Are any teachers here? If so, I would love to hear your stories!
Any teachers here?
Same here 
The advanced players must be sick and tired of our chats at musical toddler level - we need more high level educational talk in this forum 
Rubens Never, not here.
That's great to hear 
I have personally mostly forgotten about other forums, this one is just so pleasant and happy that I have no need to look over the fence anymore 
It's also super exciting to see more and more highly advanced players show up and share their expertise/recordings.
But it would be nice to have some teachers as well
Yes, this forum is quite supportive and nice. But it can often be that such an environment isn't as useful because you might not get as much direct feedback.
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Well, in my experience I think direct feedback is freely and generously given in this forum, especially when we specifically ask for it. As a beginner I'm truly grateful when I receive such!
I really don't want to drag other forums into this, but in the past, I wasn't overly charmed when unsolicited "direct feedback" was given that amounted to "personal preference" or even "total nonsense". Or the assumption is made that because we're new to a certain hobby (playing piano), that means we need to be weaned out of any autonomous thought because we can't possibly be capable of using our own judgement in any area whatsoever. That's where I personally draw the line at gracefully accepting direct feedback and pushing back
I hope that "direct feedback" and "supportive and nice" aren't mutually exclusive!
Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.
ranjit Yes, this forum is quite supportive and nice. But it can often be that such an environment isn't as useful because you might not get as much direct feedback.
Actual full-time teachers rarely, if ever, write in the teacher forum there to give feedback or advice, these days. Certain bullying and/or denigration shuts down participation and it does not involve full-time teaching experience. Three experienced teachers have been banned permanently since quite some time - I communicate with all three so I benefit, but nobody else does.
Are you seeing feedback from teachers over there?
It is likely that interest in this site is blossoming among some of the experienced teachers, because of the lack of toxicity. We may yet see a few pop in. (Wouldn't that be nice?)
keystring bullying and/or denigration shuts down participation
Very true. I have the utmost respect for teachers, being the daughter of one. I have personal (though secondhand) knowledge of the stress and effort that's involved in teaching, especially when exams are involved.
It's assumed that when a student passes cum laude, they're a talented student. If they fail, it is because of a lousy teacher. Most teachers are burned out long before retirement, and my dad's closest colleague (one who actually started out as his student) took their own life a few years into the job.
Making a lot of noise in a forum does not qualify a person. It's not hard to recognize the real, dedicated teachers who know what they are talking about and are passionate about their job. I'm hoping together with you guys that this forum will attract some of those superheroes
keystring Actual full-time teachers rarely, if ever, write in the teacher forum there to give feedback or advice, these days. Certain bullying and/or denigration shuts down participation and it does not involve full-time teaching experience.
I wasn't necessarily making a comparison to the other forum. Still, your point is well taken.
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Rubens Never, not here. We'll leave the disgusting elitism to the other forums!
I got bagged a few times at PW for siding with a few about how Synthesia can be a good way to round up more piano players, and get that foot into the door of piano paradise. And then they can even choose to have piano lessons etc after - if they like playing the piano.
I haven't used Synthesia myself though - but I did a 'simulation' in my mind - or foreseeing - based on what I saw of Synthesia, and figured that it could certainly get people used to some hand and finger independence. One way of starting up. It will be sort of like re-habilitation or learning how to crawl/walk etc at first, but the people should be able start playing a few things, and hand independence pretty quickly - even if they might not 'yet' understand chord-matching with melodies, or finger sequencing work etc. But that will be foot-in-door, and then piano/music etc lessons later - should do the trick.
And after watching various piano tutorials online - on finger sequencing etc - some people could definitely be playing some nice tunes that they like.
I think possibly ranjit was there in the same forum chat - one was Teachers Forum.
Importantly ... just like any group or population ... there is variation. And I know that not all teachers were the certain kind I saw at PW. There indeed are lots of fantastic and nice teachers out there.
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Synthesia - yes, I still support it as a place to start. Especially for more visual learners, it can get you seeing patterns quite quickly. In my mind, they function kind of similarly to lead sheets. You know the melody, maybe make note of a note here or there, then you observe the chord and chord pattern, etc. It gives you a blurry bird's eye view of the whole piece.
An accomplished sight reader could absolutely do the same with sheet music after several years of training, but it's almost impossible to do that in your first few months.
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Found it!! After some 'discussion' in adult beginners forum, piano-lover-u.s. then decided to round up some 'help' in the pw teachers forum.
And indeed ranjit and myself were posting about Synthesia there.
And then the usual started ... the usual folks started to rub people the wrong way as Greener put it. And the offending post was obviously removed by a mod ... which does somewhat hide what particular people do get up to over there - not just in one forum section, but other sections too.
And that first link is a spin-off from :
(also - very 'interesting' read)
ranjit Synthesia - yes, I still support it as a place to start.
Yes true. Even if one user learns one of their fav tunes using piano with Synthesia, and likes the feeling of controlling the music in their own hands and fingers and brain/mind, then that is fantastic. And they can build from there ... take piano/music/listening lessons etc.
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I didn't condone the way they dissed some students there by calling some of them students 'transfer wrecks'. Derogatory stuff.
And they even dared to conjure up a reason to justify their usage of that particular 'transfer wreck' derogatory term.
That particular bunch is ultra disappointing to see.
Oh well, there is there and here is here. Here is where we'll be able to make a difference. Many of the newcomers who started posting there in the past year or so already have more posts in this forum in a few months.
That said, I did read part of that thread you linked to and it was fascinating to see how some people have managed to beat the same drum for years on end apparently, without ever getting tired of it. I'm seeing the exact same arguments in that two year old thread that I saw when I was still active in there, which tells me that it's definitely better for me to spend my energy in this place, not there. Although I occasionally still reel from some of the strange attitudes in that place that defy all logic, I try to be as neutral as possible and just enjoy what we have here. It might be best to leave there to there and concentrate on making this a great place for all
I want to emphasize that I'm really strictly speaking for myself here, not telling others what to do, where to post, where not to post, what to post, what not to post, etc.
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SouthPark I didn't condone the way they dissed some students there by calling some of them students 'transfer wrecks'. Derogatory stuff.
I wonder if you read all 19 pages, and weeded through the chaff. I wrote in, followed by a teacher who corroborated. The gist is TRANSFER wreck --- meaning a student transferring from another teacher, where the manner of "teaching" created problems. The new teacher has to fix the problems that were created. For teachers to acknowledge that poor teaching exists is important. When I was in a violin forum at an earlier time, the blame was always on the student. "Follow your teacher." as though all teachers did the right thing. If you were having problems, well you didn't follow your teacher. The term "t.w." disabuses that notion. A student can be in trouble because they followed a teacher - because improper teaching exists.
An example is given after my post of a transfer student with serious weaknesses: within a short time of proper teaching, those weaknesses disappear. Therefore there was nothing wrong with the student: it was what and how she had been taught. That's what the term means.
Unfortunately the teacher who invented the term also destroyed its meaning when asked about it in that thread. I know the actual background. The reality that students can be handicapped by improper teaching is an important notion. That's what the term means.
In a forum meant for teachers advising each other, this is a situation that teachers have to deal with. It also highlights the importance of knowing how to teach before launching into it - so as to not "create wrecks".
What gets dissed are teachers who ruin students - not the students.
The author of negativity in the synthesia thread and elsewhere is not a teacher; at least not in the sense of trained and experienced.
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Anyway, the question in the thread was actually whether there are any teachers here. The notion of getting feedback (I assumed, if there are teachers) kind of derailed it a bit.
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K.S. I read through that whole lot, and I condone the term 'transfer student' - which appeared at least sometimes in that thread. Eg. transfer student that needs significant work or a significant over-haul in particular areas. You could see that the person - AZNP --- even began to capitalise the T and the W --- which is a clear sign of you-know-what. The f.b. word (aka flame baiting). Him/her calling the students 'transfer w****s' is poor form. Disrespectful. At least a couple of folks there even said something that the term is inappropriate - or along those lines.
keystring The author of negativity in the synthesia thread and elsewhere is not a teacher; at least not in the sense of trained and experienced.
True! I think at least some others in that teachers thread are teachers. Benno reckons he himself is a teacher.
I agree that -- if a particular teacher is teaching students very poorly - then that is bad. And if AZNp is such an experienced and/or good teacher, then he/she should just continue to teach the transfer students, as AZNp etc accepted the students - so should just get on with it, and teach professionally.
keystring I wonder if you read all 19 pages, and weeded through the chaff. I wrote in, followed by a teacher who corroborated. The gist is TRANSFER wreck --- meaning a student transferring from another teacher, where the manner of "teaching" created problems. The new teacher has to fix the problems that were created. For teachers to acknowledge that poor teaching exists is important.
I agree. The use of the term was a comment on the teaching, not on the student. If the teacher who coined the term was referring to the student, he never would have taken the students on.
keystring The author of negativity in the synthesia thread and elsewhere is not a teacher; at least not in the sense of trained and experienced.
I don't think formal pedagogical training is or should be required for someone to teach piano and, imo, is something that might be nice to have, but not required by any stretch. In the U.S., at least, the majority of teachers have had no formal pedagogical training and yet there are many fine teachers. For the not-so-fine teachers, I don't think pedagogical training would be of much consequence.