Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Relocating...how best to break the news

Hello,
4 years ago, I moved to rural Wisconsin with the intention of making it my permanent home. I began teaching piano immediately, and have since built up to 25 students. There has been ups and downs, of course, but I absolutely love teaching, and love my students, many who have been with me since the start. My husband and I recently came to the decision to move to a larger town/city,sometime in September, and I am struggling with how to tell my students that I am leaving. Is it best to put it in a letter? To tell them in person, with their parents, or just speak to the parents about it? There are not a whole lot of teachers or pianists in this area, and I hate to leave them without someone who I can recommend. Any ideas on how to handle this situation gracefully?

First thought that comes to mind is to do some sleuthing to see if you can find an area person or two you *can* recommend.

Then you can send out a letter, or tell your students and their families in person, as you wish.

Fortunately you have a little time here.

Give each student a program for continuation, and offer Skype for a transition period?

If you are willing to try the Skype approach, and learn the technology in the next couple of months, I'm sure a few of your students would be willing to give it a try also.

Where in WI? There are lots of teachers around the state, even in rural areas. When I left Wausau for Florida, I had referred what students I could to other teachers I knew well that would suit their needs and personalities. There were some students who wanted to continue learning from me via Skype. I do see them when I return to visit during Christmas and over the summer, however. If there is no one else available, it's better than nothing for them.

You're not married to your students. While it might be nice to refer them to another teacher, it certainly isn't necessary. Make the break and wish them all the best. I would not start with Skype. I would just move on and cherish the moments I've shared with them. They will all survive, just as they did before you came along.

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As a student, I know I would appreciate a referral.

Totally agree with that.

How about doing some research around your area, finding a few teachers and their teaching style and give the students the choice of who they want to continue with.

A few years ago one of my MTAC colleagues moved, and she referred her students to several colleagues (myself included) who were looking for students. She compiled a list of teachers and phone numbers, and then she gave the list to her students' families at their last lesson.

Even though I didn't get any students as a result, I appreciated her doing so.

My thought is that this is a professional matter. If a professional - engineer, financial adviser, consultant, etc. - has to drop out in the middle of a project - then he will recommend a colleague whose work he knows so that the project won't founder. Well, the work a teacher and student do together is like a project. You're not teaching a bunch of pieces which any old person can continue; you're developing the student. It's very hard for students to find decent new teachers, so helping with that is a professional courtesy, if you can do it.

It is nothing like marriage where if spouses separate, the husband doesn't try to find a new husband for his wife or vice versa. The continued learning of a student is not an emotional matter. (Except that it can in fact be heartbreaking if a special teacher of several years moves away. )

Thank you everyone for your advice. I live in St. Croix Falls, WI, which is along the St. Croix River Valley in NW Wisconsin. I know there are other teachers in the area, but I know very little about them. One of the better teachers in the area retired a few years ago, and I actually ended up with some of his students. What I keep hearing from parents of transfer students is that their previous teachers were far too "easy", always letting the kids pass to a new song each week, no matter what the old one sounded like. I worry about a referring my students to a teacher who, either doesn't know enough to correct, or doesn't want to take the time to. I know...worries we all have, right? But there are just too many teachers who shouldn't be teaching. I do like the idea of a program of continuation--I've started writing up a page of each student listing their strengths and some of their weaknesses, and things they could work on to improve. I thought it would be nice to sit down with each student and their parents, and go through it with them. As far as skype goes, I don't know if that would be the right direction for me. I've used it before, and the idea of teaching through it seems overly complicated. I'm about the least technically savvy younger person you'd meet. I think I'm going to scout out some of the teachers in the area, and see what their teaching methods are.

But a 10 year student - teacher relationship, is not a project... So...

Plus as with every project based work, one can quit with some penalties and restrictions some times (especially in the building industry and the software industry), but...

I don't think you are obligated to find a teacher of equal ability for each student.

Fnding a good teacher who is a fit for the student is often difficult but ultimately that is the parent's job, not yours.

If you built that studio in 4 years, it is likely that the local good teacher pool is pretty small. There's nothing you can do about that.

If you give recommendations, inevitably you must recommend teachers who don't meet your standards. And there may be some bad teachers out there you'd love to warn parents about, but that road can lead to disaster.

I think your best choice is to give them as much warning as possible so they can start the search.

The 10 year student (assuming 10 years with (a) decent teacher(s) is on pretty safe ground. He will have a solid base in technique as well as music, so that can't get compromised. He also has enough experience that he can judge when interviewing a new teacher. Plus his needs are not developmental.

But what about a student who is closer to beginner, with parents who do not have a background in music? The teacher who is leaving will have been developing that student along a particular path, and the student is in mid-process without understanding that process. How do that student and his parent choose another teacher to continue a process that they themselves don't understand? What is the risk of getting the wrong teacher? That's what I'm thinking of.


This is the economic and business side. I'm thinking of goals and results, which is another side of it. And by "project" I mean a set of goals that you are trying to reach - not an assignment by an employer.

And what qualifications does a parent have to enable him to select the next teacher who will continue what the first teacher set out to do (and which the parent may not understand)? If I have hired an expert to do something, and the expert has to leave in the middle of it, then I would be thankful for any recommendation that the expert can give me. In the very least, what to look for, what the needs of this particular child might be, and so on. I well remember when I was the parent looking for a teacher for my child. I really didn't know what to look for because I had never had music lessons myself.

Did I mention it is a difficult task?

Yeah, I think I did.

But it isn't any easier for the teacher to do this search. Teachers don't get to watch each other work. They have the only the same access to word of mouth reputation as anybody else.

If they've been in an area for decades, they'll probably know the names of everybody else who teaches, and may have accepted a few transfer students. If the transfer student came from a worse teacher, they wouldn't want to recommend. And if the transfer student had a better teacher, why did they change?

If this teacher built a successful studio so quickly, she may be the best teacher in the area now. How does she in good conscience recommend anybody?

A teacher knows what to look for and what is needed. A parent without music background doesn't. If you have no knowledge, what will you base yourself on? I know that teachers can give guidance to the students they are leaving behind, and I have also read more than once here about teachers recommending teachers or passing their students on, when they have to move away. It isn't compulsory, but it is certainly a good thing to do.

Agreed. The good ones anyway.


Also true.

But, the parent can take a sample lesson with each of the area teachers.

A teacher cannot do that. Teachers have no access to each other while working, outside of the piano school settings, and even there it is usually limited.

There is a sort of exception to this, I think. Teachers who are also active performers will definitely get to know the other performers pretty well. But that's a subset of teachers in general.

But will the parents know what to pay attention to? Again, I'm going back to my experience as parents and then new student over a decade ago, and conversations since. Supposing, for example, that the teacher plays one of those signature pieces that are easy to play but sound awesome to non-musicians, in order to impress. Wow, great teacher - just listen to what he played! Or the teacher promises that the student will complete grades in record time. Or criticizes the former teacher for having taught "wrong" - round hands like holding an apple is the way to go. What will the parent make of such things?


You make a good point. Will the teacher know other teachers in the area and how they teach?