<p>I have read on this forum over and over the importance of selecting a teacher, not a school.</p>
<p>What happens when a teacher leaves while you are enrolled?
If Teacher A is changing schools, do students change with him?</p>
<p>What happens if you commit to a school, and then find out the teacher is no longer there?</p>
<p>Seems to me that anytime a teacher retires, there is going to be a whole domino effect of changes...</p>
<p>What have your experiences been with this?</p>
<p>It’s not unusual for a student to follow an instructor to another institution should the faculty member change affiliations. In some cases, instrument and department size contingent, I’ve also seen students stay with other faculty that they have developed good relationships with.</p>
<p>Some insights in these:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/531571-touring-teachers.html?highlight=died[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/531571-touring-teachers.html?highlight=died</a> (note post 11. If binx doesn’t repond within this thread, you may want to try a pm for additional detail)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/733282-appealing-studio-assignments.html?highlight=studio[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/733282-appealing-studio-assignments.html?highlight=studio</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/168379-what-if-studio-teacher-isnt-designated-acceptance-letter.html?highlight=studio[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/168379-what-if-studio-teacher-isnt-designated-acceptance-letter.html?highlight=studio</a></p>
<p>There are no guarantees. My D faced this issue and transferred after freshman year to stay with a teacher who took a new job (and was the principle reason for her choosing her original school). All has worked out fine. Said teacher negotiated with the new school that any students he brought (4 invited, 2 transferred), would receive the same scholarship $ they previously had and would be admitted without audition.</p>
<p>As musmom2 notes, some transferring teachers have the clout to get the new school to not only accept their students, but also grant financial aid equivalent to the teacher’s former school. Nothing in life is sure. If one really wants to stay at a particular school, then ideally the school has more than one acceptable teacher in one’s discipline. Things are riskier when one’s studio teacher is the only acceptable teacher at the school.</p>
<p>It is relatively unusual for an applicant to commit to a school and then discover that their teacher is not there when they arrive at the school: usually there will be advance communication. Having a trial lesson and then having some communication (emails, phone calls) with the teacher helps form enough of a relationship that the teacher is likely to inform the student of their move in advance. Transfers are normally arrnaged months ahead of time. I have not heard of teachers suddenly disappearing over the summer, but I’m sure it occasionally happens.</p>
<p>I should add that when a faculty member retires or transfers, the school usually hires someone of equal or greater talent/stature (the talent pool for musicians has been improving quite rapidly for decades, so there are usually many highly qualified applicants for any open position). Of course, the new hire might not be as good a fit with your child, but chances are good they will be as good or better a teacher than the person they replace.</p>
<p>My son’s teacher retired after his second year. He had never been given any advanced warning (ie. before attending, or even the first year) that this would happen, and the teacher had been a tremendous mentor, as well as instructor. My husband and I were worried (and our son was a little dumbstruck at first); however, S is very flexible and was accepted into a different teacher’s studio, one with a much different personality and style (one that doesn’t mesh nearly as well with son’s). </p>
<p>Although it is quite a change, he is doing well and learning a great deal from the new teacher. He has always found a change in teacher, although initially traumatic, to be one of the biggest kick starts to his current level, whatever it has been at the time of the change.</p>
<p>Change happens, and adaptability is another important attribute of a musician. Of course there are some people with whom certain students feel that they cannot work, but there is usually certainly something important to learn from most professional musicians at good music schools.</p>
<p>Wise advice -Allmusic-. It sounds like your son has a good attitude. I agree that we don’t necessarily learn the most from teachers that we are most comfortable with. </p>
<p>I fear that too many 17-year-olds equate their comfort with a teacher with the teacher’s quality (i.e. I don’t like this teacher’s manner or personality, and therefore we are a bad match). -Allmusic-'s son obviously transcends this sort of simplistic thinking.</p>