake so he would listen to his playing and become more aware of how it sounded vs. how it should sound. This took quite some time and I would probably stop him after the first note sometimes.

Was that bad teaching? I don't feel it was, and it was for a specific purpose. But you wouldn't know that if you asked my student, "How did you previous teacher go through your pieces with you?" and he answered about me stopping him all the time to fix mistakes. It's that sort of thing. There are always two sides (at least), and you can certainly address concerns a parent might have while not ragging on the previous teacher.

In my previous town I knew of many of the teachers and I would withhold judgment on those transfers from teachers I didn't know until I saw what the student was doing. Even if it later was proven that the previous teacher didn't really know what they were doing, I would let the student arrive at that conclusion in comparison to what they were learning with me. There ARE charlatans out there, but my qualifications more than speak out against them, and my results do as well.

So I only need about 2500 to live on my own with my own studio , all bills paid for by myself.

Dustin, some of what you say is just not adding up for me, nor is it fitting with what you've said in other threads elsewhere on PW.
("by myself" - haha - Who else would be likely to pay them for you?)

But do you mean $2500 a month? And this includes rent, business expenses, taxation, educational expenses, household expenses, transport, maintenance of your piano??

I wondered about the tax portion, too. Taxes are a huge part -- somewhere between 15%-25% of income.

Very mature of you.

Oh, so it's only ok for churches and big dog corporations and millionaires to evade taxes?

Anyway, why don't you take a look at the front page of the MSMTA web site and read their code of ethics. It is wise, I think, to remain within that code, whether or not you are in the group.

Churches do not "evade taxes". The tax law is written so they are not taxed. They are following the tax law as written.

Dustin was referring to my previous post (in another thread) that certain teachers--even ones in my MTA--who keep their rates so low, that it's impossible for other piano teachers in the area from attaining full studios. These teachers "hog up" all the students and have waiting lists longer than the Great Wall of China. What's worse? These teachers are long past retirement age--they are older than my grandparents!! And piano teachers live forever, you know? They just keep teaching until they drop dead in their studio one day.

So, what can I say about these teachers? Nothing. If I complain to MTAC heads of state, they'll just brush it off. What really bothers me is that these teachers also let their students take our state test, CM. You can just imagine how poorly their students do. But what I don't understand is how they manage to KEEP so many freakin' students, despite such poor performances!?

Meanwhile, responsible teachers are losing students left and right. This makes no sense.

Ok, so private jets and multi million dollar homes that are untaxed from the filthy rich mega church Pastors is quite moral.

Not really important anyway, I don't want to go on a rant about this lol - But There are many things in the US lawbooks that I would consider to be immoral.

Do you have concrete numbers? Are the teachers still charging what they were charging from the 1950's? Or is it only a 10$ an hour difference?

I have been holding my tongue on this topic but I can't seem to do that anymore. I own a music school and I must say ... I didn't even KNOW that you could have comments put up on the "place page" on Google until today. "Google Status" does not a studio make! With that said, we have NO comments (either positive or negative) about our school on that page. Does that make ME or my teachers "bad" teachers? No -- maybe it means that I don't "ask" my parents to go to that site and comment.... maybe it means that my parents are too busy to "worry" about commenting on that site. To make a "blanket" statement about the ability/personality/etc about a teacher/school based on "comments" alone, is a bit bold.

I have been teaching for 30+ years and I have never "advertised" until a few years ago -- only to see what would happen. When you are good, it doesn't take long for word of mouth to fill up your studio. I had a full studio when I decided to advertise so it really "was" just to see what would happen. What happened? I had to find more time. Then a bigger space. Then hired teachers ... because I was/am good and my personality is calming and vivacious (yes -- it can be both). I do NOT spend $400 per month on advertising. That (in my opinion) is insane!

My own children are your age and they have discovered that they they will earn more money without being "brash" and "provocative". They are loved by their students because they are demanding but gentle. That is the way it is with ALL my teachers. My teachers have upper level degrees but that DOES NOT MEAN that they are not good with children, etc. All of our teachers have degrees and are still learning because we can never learn it all. They still study with others, they still have round-table discussions.

I would just ask you to be careful in your remarks. You ARE only 24 and you have no degree. Yes, real life experience counts for something but please know that there are MANY on here and "out there" who have much more life experience and more knowledge and more business sense and more training and more time on their side, than you. Please ... be careful about making general statements that can not be proven.

Personally -- if I was in need of a teacher, I would not be going to someone who was "bashing" others on their website. Let your own abilities speak for themselves. Maybe I am a fuddy-duddy, and old-fashioned, but where is the respect for others? I make sure my teachers respect the student and family and I expect my teachers to NEVER bash another teacher. There is NO need for that. (with or without knowing names of teachers)

I agree with many other posters here -- don't disrespect another teacher (no matter how bad you think they are) because you don't know the underlying circumstances and situations.

Ok -- I am done here -- I know I might be banned for some of my remarks and if so... so be it... but I do implore you to be respectful of others -- either in person or on your website -- it will go a LONG way later in life.

To answer your original question -- when you raise your rates more than the market can bear, you will price yourself OUT of a job. Don't worry about the money end so much. If you teach because you love it, then it will show and you will have a full studio and you won't be "worried" so much about raising your rates. You can "expect" to have a waiting list, but be advised, that some on a waiting list don't STAY on a waiting list -- they go elsewhere. Just chill and keep your prices acceptable for your experience, ability and knowledge.

We are not talking about morality...you began this with an allegation that churches "evade" taxes. They do not, so your point is based on a legal issue, not a moral one. Don't mix terms.

But I agree with you...filthy rich pastors are odious, and in my view, immoral.

But what you need to know is that they are abberations, a tiny minority of church people, and an embarrassment indeed to the majority of churches and pastors who are anything but rich.

Why would you use them as your example, rather than the majority who are not rich, do not have private jets or multi million dollar homes?

I was the church pianist for a while in a small church, and the pastor worked a full-time job in a hardware store. I never got a chance to see his jet plane!

BTW, the same not-for-profit tax-exempt laws that religious organizations operate under also apply to many other organizations, such as Symphonies and music colleges.



I certainly agree with you there!

When I see the mega churches and million dollar private jets publically frowned upon by the majority of other churches and pastors or Christians...

I was also under the impression that many small churches have to give a portion of their rakings...