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Hi all,

I apologize for the double post. I posted a question about switching teachers that may be more appripro for this audience so here it goes...

I'm a 35 yr old adult with a little musical knowledge as a kid, but no real technical training on the piano. I took up lessons with a wonderfully gifted teacher about a year and a half ago. She has a doctorate from USC and in her day was quite the pianist. The issue is that she is in her mid 70's and is a bit stubborn shall we say in the teaching methods she uses. I love hearing her stories and our conversation, but I'm wondering if there is a more efficient way of teaching out there. She uses the Thompson and Schaum method books, books that date back to the 40's. She tells me that when she was a kid she hated these books, but they teach fundamentals that I need to know and that once I get through these books, many classical pieces will be a piece of cake. I also have a technique book with scales, arpeggios, chord progressions, cadences, etc that we use to supplement the method books. I'm stuck on "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" from Book 2 (which I find a bit offensive lol) because it's such a big leap in difficulty for me from previous selections.

We also work on "fun" pieces, but I don't feel like I'm even at a level where I can make a success out of them. So far I've tried Chopin's Prelude in E minor (can get through most of it, but a few tough measures), Prelude in C minor (just started, but this seems like a big undertaking although I love it) and finally Waltz in A minor. I'm making progress on the waltz, but it is so slow and doesn't sound anything like a waltz at this point. =(

I guess I'd like to try someone that may offer a more modern technique. I don't know if I can hang in there with these Thompson method books, that are childish and jump in difficulty.

Does anyone have any advice? I just want to have small wins and it seems like the first year I was doing that consistently, but I've hit a wall of sorts and feel unorganized in my practice now.

Thanks in advance!

It's possible that you have hit a wall in your progress that has little or nothing to do with your teacher - although she certainly does sound of the old school.

OTH a new teacher, preferably one experienced with adult beginners, might give you a lift.

You might finish out the academic teaching season with your present teacher, and then try someone else over the summer. If it clicks with teacher #2, stick with this person next year. If not, you might want to return to #1 in the fall.

Or you might want to have lessons with both of them, if everybody is cool with this.

How long have you been working on those Chopin pieces? If it's been less than 4 months and you have them somewhat playable but slow and/or with problems, then I think you don't need method books any more and should just be on classical repertoire. If I were you I'd ask your teacher if you could please just play classical repertoire. She may suggest easier pieces than the Chopin -- there's plenty out there (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, Beethoven Anh. 5, Clementi Op. 36 etc.)