Tell me about your teachers

I got my "fun teacher" after 2 years of self learning. I felt stuck, no progress, and my professional situation changed during covid, so I could scedule lessons every two weeks. He lets me chose pieces I like, and also gives suggestions what we could do next. He corrects the most obvious things and takes me a step further, without overwhelming me. It gave me structure, a clearer idea of how to practice, and most of all: lots of fun. Suddenly my practice time went from 30 minutes-1hr a day to at least 2 hrs daily.

After 3.5 years with him I realized that in some aspects, he is "too much fun". He doesn't do detailed technique work, and although most of the time I understand his instructions, in cases when I don't quite get it, he doesn't find a third or fourth way to explain it. So I looked for a stricter, more technical teacher in addition, and found a woman, I (absolutely in a positive way) call my "Russian dominatrix". She is very technique based, very detailed, and soooo strict. With her I had lessons where we barely played 2 bars, because she wasn't happy and shaped my motions in detail. She is so brutally honest, you really need to know and understand that it's not personal but ALWAYS referring to the technique. I get along with her really well, because I know how she means it and absolutely appreciate her honest feedback. But I also know that without my "fun teacher" I would be devastated sometimes haha.

So now I have 2 teachers that supplement each other just perfectly and am so happy this turns out so well. With the Russian one, my technique has improved soooo much in such a short time, and she also is so sophisticated in finding interpretational details in the music, which I absolutely adore. ("Why did he write it in this facture? What is it? Chord based.. yes, but not only, how exactly? Yes.. vertical... what is that? Yes, a CHORAL. Why would he write a choral style here? Where do you have chorals? Yes.. church... ah, yes, because it has something of a PRAYER").
On the other hand my fun teacher ensures that I don't get disappointed or lose my joy. He is less demanding, and playing a piece just for fun and  not perfectly is a lot more fine for him than for her.

For me having both of them is just perfect! To nourish both the joy of just music making and the intellectural and technical side, that makes the experience go even deeper and more detailed.

ah, I have 1 hr with her, and with him usually 45 minutes, but most of the time I am the last student and we do an hour or 1.25, depending on how many questions I have. I make appointments irregularly, so sometimes there's 3 or even 4 weeks in between, and then we need more time.

His piano is a Yamaha grand, and the Russian teacher has an old.. whatever... totally different sound and touch, I can't remember the brand, nothing "common". I am 1 year with her now, and 4.5 with him.

My first piano teacher was an elderly lady who had taught generations of children in our neighbourhood.  She lived alone in a large house built by her father who had been a sea captain.   The house was packed full of old victorian furniture, carpets, antiques and ornaments collected from around the world.  The hall had dark wood panelling and a raised platform with an ornate balustrade made to look like the deck of a ship.

As it was a very old house, it was still heated primarily with coal fires. (This was the 1970’s) It was always freezing cold and my teacher always wore big mohair cardigans, thick checked skirts and knitted woollen brown tights.   She had a large, black upright piano which seemed  very intimidating at the time. There was a statuette of Beethoven on top, standing with his hands behind his behind his back, glaring down disapprovingly, as I fumbled through his Sonatinas.  There was also a yellow canary in a cage by the window which used to tut and twitter during lessons. Sometimes if it was being particularly vocal, it would get a gentle telling off.  It all sounds like something out of a Harry Potter movie but I can assure you that it is all true.

From the age of 8, I went twice weekly for initially for short lessons and the once a week for a full lesson once I was a bit older. I had a red notebook in which were written comments and instructions of what and how to practice every week.  Looking back, my teacher was very strict;  I can remember once being sent home in disgrace with an instruction to record the date, time and duration of every practice session in my notebook along with my parents signatures.  (They were a bit afraid of her too!) I also recall her utter shock and horror when I pronounced the Italian term  Cantabile as “Can-ta-bile”. I was only 10!

I did make good progress though and was entered in to all the ABRSM exams.  We were made to do old theory exam papers in preparation,  sitting in silence at her huge dining room table and having to fill in our answers, first in pencil and then go over them in pen.  Only a mark of 90 or over out of 100 was acceptable. For the practical exams, my teacher would turn up at the exam waiting room with a bag full of puzzles and games to keep you occupied and calm any nerves before the exam. I’m not sure that strategy ever worked for me.

The repertoire for lessons was always strictly classical and fairly dry. Books of graded exercises and studies, scales and exam pieces. However, if you reached a certain level you were rewarded with the chance to play Bach 2 and 3 part inventions.  I remember I found Bach very dull at the time. It did, however, motivate me to go to my local library to seek out more “interesting” music books to play such as Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, Chopin Nocturnes  and Schubert Waltzes.  I never told my teacher though!
She wasn’t always the total authoritarian figure however; every Christmas I would return home from the last lesson of the year with my music case bulging with a big bag of sweets.

My first piano teacher was definitely someone who had a lasting and profound effect on my life. She believed in old school discipline and methods of teaching but it certainly worked for me, as I went on to study music at a local Conservatoire and then University.  I also feel eternally grateful for her wisdom to make me study Bach from such a young age as it is now one of my greatest joys to listen to and play as an adult.