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Re: Switching Teachers??

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-04-14 19:43

Some fairly random thoughts:

Sometimes if you've been studying with the same teacher for a number of years, a change in point-of-view or even just teaching style may be helpful. When you hear the same things a lot over time as a student you start to unconsciously filter the repetitive information out. The same points made by a different person in different words can freshen the process even if both teachers are equally effective and skilled.

After a number of years with the same teacher you may have gotten all she can give you (another side of my first point above). Is the college prof/symphony principal a clearly stronger player than your current teacher? If so, she may have an arsenal of different solutions to try for your more persistent problems areas.

Because a person is a college prof or a principal chair in an orchestra (you don't, understandably, identify the teacher by saying which college or orchestra) doesn't automatically make him or her a good teacher. And because a single lesson produces some quick insights, there's no guarantee that over a long haul that teacher will be patient and continue to have constructive input for solving problems that aren't so quick-and-easy to solve.

Does the prospective teacher have a reputation - good or bad - in your area among other musicians or other clarinetists as a personality or as a teacher? Sometimes school music teachers have heard from each other about how great or lacking someone in a prominent position is as a teacher. Can you discuss this with your school band director?

It probably wouldn't be a problem if the symphony is a relatively local one, but sometimes a major symphony's rehearsal and travel schedule makes scheduling lessons difficult, and this teacher's college students will have scheduling priority before outside private students. This may be worth checking if you're someone who needs regular contact with your teacher to keep your motivation to practice high.

Are you aiming toward a clarinet major in college? If so, is the college where this teacher works one of your possible choices? She might, clearly, be influential in accepting you into the college and possibly recommending you for scholarship aid when the time comes. That has some practical worth.

Do you know your current teacher well enough to have a thought about whether she will consider this an opportunity for you or a rejection of her? If you think her attitude toward a change will be positive, it may make this decision easier because you can discuss it with her instead of feeling like you're sneaking away.

Keep in mind that your musicianship and technical development on the clarinet really depend less on who your teacher is or what he or she knows and far more on your own attitudes and approach to learning. Obviously, your dedication to practicing and to thinking through problems as you run into them are important - no teacher can teach much to a student who isn't conscientious (you sound as if you are dedicated - at least enough to take this opportunity seriously). A teacher doesn't teach so much as a student learns with the teacher's help. Your curiosity about musical and technical problems that *you* identify is at least as important as the teacher's skill in helping to find solutions.

I've had students in their junior or senior years of high school move to conservatory prep programs like those at Julliard or Curtis, and I didn't feel deserted or rejected because I knew there are strong advantages in those programs that I couldn't provide. They were strong students whom I'd taught long enough to have said about all I could to them. In each case we actually kept in touch and sometimes even talked about the things the new teacher was saying. If you change teachers, that would be the ideal outcome.

Good luck, whichever way you decide.

Karl

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