Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum First lesson with new teacher (Update)

I'm curious too. Do you mean she played them in "rhythms", three different ways to help learn a section/piece?

Well she had me play one piece with my left hand being loud while my right hand was soft, then had me switch softness and loudness on hands. She also had me do stacattos where there were none and she had me play legatos where there were none.

She also said for exercises such as hanon she varies it. Like she'll have me play hanon while accenting the first note, or the first and third note so on and so forth. Looks like she's going to keep me very occupied. She's very confident in what she claims she can do for me.

She explained that if you take a piece and play it differently in a way that will make it more difficult then try it the way it's supposed to be played and from what she said it will be much easier and your fingers will fly.

I wish I would have recorded the lesson there was so much but if I pick her (I'm still going to my other appt, but I'm leaning towards the Russian teacher already)I'll be able to pass on what she teaches me with more accuracy.

She sounds like a great teacher.

My teacher suggested I record the lessons (as she suggests to all of her students). I've found that it really helps because I can't always be taking notes, and I can go back later and listen to the correct tempo, tone, etc. should I forget something.

Good luck!

Man I just realized something. Larissa, (russian teacher), wants me to lift my fingers if there are two notes played seperately within reach.

That's exactly how I played when I first started and my first teacher broke me of the habit and had me stretch instead.


grrrrrrrrrr now I have to relearn what I did instinctively

Don't fret, loly, if it was something that was instinctive, it will come back very quickly.

On Hanon, I do the same thing.

And that's how you should have been playing. At high velocities any stretching leads to errors, as stretching is much harder to control than translation (too many small muscles involved, as opposite to very precise movements of one large upper-hand muscle). In fact, in some virtuoso passages Liszt (and many after him) suggested 12345123..etc. fingering for playing some scales (there is a big translation with lifting hand and moving it instead of stretching 4th finger to reach after 1st). I am surprised your first teacher told you to use stretching whenever possible. Yet another reason for feeling good to have finally fired her.

Oh joy now I'm so confused.

I went to see the other teacher and I'm so torn as to who I should pick.

First of all the other teacher was so nice, I felt so comfortable with her. She has two baldwin grands, I got to play on the older one and loved it. What a great piano. BTW I wasn't even nervous not with the russian teacher or this one at all. With my other teacher I was always tense and nervous. Yippie, I can play in front of other people and not feel nervous.

So anyway she immediately got down to business. She asked me to play a few things, and loved the dexterity of my fingers. She asked me questions on theory and tested me in sightreading.

She has a rolan as well, the one with all the bells and whistles and she played bachs invention (think it was 13) with accompaniment and boy was I totally floored. I never liked bach but this sounded totally different and wonderful.

She immediately put me to work and told me she told me she was tough. She gave me homework from the method books and in addition let me borrow two books czerny and helen curtis fundamental piano series which I have homework out of.

Although I told her I was testing teachers out she gave me homework for next week and told me to just let her know if I decided to go with someone else.

So I really don't know what to do. I'm curious as to what the russian teacher will be like but I feel I need a few formal lessons to get a better feel of what it's going to be like.

I immediately know what to expect from this teacher although I'm a bit worried about her comment on "We're going to go fast". I think she said she was taught very fast from the Helen Curtis series and she says it's the best she ever did of all the teachers she had.

I wonder if I can talk her into taking lessons for a month with her and then the following months with the russian teacher so I could get a better idea.

A third teacher called me finally but i'm going to tell her I found a teacher. If I'm having trouble deciding between these 2 having a third will not make it any easier.

it's tough, but you're the one to choose a teacher though. i guess that you could take a few test lessons from each for a month and then make a decision on which one to keep.

the important thing is who would help you technically the most?

That IS a tough dilemma, Loly; they both sound good. Hmmm... what about logistics/money? Do they charge the same? Are the times they are offering for lessons equally convenient? Which one is more convenient to get to? If you can't decide on the basis of content/teaching style, then maybe considering the pragmatic issues will help.

This is a good and tough problem, Loly. I have found that some teachers have a great program that they design for you, and some have great tips that help you when you're playing that they show you during the lesson. If you think one of these teachers has both those attributes, then I'd go with that. My experience is that you'll improve more with the teacher that gives you great help during the lesson, and you'll find it easier to stick with a teacher who has a solid longterm program for you. I'm not much help, am I? I solve this problem by taking from a different teacher in the summer, but I'm not sure taking from two teachers is an effective strategy for most people.

I'd give it a day or two before deciding. Often we like the person we saw more recently, but a few days will give that effect a chance to fade, and you'll get a more even analysis of each teacher.

Good luck with this. I think your dilemma is giving everyone a reason for self-teaching!

Nancy

I agree, it's really hard to decide. Unfortunately there is only one way to do it, i.e. to give a teacher a good try. Last fall I decided to change my teacher. It's not that I didn't like her methods, she just didn't have high expectations for her adult students. Some teachers, who have mostly children to teach, tend to lose interest in adults, IMHO. She also didn't seem to have a clear idea how to manage her adult students, and because she didn't want to lose them either, she chose not to be an extremely demanding teacher but a rather relaxed one. Her attitude was, "whatever you'd like to do today is fine". After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. After all, I'm just a student, and I need guidance.
So after some search I found a new teacher.
The new teacher doesn't follow any lesson plan. In fact, her lessons are quite spontaneous. And it's fine with me. Sometimes we'd cover a lot of ground, sometimes we'd work on one page for several lessons in a row. It took her about a month to figure out what kind of student I was and what I was missing most of all (polyphony). So she made her recommendations, and we started working. For me it was something entirely new and very exciting. I never thought one could have a lot of fun with Bach's fuges! In the process we were learning more and more about each other. I liked some lessons more than others. Sometimes, there were misunderstandings, and I wasn't 100% sure it was working our. But I liked the fact that she was never indifferent to the lessons, and never settling for mediocre sound. Sometimes her assessments were more blunt than I was used to. Gradually, we both adjusted but it wasn't a quick and straight path. Now, whole 9 months after I started with her, I am finally certain that I will stay even though she lives about an hour away from my home.
I am telling you my story because it's important to remember that it's a process. If I were you, I would probably analize in detail each teacher's teaching style and see which one is more compatible with your learning style. It sounds like the two teachers are very different. I would also discuss your piano goals with both teachers and ask them to describe to you how they would teach to help you reach those goals. Also ask them to tell you what goals they set for themselves when teaching adult students. That will tell you a lot.
Good luck and keep us posted.

thanks guys you gave me a lot to think about. I'm going to make a list and wait a couple days before I make a decision.

To answer Monicas questions. the lady I saw yesterday lives across the road from me. It takes me 3 minutes to get to her. She doesn't charge anything (she's retired but is so passionate about music that she keeps 5 students just because she loves it so much). I asked her if she would take cash, she said "No".

She did say that she wanted to make sure that I didn't have any ties with my former teacher or owed her money. I kind of laughed at the owing money thing. I'm very prompt on my payments and never had a check bounce in my life. I got a refund from her btw.

The Russian teacher will come to my house, the days and times are convenient as well. I don't know what she charges and although I'm not rich or well off the payments will be no problem. I don't have a mortgage payment or car payments. I don't like having big payments over my head so I tend to make double payments on stuff and pay them off quickly. I'm going to drive the same car until I only have a steering wheel left. teeeheeee (I just got it painted and it looks new so hopefully I can keep it another 10 years).

So those factors are out the door. he he he

I'm leaning towards the Russian teacher because of what she told me on technic and what she can accomplish with me. The only thing I have to clear up with her is progression on material. I want a clearer view of that. The teacher from yesterday gave me a very clear view on lessons by giving me homework and books and told me how fast we're going to move, the Russian lady did not and I think it's simply because she knew it was a sample lesson and although the lady from yesterday knew that too, she kind of took ownership of me immediately. I must be really cudly or something. he he he he jking.

I'm going to call the Russian teacher today or tommorrow and get some answers there.

In the meantime I'm going to work on what the other teacher gave me just in case something doesn't work out with our conversation.

Go with you gut instinct. And I really like the sound of the other teacher with the two grands...

I decided to go with the Russian teacher. Both teachers are exceptional but the deciding factor for me was the different technic. I'm extremely curious.

Now the hard part is telling the other teacher who gave me homework. I'm going to tell her the truth and let her know it was a tough choice and tell her both of them are superb, but my curiosity gets the best of me. I'm going to ask her if it's ok to keep ties with her (kind of like a music buddy) and maybe if it doesn't work out with the Russian teacher I can go to her.

good choice! but if i were you, i'd just go for one more lesson with another teacher so that you can talk with her in person and ask her to keep in touch just in case that Russian teacher would go away or something.

Loly, i am very happy you have come to a conclusion and have chosen a teacher. however i would not tell the other teacher she is your backup. i would say something like, i am trying out different music styles right now and am not sure the classical method is what i am really looking for but when i am ready to go classical i am hoping the door is still open for lessons:) this is just a thought, i would never want to think i was someones fallback guy. that never feels good to anyone. i am very happy you found a teacher though that you will excel with and are happy with. keep this updated so i know how your doing:) take care!!

It was agonizing enough choosing and agonizing still having to tell the lady who doesn't charge that I'm going to someone else. I've lost 2 days of sleep because I don't want to reject anybody.

ya funburger, my thoughts were exact which is why I'm going to tell her that the deciding factor was the curiosity of learning from someone who studied in another country and I'm curious about her technic which is totally different.

I still want to keep ties with the other lady though. She's just the type of person that turns you on to music. I'm going to be sincere with her and tell her that I hope it works out for me. or "I hope I made the right choice, I'm kind of scared" I'll leave it open and let her say "If it doesn't come back to me"

Signa I do have to go to her house to return the books so, I'll talk to her then.

loly,
just out of curiosity, what do you mean by "her technic which is totally different"? What's her musical background? I'll tell you why I'm asking this question. I used to have an American teacher, now I have a teacher from former Soviet Union. Both teachers' approach to technic is virtually the same. But they set different goals for their students which in turn results in different teaching approach, or methods. It would be interesting to know about both of your candidates' ideas and philosophy. IMHO that's what often makes the difference provided both teachers have adequate professional qualifications.

She was educated in Russia and graduated with a music degree. She has 30 years experience and teaches in 2 studios aside from giving private lessons.

She first looked at my hands and told me that she was going to help me change the way I was playing by not stretching but by lifting my fingers and finding the keys. She assured me that I would be able to play and my fingers would find the right keys all over the keyboard.

She said that the way she teaches music promotes musicality.

She also will have me doing the same exercises in many different ways. She also broke down the music for me and told me what I should be playing first and why and how fast I should go to start with and had me do some interesting experimenting with the phrasing in the pieces.

She mentioned a bunch of other stuff and basically she's heavy on technic which is something I never got from my other teacher. I usually would have to ask her to show me how to play something so that i could look at her hands and sometimes i would ask her questions or show her a book on the wrist technic and she would say "Oh yes I love that technic", but never bothered to teach me in the almost year and a half of lessons.

the teacher I didn't pick didn't mention any technic at all. She thought I had great dexterity and actually enjoyed my playing. she asked me questions to see where how I was on theory and tested my sight reading and immediately gave me homework. I felt really comfortable with her and her vibrant energy made me happy, but I am more interested in what the Russian teacher has to offer.

I've always been an adventurer which is why I lived in Italy and Japan and it doesn't stop with travelling. I like adventure in piano and going with the Russian teacher seems like an adventure to me.

loly,
thanks for your detailed answer. I hope, you'll have a lot of fun learning music from a Russian teacher. It sounds like she is going to be very attentinve to the detail but at the same time not forget about the big picture. What are some of the pieces that you will be learning?
Tuzik