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| Author | Topic: Finding A New Teacher |
suzyq
Registered User
Registered:
11/18/2004 | posted: 10/2/2006 at 7:31:01 PM ET
"Tis a puzzlement" said the King in the King and I.
I've been with my teacher since I first started music lessons about five years ago with the exception of one year when she stopped teaching. The problem is that when she sets a time and date for lessons, invariably she will call, cancel and set another and that sometimes is changed, plus I've ended up calling to conifrm the lesson and this is really giving me agita. She is busy, and not very organized, I might be her only student - a friend of mind said her problem is time-management and inconsistency and didn't think it was very professional.
I'm thinking of finding another teacher something I'd rather not do, but I don't really want to deal with this craziness. The other thing is finding someone who takes adults seriously, some don't. The lesson that was scheduled for this past Sunday was canceled and now it's Wednesday at 4:30PM I hope - this has been going on for quite a while. Thought of bringing it up to her on Wednesday and give it one last shot. Don't really know what to say, never been in this type of situation before.
Thanks for reading this rambling post and also for any words of wisdom. 
|  maintube
Registered User
Registered:
5/26/2004 | posted: 10/2/2006 at 8:01:58 PM ET
When and if you have another lesson, confront her. If she does not give you a good answer, move on. There are other teachers.
|  imnidiot
Registered User
From:
Ashley PA
Registered:
3/28/2005 | posted: 10/2/2006 at 9:02:32 PM ET
Hi suzyq, look around for some other options while still going to this teacher. Then if after discussing your concerns with your current teacher, if the outcome isn't positive, then you can move on without interruption. Ask the prospective teachers for references, and if they maintain a regular schedule. Good luck.
I am a fragment of my imagination
|  Pete
Registered User
From:
North Coast NSW, Australia
Registered:
3/20/2005 | posted: 10/3/2006 at 2:34:14 AM ET
That's no puzzlement, suzyq, that's a pain the the agita...
This strikes a chord (a suspended, in this case, as in waiting in suspense for the next dollar to drop when you make your living charging by the hour as a music teacher)with me because I have had students switch to me because their teacher was unreliable, suzyq, and also have lost students over the years (39 this Dec, and that ain't my age) because I have sometimes taken phone or personal inquiries from a new or prospective student during their lesson time. Never, to my knowledge, have I lost a student because I was wasting their time, not returning calls or not interested enough to organise my teaching program. Hunger, as in depending on providing a satisfactory service and an accectable level of skill and motivation is a great force for concentrating the mind and reminding one that they are paying you, you arn't paying them, and, Pete, what you get is what you eat.
I would suggest that your teacher has another income, perhaps a pension, which takes the eadge of what I think is the greatest job in the World- how many folk do you meet every day, in either end of the Earth, who can honestly say that they are paid, and paid well, to do something they love doing?
Having said that, some of the high school classes that I teach to top up the pot are very hard work indeed .
Take adults seriously? Most music teachers, in my experience, suxyq, far prefer to teach adults to children.
| suzyq
Registered User
Registered:
11/18/2004 | posted: 10/3/2006 at 10:52:01 AM ET
Pete I agree with you and feel the same way.
She teaches music to public high school students and has a son who is around 11 I think. Believe it or not, she wants to eventually to teach privately, but if she operates like this, her students will take their music and leave. I've stayed with her over the long haul because she is an excellent teacher, we work well together and her fee is reasonable. I have asked her now and then to set up a schedule and stay with it but it doesn'y last for long. My lesson was changed from this past Sunday to Wednesday 10/3 4:30 - and who knows, so I've just about had it. Thinking of speaking with her yet again at tomorrows lesson but don't know how to speak with her without sounding "my way or the highway" - and finding a good teacher is tricky.
About two years ago she just stopped teaching, never found out why. Went to another teacher who sat behind me and never said a thing - for all I know he could have been working the crossword puzzle. His thing was Bartok's Mikrokosmos (couldn't stand those exercises and all the major and minor scales). So guess I'm hesitant to jump in the water again. Julliard has a list of their graduates who teach -
Thanks Pete and everyone for your support - good to have friends.
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