music teacher keeps blowing out lessons

[bitofcheese]

dd is studying for (music) exams, has the books for two instruments. used to go to a music venue locally but now her tutor comes to us for an hour on a monday. last three lessons received texts cancelling for one reason or another, the first two i was ok about (am skint and could do with saving the money i would have paid), started to get pissed off (a little) when she cancelled the 3rd last week. today (the 4th) i didn't even get a text cancelling. i got a response an hour after i sent her one asking if she was coming. in her response she says she is manic next week too and would prefer to leave it until after christmas (fair enough normally although she has missed loads of lessons). have mixed feelings, part of me things great, save on the money and doesn't really matter, another part of me thinks she is being unprofessional and taking the piss plus dd is getting bored playing the same stuff/not moving on. just wondered as am hormonal and can cloud ones judegement

4 is a row is beyond ridiculous! I bet you'd have to pay her if you cancelled at short notice like that. The odd emergency I can understand but either she's a music teacher or she's not, she can't just repeatedly not turn up!

I'd look elsewhere for a more reliable teacher if I were you.

Sounds to me like you need to find a new teacher. Cancelling should be a rare occurrence and 4 times in a row is taking the piss imo. A month out of lessons (more if you take into account Christmas) shows she's not committed to your DD and if I were you I'd text her back saying you're going to look for another teacher.

That's not right.

Look for another teacher. Quick.

I don't think my music teacher EVER canceled on me in the 8 years I ha lessons.

Find a different teacher.

At risk of offending music teachers, the good ones don't tend to come to you - you have to go to their house (or they will come to a school and do half a day/day there)

How is your DD expected to stay committed if her tutor can't be bothered to turn up? Find another tutor who actually cares

i sent her a text politely saying that i got the impression that her coming to use was too much for her and that i thought we should revert back to going to the school, what did she think. she since sent a response saying that that was probably a good idea and she would see what slots she had. i know it would be better to get a different teacher and even dh agrees that in the new year if this were to carry on we would go down that path. she is very flaky ie turns up late sometimes etc but she has beena great teacher, nicer than the average ie not crazy about the other teachers at the venue she used to go to. without wanting to sound like a 'my child is gifted' person, dd always came over via her teachers words as being one of her gifted pupils so i find it hard to imagine that she doesn't want to teach her. perhaps she is getting pressure from the other areas in her work and takes us forgranted as we are easy going types although i have had enough now. don't like being confrontational, am laid back type

I would ditch her as she's crap and unprofessional. But there you go.

Does she also teach at her house? If you were able to take DD to her she might be less likely to cancel.

In a way it would be a shame to have to find another tutor if your DD likes her and is doing well, but i can fully understand she is getting bored without regular lessons.

As a music teacher that is completely unprofessional. I do occasional peripatetic lessons now (used to do it full time but then retrained to be a classroom teacher) and I would never ever behave like that. Look elsewhere or rearrange to having them at the school again.

Definitely look for a new teacher.

whois - is that a recent thing? I always had music lessons at home and my teachers were excellent...

go back to the school lessons until your dd has done the exams she is preparing for and then maybe try and change

Alibabaandthe40nappies

I'm potentially equating 'busy' with 'good' which isn't the perfect proxy I know.

If you can sit at home, and have people come to you you can do 1 lesson every 20 mins or whatever your time slot is.

If you travel to other people home you are cutting that to 1 every hour maybe, plus you have petrol costs.

Just doesn't make sense to go to people houses as a music teacher unless you absolutely need the work / don't have a suitable place to work at home.

Even paying for rent of a room in a music centre or school I bet it still works out better to get 15 lessons in during one day at a school than go to their houses after school.

That's not on

To be fair dh does sometimes have to cancel lessons around this time of year due to Xmas concert commitments but he is upfront about it & as he now has more commitments he generally only takes on advanced students who come on a master class type basis.

she teaches out of a music school, that is where dd went for about two years, it was her (teacher) idea to come to us which suited me initially as it meant i didn't have to do the driving/waiting around. what has REALLY annoyed me is the text she sent when at the end she says (quote) next week will be really busy too so can we leave lessons now until the new year when HOPEFULLY i won't be as busy'...what? she thinks that i will carry on happily like this indefinately allowing her to blow us out for varying reasons. she had better be less crap next year otherwise i will definately come to blows verbally with her. dd's exams are being affected by this otherwise i wouldn't mind so much

Hmm. I had to cancel two lessons in a row for my private pupils once. Because I was in hospital for the first and recovering for the next.
Four, because she is too busy, is taking the piss. Not ringing or even texting on the fourth is the final straw. Find a new teacher.