Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-06-15 21:47
awildman wrote:
> Tucker, while this was a bit of a rant, I am truly wondering if
> my standards and expectations were too high.
>
You can have whatever standards and expectations you think are important. But it's important to be up-front with the teacher about what they are.
If starting 5 minutes late is an issue for you (even if the lesson ends 5 minutes late as well), you need to let him or her know *before* something that might have been avoidable comes up and starts a cycle of silent resentment in your mind. If there is a pressing need to end on time, necessitating an on-time start, the teacher needs to know that up front as well.
A teacher who is "stretched beyond her limits teaching adults" probably doesn't count on the adult student's having the kind of exacting expectations that few if any children would have. Then there's also the danger of her talking to an adult as though he were a child, and that's more untenable. I have a similar problem playing in adult orchestras for conductors who are primarily high school or college conductors.
I have to say that I consider myself a responsible and effective teacher, and if I have students stacked consecutively and one goes 5 minutes beyond the scheduled lesson time, I don't worry about it. The next student gets his full time (I never have more than two in an evening). If there's a reason why a student really needs to be out my door by the exact time of the scheduled end of lesson, I need to know so that I plan things mentally as we near the ending time. If absolute adherence to the nominal lesson times is a major point of concern for a student, I would probably tell him in all frankness that I'm uncomfortable with that kind of rigidity and let him or her decide whether to lighten up or go elsewhere. Honestly, I've never had it come up, and I don't routinely go overtime or start late. I do respect a student's time, but not to the point of slavery to the clock hands.
One line in your original post has bothered me since I read it, and I've avoided addressing it, but it still keeps pushing me to react in some way. "I work hard at a job I dislike for $20 per hour. I show up every day, on time." This really has nothing at all to do with a music teacher's effectiveness. That any of these people (or future teachers) are better paid and perhaps enjoy their jobs more than you is not an appropriate filter for choosing or evaluating teachers. I truly wish you were happier at your job and better paid for it. It sounds like there's some resentment over this that has gotten into your involvement with clarinet study, and I would suggest as gently as I can that the two aren't or shouldn't be related.
My doctors (all of them) are much better paid than I am. So is the attorney who is handling an ongoing probate process for our family. People get paid in most cases what the market will bear for the service or labor they provide.
Karl
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The Clarinet BBoard
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