My son has complained that every time he takes a trial lesson, it messes up his playing because each teacher he sees works on something different and has a different technique emphasis, so he comes back home really frustrated to the point that he doesn’t want to take more trial lessons; yet, they’ve been helpful to figure out who he likes and doesn’t like.
Just wondering if he’s the only one!
Interesting. I have never seen this discussed but it makes perfect sense. It takes maturity for a kid to get advice and then walk away and disregard it until committed to a particular teacher and technique, or somehow snthesize it all, but that would be the ideal. Now that he is back to his regular teacher I hope the uncomfortable trial lessons have helped with choices but otherwise faded into the past!!
My daughter has had some HORRIBLE lessons from some very well regarded french horn players. The only way to gage if they work with you is to go and take from them. One does need to think if that technique works for them or not… she literally has called me in tears about the lesson but it solidified that she did not want to learn from them. A good player does not always make a good teacher, but occasionally you find someone who is good at both. Many musicians are not able to articulate how they do something and this frustrated the heck out of her. She will only try the different technique in the lesson and then if it isn’t working… drop it. There have been some things that she has kept with, with the consent of her private teacher… which required 2-4 weeks of trying it. It did set her back for those weeks but in the long run helped her playing. Of course, that horn player is at the top of her college list… so we will see.
What a great post! We have definitely had this experience. While grateful for every opportunity to meet with a potential teacher, trial lessons can definitely confuse and frustrate. It can be hard to know what to make of a technique/approach that doesn’t fit with how you’ve been doing things. Is it useful, and just different—thus requiring you to refocus and re-train, but ultimately will be beneficial? Or is it something unique to that teacher that simply wouldn’t work for you and would likely be a deal breaker in the student-teacher relationship? Thankfully (I think), D. has mostly been able to walk away and disregard the suggestions that don’t feel useful. I do believe that she will ultimately (happily!) be able to commit to a particular teacher and technique, but these experiences along the way can certainly cause second guessing. At this point, as we try to develop/narrow the potential list of schools for next year, we’ve had the experience of being able to cross several schools off the list for this reason. This seemed helpful at first, but now is making me nervous. We can’t afford to cross off all but the most expensive and competitive options. Yikes! Glad to know at least we’re not alone…
I think he’s most frustrated because at this point, he’s got to be polishing pieces for auditions rather than trying to upgrade his technique. That will come when he gets to college, you know what I mean? He was ready to bail on a school next week that we’ve already rescheduled twice. I finally said that if he cancels the trial lesson, just cross the school off the list because they’re not going to be happy with you.
I would say he’s mature in some ways, but this has messed with him and he’s apparently not able to shake it off that easily. He did request a lesson with his teacher. That’s the other thing with him; he’s been trying to transition to a new teacher this fall, but it just hasn’t happened, so he’s not in regular lessons. He’s basically had one teacher for 14 years and his teacher wants him to move on, but now I’m wondering if that would mess him up, too. Oy vey! I’m glad I’m not a musician.
FWIW, the point of the trial lesson from the teacher’s pov is in part to see how quickly and flexibly the student can adjust. The goal is not so much to change his/her playing or technique at that moment. It’s great for the student to get different a different POV, and it makes most sense to bring whatever was suggested back to the home teacher for discussion. But don’t let each teacher’s comments (which will often be contradictory) change your approach or playing unless what they say really makes sense. Use it only if it seems valuable. If you end up in that studio in the future, there will be time to change the technique. The only case in which it would be important to try to make a change would be if the audition soon followed the trial lesson. The teacher might be looking to see if the student made the adjustment.
@glassharmonica “The teacher might be looking to see if the student made the adjustment.”
Excellent point. This is cause for a some stress.
Appreciate the feedback. My son confessed that his OCD causes him to overthink the suggestions.
He’ll only have one trial lesson directly after an audition as far as I can tell.