How to tell if I've no talent at all. (Or maybe its time to change piano teacher)

[mera]

I'm currently learngin my Gd 8 ABRSM, after getting Distinction in Gd 6 last July. The thing is, since the beginning of this year, my teacher has been raising her voice at me at every lesson, making me feel really lousy during class. Today, I even felt like crying and I'm an adult student!

The reason she moved me to Gd 8 as she knew that I get exams jitters and said I should skip Gd 7 exam and take 1.5 yrs to practise for my Gd 8.

The prob is, when I ask her questions about the Gd 8 syllabus that are completely new to me (eg 3rd/6th apart etc), she'd snap, "Read up yourself, because you skip grade 7, that's why?". And when I fumble over the difficult parts, she'd say, "You are not grade 1 or 2 anymore, you are grade 8 ok?!"

I'm beginning to feel that I'm too old to improve, I really can't make it and grade 6 was really just the max I can do.

Or

I should just change a teacher, and continue on grade 7 (instead of gd 8 ).

 

[SmFizz]

screw ur previous teacher, she has no patience at all..
i use to have a piano teacher like that..
i quit after a few weeks

 

[evident]

ask yourself why do you want to learn to play the piano? what kind of genres do you wanna play? do you want to go keyboard, synths or piano? classical, jazz, rock or pop? since you're in grade 6, i'd advise you not to go for grade 8. there's no point getting grade 8 anyway if you're gonna struggle through it. there are many grade 8 pianists who i think don't deserve that certificate and yet they have it because of the system. so grades aren't that important. save money for lessons too. if you want to do more contemporary piano stuff i'd advise you go to the proper teachers too. i've heard of/ known of teachers who don't know what chords are because they're strictly classically trained. not a good thing unless you really really want to go classical all the way.

 

[NabilFitriMusic]

-

screw ur previous teacher, she has no patience at all..
i use to have a piano teacher like that..
i quit after a few weeks

BUT, before you quit, u have to curse her..She's suck! Ur teacher is just like my teacher...Screw them. Ur teacher should teach you something which you dunno..

 

[SmFizz]

yea the teacher always scream at me for no bloody reason. make small mistake here, scold me until like siao...

something about piano that brings out the worst in teachers

 

[mera]

Evident, you asked a very valid question & I'm beginning to think Classical is just too demanding for me.

I was with her for about 2 yrs & she was ok at first. But it cld be that she expects more from me or she compares me to her other super talented 14 y.o kids doing Gd 8. Or she runs out of patience with me. Lol.

My purpose for learning ABRSM piano is more to appreciate and understand those piano concertos like Rachmaninoff, or Beethovan, and hopefully, play those pieces. But I do feel ( or my teacher made me feel) that I'm really stupid lor. CMI.

I did pop piano some years back but felt it didn't get me anywhere except any pop songs such as Fly me to the Moon or Autumn leaves and for the full 12 months, I'm like running on the tread mill, going no where.

 

[MutantBanana]

Your teacher sounds mean for someone teaching an adult. I mean its your choice whether or not you want a teacher like that.

 

[mera]

Objectively speaking, I could be the one that is not talented, as I am slower than most of her students (I'm her only adult student).

Maybe she feels that by speaking louder, pek chek kind of tone; with shaking head to punctuate her points, it can speed up things, but it makes me feel a lot more nervous (my fingers actually tremble). Still, i do think I'm not that smart to begin with.

She has a tendency to reiterate: Learning music is for smart people. Parents put their kids thru music sch thinking they can have a backup in case they fail academically. They are wrong. . I get the hint everytime.

My question is still:
I should change a teacher and start at grade 7 ? Or really, some people like me just can't go beyond a certain level. I've been doing gd 8 exam pieces for 2 month now, and I'm still struggling with familiarity of the notes in 2 out of 4 pages of A section.

 

[MarkDrumsYou]

while it's easy to bombard the teacher, maybe wat would REALLY help you to improve is to look at your own shortcomings and flaws rather den listen to the others rant and question your own credibility. imo when she ranted at you when you asked her about the 3rd and 6th apart, i guess she did have a point whereby she expected you to have the initiative to read up on it yourself. Especially in the higher grades, self reading up is crucial and you shouldn't expect spoon feeding anymore like when you were in grd 6 or something. Just because she rants at you, you start to doubt your own ability. that's just an absolute showing of a lack of self confidence. You need to believe in yourself more =) Cheers and play on!

 

[squarehero]

Hi, just to remind you that you are paying for a service and you can request this service to be given to you in any way you want. So, if you are not happy, you should be the one screaming.

 

[pianomankris]

Is she an acual teacher? I'd get rid of her straight away. Even if she is qualified. If she is making you resent lessons and learning, then she's no good for you.

Classical isn't 'too hard' for anyone. Just stop aiming for 'grade 8' and enjoy what you learn, and learn a ton of pieces at a level you feel comfortable with, slowly pushing yourself little by little.

What happens when you get grade 8? Do you say to yourself 'I can now oficially play piano well'? then what?

Just enjoy it. Do it for you, and not for a silly little bit of paper that means close to absolutely nothing.

 

[pf]

Absolutely agree with pianomankris. Its no point to do it if you're not enjoying the process.

 

[bearclaw]

Actually from personal experience, the gulf in standard between grade 7 and 8 is really big as compared to the lower grades. not being able to pass grade 8 does not mean u have no talent, similarly, getting a grade 8 does not mean u r talented. i got a friend with only a grade 2 in classical piano, but is a great blues/jazz pianist

 

[kongwee]

She has no experience at all(even she teach for decades). I wouldn't say you should not be spooned feed, but there are subject that you do not know, she should teach. It is her responsible to teach that you. It is her suggest to skip grade 7, but scold you for not knowing anything from grade 7. Totally irresponsible.

I used to have a professional dizi instructor that teach the same way. In the end, he give out. But I turn to china 1st class performer, I improve a lot with this instructor. He will hand out exercises to counter difficulties in technique. Explain quite a lot of thing. Everytime a little improve would make him just happy. My playing jump a lot from nothing to learning grade 8. I never take any grade, but I would say I know how to play traditional dizi pieces.

 

[mera]

To PianoMakris, yes she teaches Dip students. I learn in a school.

On one hand, I tried to be objective like wat MDY said,to look at my shortcomings & also read up on my own.

Looking at shortcomings bit: when I struggle through a difficult portion, she'd tell me to play slowly myself, to tap my foot on the beat, and the next thing I know, she goes out of the room for a good 10mins.

Reading on my own:I always asked her for books to rec and she chided me, " Becos you stop your theory lesson, that's why!" (i stopped my grade 6 theory after 5 months as I can't afford the extra $120 and time to do homework. I'm working). I get my info online. The textbooks at Renner are really dry.

Anyway, I told her many times that I dont want to take the joy out of learning and wants her to teach me other stuff besides the ABRSM pieces.

For eg, I wanted her to teach me
(1) how to read orchestra scores so I can listen to concertos and read the scores borrowed from Lib@Espl. (and she'd remind again, if I had continue my gd 6 theory, that would be covered)
(2) how to improve my finger techniques such a playing fast octaves, and etc. (she said I ought to do scales more). So I downloaded Czerny/hanon stuff on my own after reading up online.
(3) to play other pieces such as Bossa Nova. She prob only want me to focus on my exam pieces.

Anyone has any good rec for a good teacher? One who has a proven pedagogy in teaching music to adult students like me. And one who is open to new things, not so set in his/her way. And one who is patient. Any suggestions?

 

[kongwee]

[QUOTE=mera;

This is the shortcoming of ABRSM, separating theory and practical together. What to do it is paper game.

 

[Cheez]

Piano school teachers probably earn a commission from the school. Having one more or less student probably mean little to the teacher. If the teacher isn't a committed teacher and does not have a passion to teach (which many so-called "teachers" do, when all they do is to draw a salary), then you're in trouble.

Private teachers, however, also have shortcomings. Although they do tend to be more tailored to their students, poor students do reflect badly on them during ABRSM exams, parcticularly if the teacher has lots of students. My ex-teacher had so many students that the examiner actually examined us in her own studio. You can imagine the pressure on the teacher for her students to perform well.

Take note of pianomankris' point. Also, if the teacher does not "teach", then find another one.

However, there's always 2-sides to a story, and we've only heard your side. Not to doubt your credibility, but I've heard of students complaining about their teachers and exaggerating quite a bit. Your case is probably genuine. But I would still reflect on what the teacher pointed out. If it doesn't make sense, and the teacher fails to explain clearly to you, then change a teacher. Just don't go teacher shopping...

 

[pf]

mera,

I know somebody who is a sports teacher in school. He told me that he gets really excited to train students who has got the potential to excel in sports. But when he got tudents who are just so-so...then he won't have the same enthusiasm. Teachers are human too. I suppose your piano teacher might be like that. But then of course, that's no excuse for not doing the job properly.

You have to know that for teachers who teach according to syllabus in a school, their task is to teach you to pass your exam. So, doing other things (like teaching to to read scores and bossa nova) does not achieve the objective. Some simply will want you to pay extra for these things. Some simply don't teach you these because they don't know how.

And you, you know your objectives very clearly. You even have the passion enough to read up on your own. So, that's very commendable. I do not think that being talented or not would prevent you from achiving your objective. Because there are other qualities that you have to help you and they are:
1. passion
2. patience
3. dedication
4. willingness to learn, etc etc

Hope that you will continue to do enjoy your music journey after a change of teacher.

 

[mera]

Thanks Cheez and PF. And a very big thank you to the rest of you who replied to my thread.

Certainly, I'll think over the next course of action.

KW's teacher is the kind of teacher I want. Diagnose the problematic areas and then treat it specifically with the right dose of exercise. That's the mark of a good teacher.

I'm still not clear where exactly I'm weak- it seems like e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g from rhythmn to phrasing to notes. (I was starting to feel like she hates me).

I'll ask my teacher to make a list of my weakness and ways to work on them. If she can't, its time to fire her.

Cheez: how do I get a good teacher if I don't teacher shop? I might even have to test them out first , right? Been searching online such as streetdirectory and there are tons.

 

[Cheez]

Best is to get recommended. Sorry, when I said "shop", I meant switching from one to another. That will certainly not do you any good.

If you got distinction for Grade 6, you can't be that bad. But Grade 8 is indeed very different from Grade 6. Quite a bit of a jump.