Adults not worth being tought?

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Internet Cello Society Forums > Cellists by Night (Semi-Pro or Amateur) > Adults not worth being tought?
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RemRem Registered User (2/28/01 6:33:56 am) Reply	Adults not worth being tought? As I currently move to Munich (haven't found an appartment yet) I checked with the local music school as I also need a new teacher. Unfortunately they told me they only accept kids. So if you're over 18 and not already at that school you have to find a teacher on your own. So for most adults that would be a conservatory student. I wonder what I may expect from someone with hardly any teaching experience... I was pretty pissed as that music school claimed on thier website that they are the source of musical education for kids and adults.
Dorie Straus Moderator (2/28/01 6:57:33 am) Reply	Re: Adults not worth being taught? Just as with any teacher, there will be those who are good at it and those who are not. Perhaps the advantage of a conservatory student might be that he/she is not burned-out from teaching and won't have a teaching overload. They might be happy to have the extra money and might be excited to teach an adult. Could be a good thing!
Ellen G Registered User (2/28/01 8:02:47 am) Reply	Re: Adults not worth being tought? Sounds like they did you a favor by rejecting you. I don't know about other places, but in NY there are an awful lot of people who hold certificates attesting to their authorization to teach, but whose knowledge about the subject matter they are teaching is sorely lacking. This scenario suggests to me that their expertise is working with kids, and secondarily they are into music on a limited basis, realize the limitations of the staff. It's weird, though, because obviously you can have "kids" that range in age from 4-18, give or take. You can have a "beginner" ranging in age from 4-99. So can they help a precocious 13-year-old more than they can help a novice adult? Hmmm... You're an intermediate player and moving into more advanced pieces. If someone who can't play the pieces themself is trying to help you, they're not going to be able to. If a conservatory student knows more of the ins and outs than a teacher on this staff, problems they had to conquer to get to where they are, their experience is more valuable to you. "You need to wam up with these scales because..." "You need to white out these fingerings because..." "If you set yourself up this way, this is what will happen in this passage..." People who haven't advanced past a certain level never realize how much more they don't know! This can really hurt a student who is trying to move around a cello with greater facility, playing more difficult rhythms, exercise bow control in more technically demanding passages, and the teacher hasn't got a clue that what he's teaching ISN'T HELPING. It is, indeed, less critical to a 9-year-old trying to twinkle. Too many generalizations and too much subjectivity here, actually, and I'm bound to step on some toes.
jekerry Registered User (2/28/01 8:24:03 am) Reply	go for a student teacher The best teacher I've ever had is a grad student at Eastman. She's so enthusiastic! And respectful! Why would you want to take lessons from some burnt out over worked classroom type teacher when you can get lessons from someone that has new, fresh ideas and is still learning too so understands what you are going through? Take the gift and find yourself someone who wants to teach. You might find a great one. Best, Jane
me4cello Registered User (2/28/01 11:03:57 am) Reply	try out 2 or 3.. as others have said already, you might be pleasantly surprised by the fresh approach of a conservatory student, if you get the chance try out 2 or 3 and see if you click with anyone, you'll be helping to support a starving student too!!
RemRem Registered User (3/1/01 5:40:02 am) Reply	Thanks all! Yes, I'll see what teachers I can find. But I'll also make that music school remove that crap from their website... Actually those (public) music schools are pretty good here in Germany. You can be sure to get a qualified teacher and the are cheap as the city pays up to 50% of the fees. Those schools are in every bigger village and up to now I had never heard that they do not teach adults... But...maybe...as we all know that 99% of the kids will become great virtuosos...
RobertaJill Registered User (3/2/01 4:02:09 pm) Reply	Re: Adults not worth being tought? I am having trouble finding a cello teacher, not because they don't think adults are worth teaching, but because no one wants to teach in the evenings or on Saturdays. And while there are always college and grad students who accept students, my concern is that they finish their degrees and leave -- and I am finally looking for someone who will help me build a program for developing my skills. I am a relatively advanced student but I have to work 8-5 (to pay for cello lessons, among other things!)! I found one teacher who will meet with me in the late afternoon on a day I can leave work about a half hour early -- let's hope things work out! Roberta
Lucy Clifford Registered User (3/2/01 9:41:51 pm) Reply	Re: Adults not worth being tought? While I have been a student-teacher, and taught adults, from my research it is my considered, and Oh, so humble opinion that if you really want to have a 'greater facility', and I know that you really DO find a really great, professional, experienced teacher. One of my fellow librarians took up the violin - after spending 18 months with various student and amatuer teachers (with all due respect!) she was persuaded to ring a top violinist from the BBC orch, who is renowned as a great teacher for all people. And sure enough she's playing really well: loves practicing, enthusiastic, happy, confident to play. It might cost a bit more, but it is really worth it. Make sure that you feel happy with the teacher. Students are renowned for being flightly, arrogant, inconsiderate, irregular and inexperienced. If you find a teacher who is 1) a great player 2) an experienced teacher 3) loves to teach (and learn!) you will be much happier.
Ellen G Registered User (3/3/01 8:10:02 am) Reply	Re: Adults not worth being taught? I think the premise got changed here somehow. First choice, all things being equal, is a professional cellist with fabulous teaching skills. However, in this case that wasn't an option, which is where the conservatory student came in. In fact in MANY cases that is not an option, either due to availability, finances, logistics. The amateur cellist population is really spread out. Anyway, there are people with great facility on the instrument who cannot communicate well and therefore do not make good teachers. There are some people with good communication skills, but are not as highly trained on their instruments as they think they are, and can really hamper a student cellist in the long run. Much advanced repertoire is performed with excruciatingly poor technique, and because they don't know it's poor, it is perpetuated in their students. There are some excellent advanced dedicated students who are far enough ahead of the students they are teaching that they can, in many instances, do more good than harm. Anyway, it's all personal. I live one place, have certain things available to me, my own expectations, a background and level of play which is NOT conservatory. That already puts me in a different world from anyone who has been a conservatory student, or a former professional. I am extremely fond of my teacher, but I have learned a heck of a lot from another cellist I study with infrequently who is operating on a totally different plane, can manage to isolate problem areas and dispel them with a movement and a few sentences. If this were available to me on a regular basis, sure, I'd have progressed faster. But we have to work with our own realities and make the best of them.