Informal Surveys:
Private Lesson No-No's
Characteristics of a Good Private Teacher
What Students want from their Private Teachers
Ethical Guidelines:
Suzuki Association of the Americas, Ethical Conduct Guidelines
Music Teachers National Association, Code of Ethics
National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Code of Ethics
What I want in a teacher is someone who understands that hitting, demeaning and demonizing students is abuse, NOT teaching. Someone who will explain points over and over again if necessary and not have a fit if I pick things up slower than their other students. A teacher who will understand that while 7 year old Susie may want or be willing to start with "Mary Had a little Lamb," that I want to learn a specific style of fiddling and perhaps songs from that genre would be more helpful. That trying to turn a student into a "mini-me" is not in the best interests of the student or teacher.
I think students want from teachers the same thing teachers want from students: respect, patience, understanding and dedication. If I go to class only to find that you have your kid to tend to, whle teaching me, I am not going to be too pleased, especially if I am at a fiddle camp advertised as adult only. If I come and you're not there repeatedly, or not in a good mood, why would I continiue to come?
I am learning disabled and an adult, I wll learn slower than that 4 year prodigy that I keep hearing about and comparing me to her won't help or inspire me.
My favourite teacher and the one I look up to as the type of teacher I want to be ( indeed the type of person I want to be) is Ian MacDougall from Cape Breton. He was kind, generous, consistant and patient. He never made students feel stupid, or put them down. He took a scared, nay, terrified student and turned them in to a fiddler ( I actually knew 3 or 4 tunes after only a week with him!) and a friend.
A teacher like him is a treasure.
I have a 5 year old violinist who says, "lots of games".
I have a 7 year old violinist who says, "please be kind to me".
And my 11 year old cellist needs structure AND variety in a good balance,
and appreciates humor in a teacher.
I've taught violin for many years, and I now have my kids in private piano and flute lessons, so I feel like I'm on both sides of the fence.
What do I as a parent want from these teachers? Mostly I want them to be patient with my kids and be accepting of how much the kids can give. My daughter is in 9th grade and struggles constantly to finish her homework. It has always taken her at least twice as long as other kids to do homework. For several years I didn't put her in piano (even though she begged me to) because she just didn't have any time. Now we finally have her in lessons, and we have good practice weeks and bad. Her teacher is wonderful and accepts as much as my daughter can give. On the flip side it is probably frustrating for the teacher simply because my daughter has some ability in music and could probably play really well if we could fit in the usual practice time.
My own violin teacher when I was growing up, was very strict and routinely scolded me for not practicing and not playing well. As a result I grew up thinking I didn't play very well. I think I could have ended up playing a lot better if she had been encouraging instead of scolding. Others would compliment my playing, and I was first chair in the school and community orchestras, but still didn't believe I played well. I did go on to major in music ed, but still feel like I could have done more if I had believed in myself from the beginning.
So even though I don't teach the Suzuki method, and I don't even know all of his philosophy, I agree with Dr Suzuki's idea that the teacher should teach with love, and that all students can benefit from music lessons.
As a violin teacher, I set practice and learning requirements on a per student basis, rather than giving them all the same requirements. I had one student who took lessons for all of her junior and high school years. I think we were together for about 5 years or so. During that time the student got through about book 4 of the suzuki books (I use the books, don't teach the method). Most of the last few songs weren't really up to par, but she did them the best she could. Her mom thanked me at one point and said that so many of the teacher they talked to had expectations that the child was going to make violin their main priority. But this mom knew the student was there more for enjoyment than a possible future career. I taught her as much as I could, she had fun, and is now in college studying something else. Another student had the time and the ability to play very well, and I expected much more practice and progress from him.
I'm not saying have low expectations. I'm just saying that all kids benefit from music experiences, but very few are going to make it their career. Many teachers would love to fill their studios with child prodegies (how do you spell that!), because it makes the teacher look good! I guess I'm just saying that there needs to be the possibility for all kids to take lessons, regardless of their playing ability and commitment level.
Well, when I first started looking for a teacher, I wanted someone
who would allow me to have fun learning this new instrument. I did
not want to start playing scales ad nauseum! I had that experience
with piano, and found it so DULL. While I can appreciate the need
for basic mechanics, I felt that I was somewhat beyond scales being
that I already played guitar. Don't get me wrong, I still use
scales to warm up, I just didn't want to spend my first month doing
nothing else.
I was also looking for someone to teach to how I can learn. Having
only had one teacher for violin, I can't really say how they all
are, but I can compare to my experiences with piano and guitar and
know how my brain works. While my teacher may not be my 'perfect
fit' he has adapted to my bass-ackwards brain-learning and exibits
quite a bit of patience. Important trait for me!
My gripes? Very few, but they are bothersome after awhile.
#1 - My teacher is not terribly organized. He has no real set
plan. He'll say the next lesson we'll begin vibrato or second
position, and then two weeks later, he's forgotten and I'm reminding
him. He'll even ask what song I was learning last session. One
time he was so disorganized, he didn't even notice I forgot to pay
him! I realized it before my next lesson (a month later) and wrote
him a double check. I don't expect perfection, but jot down a note
every now and again guy! Heck *I* keep notes!
#2 - He has a large dog. Up until recently, lessons were held in
his house. I don't mind the dog, but I do mind that he puts paws up
on me (usually I've come from work and am dressed kinda nice). The
teacher's attitude was very 'oh well' as far as complaints about the
dog. Now, there is the remodelled garage he houses lessons in so
there are no dog paws, but you have to avoid dog crap to get to it.
Heh, what can you do about that? I think I'd like it better if he
had the dog 'go' on the other side of the house.
Like I said, few gripes. I trade the 'professional' environment for
easy scheduling, fun lessons and no recitals. To me it's a fair
trade.
As an adult student, I self-taught my first year and felt I had accomplished a lot. But I wanted to make sure if I had any bad habits, someone could tell me, so I decided to find a teacher. It lasted six weeks, mostly because I found a closer one, and this teacher made me very nervous (though I do not regret taking lessons from her). Plus she could only have me for 30 minutes, and I felt rushed after a 20 minute drive there from work. My second teacher has me sit down and plays along with me sometimes. She doesn't really point certain things out that the other one did, but I'm not nearly as nervous around her! I just wish I could mix the two together. She has me stay an hour which is really, really nice!!! The house smell a bit of cigarette smoke (not hers), the cat climbs all over my violin case, and I can smell kitty litter... but I have a good time with her, and she is making me learn my notes by name, not just site. She plays about 50 instruments, so I'm not sure how well she is with the violin alone, but I think she is very good at guitar. So... not exactly what some may feel of as ideal, but it works for me right now. I'm pretty disapplined on knowing what I should be practicing, etc., but just need someone around to let me know how I'm doing and what I should be doing. I may be throwing away $20 every week, but right now I'm enjoying the company and picking up bits and pieces here and there. I'm not out to become a great fiddler, but I do want to be good. No recitals, please! So, briefly, here's what I want out of a teacher:
Relaxed
Show me examples by playing herself
Non-rushed
Interested in the music I want to learn
Tell me my bad habits
SHOW me how to break my bad habits
No recital pressure
Play along with me sometimes
Teach me to read music
Allow me to play by ear
Vibrato
Other positions
Scales and Etudes
I want someone to keep me from developing bad habits.
Someone to push/guide/nurture my skills. A teacher who
will play duets with me. One who knows what my goals
are (including playing with a community orchestra) and
helps me reach them.
And someone who is firm but not afraid to smile and
laugh.
Thanks goodness my teacher is all the above.
I think you may have been one of the people who were interested in
the site I mentioned, www.musicalfossils.com. ?? Anyway, there are
some good essays on that site about how teachers can best answer
the needs of adult students. I think it's insightful, but pretty
general.
I think there can be at least two main aspects to a student/teacher
relationship..the musical/ educational core of it, and the personal
dimension. I think the nature of learning music can be very
emotional so I think it's natural that on a personal level, two
adults can talk about some involved stuff. I think that can work or
not. An art that deals with the _expression of feelings can really
put people through some changes, and I think a teacher can handle
that by having good boundaries, being upfront and honest, being
sensitive, and keeping confidences. I remember reading in the
ethical guidelines for Suzuki teachers that keeping confidences was
one thing listed. I guess kids also can get close to their
teachers.
On a musical level, here's what I want from a teacher:
1. High expectations that violin is learnable combined with
patience, and looking for the ways to best help an individual. Not
applying a one size fits all method, but working with that person's
strengths and weaknesses.
2. Breaking down something difficult into do-able steps.
3. Being a little flexible about which pieces to work on...in my
opinion, an adult doesn't have time to learn pieces they hate. Let
them work on pieces that excite them but may have the same
challenges in them.
4. Don't play power games with students like saying, " I really
don't feel like being here today." and then if they said something
like that it's off with their head!
5. Be a good player yourself and be up on the pieces they're
working on.
6. If someone is having a hard time reading music be sure you know
some of the good tools for making it easier, like the book, I Can
Read by Judith Martin. I learned to read without this book, but
with it, it's practically painless.
7. Encourage performance opportunities.
8. Don't take a students' weakness and make a permanent liability
out of it. Example, my main teacher told me I don't have any sense
of rythm. She said you feel rythm in your solar plexis. Other
teachers I went to after her said I had no rythm problem and that
THEY don't feel it in their solar plexis. I had a rythm reading
weakness but I have a sense of rythm. In other words, if someone
has a difficulty with rythm or pitch, see if you can find a way to
help...not defining it as something that can't be overcome.
9. Leave this out of your vocabulary: " You can never.."
10. Stay surprisable.
11. Share what you love.
I hope that a
teacher wouldn't take so many students as to not be able to give them
all their full worth. I have a good friend who graduated from the
Conservatory who is always warning me about student mills...
And someone else made the point about the teacher not being organized-
-that's a real let-down for ambitous motivated adults--a real let
down.
Finally, a teacher who has obvious favorites and expectations that do
not include confidence in adult's abilities should not teach adults--
period.
Please leave feedback.
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