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My 7 y/o girl has been playing for about 12 months, 6 month school group lessons and 6 with a private tutor who comes to are home. She's progressing really well and my daughter loves the teacher, but I've found another teacher who studied at the Sydney conservatorium and also went to the high school attached to the conservatorium, and learning with her (above everything else) would provide some excellent networking.

I'm going to continue with our current teacher, but would like to get peoples thoughts on whether using a second teacher? Does it only serve to confuse a young learner or can be beneficial?

I wouldn't accept a student under the conditions you are asking about. I would require the student to quit the old teacher if they wanted to study with me. Otherwise they can just stay with the old teacher.

Networking? Your daughter is 7 and is just barely starting her music. What are your hopes for "networking"?

Why don't you ask your daughter

If she likes her current teacher, I'd say that's motivating to her. You really want to keep that motivation up.

Well the networking thing is more a chance for me to meet with some one who has just come through the high school and university which would be great to send our daughter to.

Use two teachers, the old one for your daughter and the new one for yourself. Problem solved. <g>

I don't understand why you'd want to change so early on in her development. Do you have issues with the current teacher's methods? Networking is not important for a beginner piano student. If you feel the current teacher is not able to provide the instruction that your daughter needs, then discontinue lessons with that teacher according to her policy and start your daughter with the new teacher - in that order.

If she studies with two people early on it will be confusing to her and will hamper her musical growth. Even two great teachers do not teach beginners in the same manner, and yet they are both great teachers.

My suggestion: stick with the current one because you know it's working out well between them. Once you feel your daughter has outgrown this teacher or if this teacher recommends she move on to a more advanced teacher, then that other teacher will still be an option (or someone else with good credentials).

As a parent, I think having two teachers for this purpose is bad. I think both teachers have reasons to feel offended.

If you want to find out about what the high school and the conservatory are like, maybe you can schedule an information session with the second teacher (you can pay her for that) and ask her to give you the information you want. Or, when your daughter shows interest in going to a high school focused on music, you can go to the high school's information meetings, schedule visits, ask to talk with their admissions officers and ask them to introduce you to their alumni.

Excellent point. And you can tell her current teacher that this may be something to consider in the FAR future (she's only 7!). When the time comes, this teacher, I'm sure, can help prepare your daughter for auditions.

It's completely off the topic but I know a lady who has three teachers. She is 65 and had three teachers (excluding 2 from uni) in her life taking lessons off and on for 45 years. She could not say no to those old teachers and continued lessons with them. Now the two teachers (not the main teacher) are very old 80 and 91. She really does not have heart ti say no. Needless to say she is quite wealthy and an excellent pianist.

And not a beginner. Even doing this for 45 years on and off, did she start piano 45 years ago with 3 teachers? I'm guessing not. An advanced student studying form several teachers is acceptable and should be beneficial. But a beginner who is 7 years old taking from two teachers, one who likes playing from hand positions and another who likes teaching reading from landmark notes can be quite confusing. Neither is wrong, but the approaches are very different and will make twice the work for a student - especially if neither teacher is aware of the other. They will be each assigning two different things, so the student will have twice the work to do. Even if they know about each other and agree to work together (unlikely), it is very possible they will often contradict one another or want to focus more on one thing than another and the child will feel caught in the middle wanting to please both. I just don't see this ending well.

Morodiene - totally agree with you. Its not a good idea to have multiple teachers at the same time when they were young. The pianist friend I quoted above is in the category who started piano at 6 years old continued till college senior years, drop it for years and resumed as an adult. She had one teacher when she was a child.

Kelpie, you sound like Cardinal. Every so often we hear from her, about her 6yo boy and her dreams of piano trophies. Try not to screw up your daughter's relationship with her present teacher: that's where your idea is heading.

"She's progressing really well and my daughter loves the teacher, but I've found another teacher"

You might look at your reasons for actively scouting another teacher. So far you only mention that your 7 year old will make connections that may or may not be of assistance in 7-11 years.

Peter ?!

That was quite a different story I thought:
She misunderstood the reasons of the urgency for her 6 year old to change teacher. She thought it was to foster his talent, but at the end she found out that the real reason was his 6 year old was hurting himself and the first teacher was unable to correct. And she owned up to her embarrassing mistake in this public forum, I thought it was quite brave.

I'd suggest not worrying about that until years down the road when your daughter is older and further in her music studies.