what do you think about this piano teacher's approach?

[traviata]

DS has just started with a new teacher after old one emigrated. DS is 10, and was happy to start work towards Grade 4, to take the exam probably early next year.

So far, after 5 or so lessons;
Teacher was asking him to carry on working with all the 5 jazz pieces that he was playing with the previous teacher, as well as starting on 3 Grade 4 exam pieces. DS is tired of the jazz, he's been doing some of them since May, and he felt that the workload was too much. So we did step in and suggest that DS might move away from the jazz now.

Teacher has asked DS to figure out the third Grade piece all by himself and have it ready, to 'show' how he got on at next lesson. DS is floundering.

Teacher has not asked DS to play any scales at all. (Neither did previous teacher, except when exam was close). DS says he can barely remember how to do them. Teacher has not so much as mentioned sight reading or oral tests, both of which were very weak points last time when Ds scraped through Grade 3 with a few marks to spare. Teacher has not asked to see last exam mark sheet, nor asked DS to play any scales in lessons. There is no written record from the last teacher.

I can't help thinking that it's really quite early to start all 3 pieces; wouldn't you normally get one then two up and running, then introduce a third? and I am worried about the absence of scales; and I know DS is very unconfident about sight reading, and really needs a lot of practice to improve. I asked the teacher about scales, and got a bit of an "oh yes, I suppose so'" kind of answer.

DS says he does like the teacher, who is a young man, although he isn't as enthusiastic as he was previously; but I am doubtful about this teaching approach. I don't feel I can keep prompting and interfering every week. I can just about remember my own piano lessons, and i can do a certain amount to help DS, but I feel it should not be this way.

what should I do?

I don't teach piano but I do coach sport, teams and private 1-2-1.

Sometimes when I have a new student and they seem confident and have a good grasp or understanding of what's needed, I may push to fast or hard for that particular pupil.

Call him and have a chat. Take the pressure of your ds, you don't want him to lose heart at this stage. He sounds like he might need to go over abit of ground work to jog his memory. It shouldn't be a problem. The teacher works for you.

I'd talk to the teacher and ask about scales etc.

Scales: yes this needs to be addressed - surprised teacher hasn't looked at those.
Sight reading and aural: would normally get pieces and scales up and running first so not unusual at this stage.
Looking at previous marks: if teacher any good should not really need to as should be able to assess for himself - some teachers would be interested but not that unusual not to do this.
General approach: not clear as to when he is aiming to be ready for exam - keeping the jazz pieces going suggests was taking a relaxed approach and getting to know him first. But perhaps you have different expectations on timing for exams and you need to clarify?
Asking for 3 pieces to prepare this week: if jazz etc dropped then maybe okay but perhaps you and DS are worrying unnecessarily as he would not expect too much and should be used to the fact that students don't always do everything asked of them!! He probably just meant to have a go at starting them and he would see how it went. Best if DS just has a go and the teacher can soon get an idea of how he is doing.

I am assuming you chose the teacher and are happy he is experienced/qualified etc?

Thanks for replies, they are definitely helping me to clarify my thoughts and concerns.

DH arranged the teacher, through the same local music school that the first teacher was with (so I could talk to the head of school if necessary), but DH is very passive about things like this, and did not ask any questions about experience and so on. I am confident that teacher is qualified, but less sure about his experience. I don't mind if he hasn't done a lot of teaching before, after all he has to start somewhere, but I would like to see some signs of a plan to help DS prepare for this exam and get to grips with what he needs to improve generally.

You are right iwaly, it would have been absolutely fine to keep some jazz pieces going and ease into the new relationship first, but after a discussion we mutually decided that DS would start doing exam preparation as DS was keen to get on with it and wanted to return to classical pieces. The issue was that the teacher initially wanted DS also to carry on with pieces that were feeling very stale, and was expecting him to practise too many pieces each week.

I do need to talk to the teacher, you are right. I just fear that he does not actually have a plan, and when I broached the subject of scales, the teacher did not seem to have thought about them.

I just remembered as well that teacher has set some theory homework for Ds - writing out key signatures - but there's no talk of a structure for learning theory, no book, and almost no time spent in lessons on theory.

is he making it up as he goes along?

He sounds like he might be a bit inexperienced and disorganized. Whether this is a major problem probably depends on whether your son enjoys his teaching (enjoyment and motivation are the biggest factors in progress IMO) and how important the exam timetable is to you/ your DS.

My DD's teacher is quite inexperienced (as a teacher - his day job is composing) and rather disorganized, but she loves her lessons and as a result progress has been impressive. OTOH I probably wouldn't have this teacher prepare her for exams (but this is not a factor for us).

Re scales and sight reading, I'd have thought that the bulk of the work on these needs to be done at home anyway? But the teacher should provide some guidance of course.

I would not expect a lot of time in lessons on theory unless preparing for an upcoming theory paper.

But at some stage if your DS is to progress exam wise he will need to do theory papers - has he done any yet? You need to do grade 5 theory if you want to do grade 6 or above in exams so on the one hand there is no rush but on the other hand it is useful to work through the earlier grades and do one or 2 of the earlier exams before tackling grade 5. Lot of children wouldn't be able to cope with an exam(which some children have never sat a proper exam before in a big hall etc) and it would be very hard to do all the preparation for grade 5 theory in one hit so doing some along the way helps. Also helps with their general musical understanding and key signatures will help with knowing the scales. (But no substitute for practising them!). But unless working for a particular theory exam, then just a little theory each week like your DS has been given seems okay to me.

Scales need practice - it almost becomes like muscle memory and you can play them without even thinking about what the notes are or where the fingers should go. The teacher should set some scales to learn as some will be new, and also get him to revise those previously learned. He should be listening to them firstly to ensure he is learning them! and secondly to make sure he is playing them with the proper technique etc - not too fast/slow or unevenly or wrong fingering or something. A typical lesson would start with some scales, then work on one or two pieces and maybe then finish with some theory or aural or sightreading.

Either this teacher is inexperienced/disorganised when it comes to teaching with the aim of doing the exams, or he has a different timescale in mind to you and is therefore just making a start with a view to getting some pieces going and then working on the other things. Remember that everything cant be done at once and it takes time to work on each element so it may be that he is just prioritising the pieces to start with. I would still however want to get your DS back onto some scales as well. I really would clarify what timescale he is working towards if you haven't already done this.

Thanks everyone, really useful responses.

Q: How on earth has your son been doing the same pieces since May, unless they're exam pieces or completely too hard for him? The only time we spend more than a month or so on one piece is for exams or competition performance, when they need to be really polished, otherwise it's about six weeks absolute tops.

To be honest, I don't spend much time on formal theory in lessons. I just explain stuff as we see it, and guess I tend to integrate it because I found theory deeply boring (even at university I hated analysis and techniques of composition!). The 4yos know f, mf, mp and p, for example, and read rhythms correctly with crotchets, minims and semibreves.

Some of the jazz was quite challenging, I think. One piece got polished up for an informal competition. Then the teacher informed us that he was going to leave, and summer holidays happened, so DS just carried on for a while without starting anything new until he met the new teacher.

Theory - I didn't think the teacher would spend long in lessons - I just thought he might use a workbook, or suggest that we get that little red book, or something. Dynamics get picked up and explained when they turn up during pieces. That's all fine. I was just a bit concerned that it all seemed very ad hoc, then suddenly there's this written work to do without any context.

You are all right, though, there is no substitute for me talking to the teacher to see what he has in mind.