<p>It is really hard to give you advice from what you have written, at least for me, I am not entirely certain what you are asking, but I’ll give it a shot and see if it helps.</p>
<p>1)When you say you posted part of a lesson with her new teacher, did you post it online? Send it to the summer teacher? Disparaging remarks could mean a lot of things, did the teacher say your D’s playing was horrible, or did he/she say the new teacher was not very good, etc? It makes a big difference which it is, I couldn’t tell who the remarks are for.</p>
<p>If it was about your D, how well do you know the summer teacher? Is he/she someone very well known, teaching at a high level program, etc? And what were the comments, was he criticizing technique, intonation, musicality, what was he criticizing? One thing I can tell you is that many music teachers are not going to sugar coat things, so if they were critiquing your daughter they were probably being honest (though admittedly, some music teachers have no sense of finesse). </p>
<p>If it was about the teacher, was he criticizing the way the new teacher is teaching, was he criticizing that the teacher was missing things your D was doing, what was he saying? It could be if the summer teacher is that good, that he is spotting problems with the way the new teacher is working. One thing I have learned, the difference between a good teacher and a great one can be pretty large…</p>
<p>First of all, keep in mind that this is still a matter of opinion, in the violin world there are plenty of teachers that snipe at each other and each other’s students,and often it isn’t because one is a better teacher, but one doesn’t like the others style or has it out for them (ask anyone who had Galamian after he split with Delay at Juilliard…civil war…)…</p>
<p>If his criticism was about your D, if it was constructive criticism, about specific points, he may be onto something. How was he with your D this summer?Had he been good with her or did he correct a lot with her playing? If he was correcting a lot, it could be he feels the current teacher isn’t doing a good job…</p>
<p>My advice? I don’t know where you live, but try to find the nearest music school with a good reputation, college or conservatory, and get an evaluation from one of the faculty there as to how she is doing. If they feel she is doing well, then the current teacher may be okay, if they have a lot of criticisms of basic technique, intonation, etc, if they think she has a long way to go, it might mean you may want to hunt for a new teacher. </p>
<p>I realize how hard this is, I think everyone on here does, and one of the big problems is it all comes down to opinions and subjective things. One thing I will warn you about, those who say you D is playing much better may mean well, but they also more than likely are not trained enough to understand the difference between good playing and the level to get into a music program <em>raising my hand</em>…the things they look for are subtle, it isn’t the difference (on violin, for example), between a kid sounding like he was torturing the cat and someone playing like paganini, a lot of the differences are in the details that most people, including myself, won’t really hear (my S threw things at me, literally, when I told him after a performance ‘you sounded great’ and he was like “oh, please, my intonation sucked, I screwed up my vibrato in movement 2, etc, etc, etc”…I couldn’t tell, sounded great to me <em>shrug</em>. </p>
<p>If you get an evaluation from a third party who is knowledgeable, you might be able to see who is right, the summer teacher or if the current teacher is doing well by her. Unfortunately, there is no science to any of this, and in the end sometimes you just have to go through and hope it all worked out, there aren’t any guarantees. Thing is, you will know relatively early, with pre screens you at least can see if there is a chance, and make decisions from there…but in the meantime, get an evaluation from someone who is reputed to be good on the instrument (or voice) and see what seems to line up. If they seem to be saying your D needs a lot of work, and it doesn’t seem like current teacher is working on those things they say, then it may be wise to get another teacher. If the evaluation shows some issues but you feel like current teacher is addressing them, then stay with them.</p>