S Owens wrote:
> I believe the student teacher relationship is like all other relationships
> at some point you have to overlook personality flaws and stay with the core
> of the matter (learning how to sing). I stay with this teacher because of
> what I learn though at times she can be hard to take on a personality level.
> She is my 2nd teacher and I have every intention of staying with her
> because of her vast knowledge.
I think we each have our own comfort level with teachers.
For myself, I think that the student has to take
responsibility for his/her own learning. That includes
making sure (to the extent possible), that the teacher is
competent, and having confidence in one's own judgement
about whether a particular teaching style or approach is
working for the student. That said, I think, in taking on
this responsibility, it's important for the student to
learn/know what his/her needs are and to communicate them to
the teacher. I've found this much easer to do as I've
gotten older and know better what works for me and what
doesn't.
For example, I find that negative ideas, such as "stopping"
doing something, don't work well for me. What works much
better for me is a positive thought, something "TO do" which
replaces the negative idea/action. But I don't necessarily
write off a teacher that doesn't meet that expectation.
Instead, I ask the teacher who's discussing a negative if
he/she can suggest a positive idea for me. And if I find a
particular idea is working well for me, I tell the teacher,
so she/he knows it's working. And things the teacher says
that I don't understand, I ask for an explanation. I don't
assume something's wrong with me because I don't understand,
because that doesn't do me OR the teacher any good: the
teacher will assume I understand unless I tell him/her
otherwise. And ideas that I know aren't working for me, I
tell the teacher the idea isn't working right now - is there
something different we can work on?
>
> Lamperti had a student once who boasted that he had studied with 9 teachers
> and Lamperti's response that he had 8 too many teachers. Having too many
> teachers can be damaging.
I agree with this in part. It depends what period of time
you're talking about. Eight voice teachers in two years can
be evidence of a problem on the student's part, or it could
be REALLY bad luck! Over twenty years it can reflect
situations like moving around for a job, teachers moving or
retiring, going to different schools for degrees, or vocal
goals changing.
If a student finds him/herself not clicking with a bunch of
teachers, then it would be a good idea for the student to
take a hard look at him/herself. Are the expectations of
the teacher unrealistic? Is the student actively resisting
ANY ideas or feedback from the teacher? I've known some
students, lovely people, who, for whatever reason, can't
take direction from a teacher. (In fact, my husband is a
little like that (though he's not a musician). He does best
when he learns on his own. He hates being told what to do.
In college, he'd go to class as little as possible, but get
good grades on tests through studying the course material on
his own.)
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
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