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Peter, maybe you could tell us what you think is happening?

Maybe you can record a video of your child so we can see exactly what's going on?

Cardinal, I'm glad you seem to be finding some consensus among the teachers and a good path forward. Hope your son continues to love his music!

No, I can't. I am in full agreement with you that teacher #1 should still be this boy's teacher, and this lengthy thread has smelled off from the start.

My suspicion is that Cardinal has been pranking us all along, and we fell for it. This happens on the Internet.

OK, at least now I understand you!

Wow, ok... I'm sorry you feel that way, Peter.

A gracious reply if I ever saw one.

Thing is Cardinal, if you are genuine, then you know that you are genuine, and hopefully the doubt of a person online (who has obviously seen a lot of chancers on this forum) won't cause you to lose sleep?

Again if you are genuine, then I wish you and your son the very best!

jdw, thank you, once again. ten left thumbs, I also appreciate your words, but it's BECAUSE I'm genuinely seeking help/advice that it's worrisome if folks think I'm making up a story, especially someone as well-respected on this forum as Peter K. Mose. If I were just trolling, I wouldn't care, because I wouldn't have an actual situation with which I needed actual help. Thankfully, enough people have given me the benefit of a doubt and offered many useful insights, and consequently I now have a better handle on my son's situation and more confidence moving forward with the teacher transfer. Thank you one and all for that. I hope I am still welcome to post questions I might have in the future, and continue to receive the same benefit of the doubt.

I won't lose sleep, but am curious--are there others beside Peter who think I'm pranking them? And by "all along", do you mean making up everything I've written since August when I joined the forum (my first posts were about piano shopping)? Does anyone disbelieve that I even have a child who plays the piano?

Cardinal, an internet forum, even the ones that is generally friendly like this, is a still wild place.

I think the high fee you are paying for a 6 year old set some people off. Noticed the sharp turn from there? While not unheard of, it was indeed unusual. Many teachers with many years of experiences don't charge that kind of fee, many not even close. Some knee jerk reactions, even from nice people, is quite natural. And teachers who charges significantly below the level you are paying, will probably go quiet for obvious reasons.

I have no reason to doubt you, but after all this is not an everyday story, and you should expect different reactions. Good luck with the journey, and enjoy him as much as you can.

Indeed, there have been enough responses you can rely on as broad opinions of what other teachers might think. And the same would happen in the future, if you come with other questions. And if someone thinks you a prankster, so what?

Maybe I'm not ranting frequently enough?

Just say no to transfer wrecks.

I think it depends on location. Looking around at private lesson prices in the Boston area, they're all over the lot. It's easily $100-$120/hour for a teacher associated with one of the conservatories.

I've been following this thread with interest. I don't have any experience with 5-year-olds in any context. I'm not a parent or a teacher of children.

I'm curious - if the kid has incorrect hand technique, why can't teacher #1 just tell him to stop doing that, whatever it is? Why does it take a special teacher to correct early technique problems? After all, he's only 5, and he's not playing Rachmaninoff. Can't teacher #1 just keep correcting him until he does it right? At that age, isn't it analogous to teaching him how to hold his silverware, i.e. you just keep correcting him?

Good luck with whatever path you choose, Cardinal.

That would have been what I did when my kids were 5.

But if you read Outliers or a number of similar works, the stars of the sports and arts worlds aren't necessarily those with "natural" talent, whatever that means, but those who were singled out for better coaching, instruction, clinics, and competition from an early age. Sometimes based solely on the accident of their birthdate.

Actually, this is an interesting question. I said my kid had a similar situation, but it wasn't exactly the same. My child's first teacher was very picky on technique and talked about it every lesson. That teacher moved away. Under duress, we got on a waiting list at a highly regarded program teacher #1 suggested, and started with teacher #2 in the mean time hoping that would be a fit. He was not used to young precocious kids and everything fell apart. So when we got called up off the waiting list at the other music school, I jumped on it. Teacher #2 was super mad at us actually for leaving.

You'd think a teacher that could recognize the issue would work to correct those issues before passing a kid on? Our first teacher wouldn't let kid go anywhere without CONSTANT technique work. I would not pay those kind of bucks for a 5 year old. My kid was playing pretty well at 5/6 and got plenty of accolades and attention at the time. I will say at 12, use of good technique is still his biggest struggle and he plays at a high level now. He is learning a Mozart concerto right now.

Again - I'm not a teacher, just a parent. Assuming this is an actual situation, my mind tends to think teacher #1 is a slacker for recognizing a problem, allowing kid to prepare for Guild with issues, and then passing off the problem. My kid's current teacher would not allow my child to do Guild his first year with him until he trusted him to be able to learn and play a number of pieces with good technique.