Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Some teachers'... interesting views

I have seen some rude, mean teachers get results by instilling enough fear in their students so that they practice a lot. However there are even better teachers that know how to motivate their students without doing that, and it comes with the side benefit (ahem) that none of their students have demotivating emotional breakdowns.

He's welcome to sue me, or we could settle it Liszt-Thalberg style in front of the other faculty and students.

There is no excuse for a teacher belittling students. And I am not talking about "tough love," but rather outright mean-spiritedness.

He seems to have a way with words for poetic insults. Can he also teach? Like,how, technically, do you create "ferocious"?

Ferocious = Beat the heck out of it.

I think you need a different teacher, but if you are stuck with him, the next time you get criticism like this, ask him, as calmly as you can, to show you how to play the way that he wants you to play. Then you will find out whether his criticism is legitimate, or just covering up his inability to teach.

Nervous Wreck you stated, "Why the heck should my end goal be to play better than my classmate." This should not be the goal. In life you can only be the best you can be. I have never focused on being better than anyone else, my focus is me and what I can do. I try not to compare myself, we are all unique. The competition is within your self, doing better then you do before, just being the best you can be. "A sad in-between place" is not unusual, you seem to be in transition, not sure of what you want to do. Everyone at stages of their life go though transition. Since you used the word professor, I am thinking it is academic then the choice to switch teachers is not an option. In that situation (I was never in music school) but while working on my dissertation, sometimes the best thing is to agree, go on and do what needs to be done to graduate. Don't take things personally, just agree (even if you don't). My friend gave me the best advice, the best degree is a completed one.

I think that that would be another example of if not bad, at least not good, teaching. A teacher shouldn't show you - or teach you - how to play how s/he wants you play. At an advanced level, a good teacher should teach you how achieve your artistic and technical best on your own terms not on theirs.

Regards,

That may well be, but first, we have to establish whether the teacher can teach anything at all.

Playing and teaching are two different things - I agree with BruceD, the further you get, the teacher should become more of a coach than an instructor.

Even further, why not make the focus music? After all, that's the most important. Not our egos, or who's better, etc. That's always so, so insipid and destructive. I've read a lot of posts by the OP and, they all have something in common - it seems like he's forgetting the point of being in music... it's music... So, dig yourself of whatever hole you're in, and get back to work.

Well said !!

Comment of the year!

Vid, nicely stated. If we strive to be better than someone else we are doing something for the wrong reason. For example winning the Gold does it really mean you are better than that person, or you did your personal best that day? The competition lies within. If you worry about what someone else does (you cannot control), you will never really be the best you can be, because you will be preoccupied.

This is true Pogorelich, but I think we also have to consider how disturbing it is for someone to so openly post what I at least would consider private matters on a public and highly visible forum. Sure we could argue it's more of an egotistical move, but I'd be more likely to imagine the OP is feeling rather isolated if this is where they're flocking to. Let's not forget that it's human beings who create the music and not the other way around, thus I think we have to prioritize people over the creation process. I think the best we can really do in a situation like this is provide support even though none of us can really fill the place of a close friend and confident which is what the think the OP really needs.

Once again, as someone who's had a close relationship with people singing similar tunes, this is pretty hard for me to watch...

Definitely agree, yes.

Hi again, guys!

I'm sorry I didn't reply to all of your comments earlier; I've been extremely busy. But you have made me think of some things the right way, and have reminded me of some things I've forgotten... maybe I will consider changing my teacher next year, but maybe not. We just haven't had many lessons yet... he's super busy and travels around all the time. I've mostly been working on my own, getting around 2-3 lessons per month on average. Maybe I just have to learn to understand him better.

The reason I was so stressed out when writing this thread (and still am TBH), Is that tomorrow, I will be performing in the first round of basically the most stressful competition of my life so far. A TV competition - in 7 rounds - Broadcast live on the estonian national TV. Live. And Tomorrow is the "virtuoso" round, Where all 8 of us will be performing a very difficult, approx. 3 minute piece or segment on live TV. I'll be playing the Stretta Vivace from Liszt's 12th rhapsody. I'm very well prepared, but still nervous as heck. I don't want to imagine what it's going to be like tomorrow.

Not only that... but the past few weeks have been filled with stressful radio interviews, photoshoots and video shoots that last an entire day... and it has all been super tiring.

I sadly won't be writing on this forum very much until the competition ends in april, due to the fact that for the next month and a half, all that I'll be doing all day long is either sitting behind the piano, being in the TV building or travelling around doing all sorts of shoots. But thanks so much again guys, so many of you here have been very very helpful and supportive to me and I'm very glad to be a part of such an online community!!!