Advice please!

I have started having piano lessons again in the last 18 months and they've been generally really good. However over the last few months my teacher has started to push me off the piano stool more and more (not literally) to the point where this week she must have spent about 98% of the the hour playing to me. I think maybe 50% of this was relevant but the other 48% appeared to be rather too far removed from any main threads of the lesson. Its kind of starting to become more like a series of anecdotal lectures rather than practical lessons.

I consider myself to be quite an enthusiastic sort of student but over the last few weeks I have noticed that the amount of time I spend practising and my enjoyment of playing have both plummeted as what I work on at home is so superficially reviewed in the lesson.

I started off as a rusty grade 8 and have improved quite a bit but I don't feel ready for a diploma or anything like that at the moment although I have been thinking lately about doing a performance assessment..... although I do wonder whether I am only considering undertaking an exam in order for my teacher to take my lessons more seriously. Perhaps because my teacher is quite ambitious I don't think that she can understand that I have been finding sufficient enjoyment and achievement in just being able to learn the piano again and in unlearning bad technique etc.

I obviously need to speak to my teacher about all this before just running off and finding a new teacher because we have previously got on very well and I think there may be a chance of getting things back on track.
SORRY THIS IS SO LONG WINDED BUT I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR ADVICE PLEASE BEFORE SPEAKING TO HER! Is it more difficult to teach students who dont have an exam/festival type goal? How much time do you spend playing in the lesson?! What could I say to my teacher?

That is waaaaaay too much demonstration time, if indeed it is really 98% as you say. I demonstrate for my pupils but I try to keep it short and to the point. The pupil should be playing for most of the lesson, not the teacher......except in the case of demonstrating a new big piece of music, or playing several for the pupil to choose which one he or she wants to work on next. Your lesson is not a concert, although having said that, when I was learning, my teacher was a concert pianist, and he used to demonstrate from other repertoire, and I used to love hearing him play. It thoroughly inspired me, but it was no way that proportion of the lesson!!!

That sounds like too much time spent on demonstration. If a teacher over-demonstrates, it could lead pupils to just copy the teacher, with the potential problems of not counting for oneself, poor sight reading etc. that may go with it.
I do demonstrate occasionally in lessons (often it's the best way), but I try to, as with chocolatedog, keep it to the point. The amount of time I spend demonstrating will vary. There will be the occasional lesson where I won't so much as play a note on my clarinet/flute/sax, other lessons where I'll play a couple of difficult corners/small passages - but it will generally be the case that the pupil will perform more than I will.

I think that you will have to mention to her that you had not spent much time actually PLAYING your work to her in your last lesson and now you would really like her to let you play your scales/exs/piece all through before she passes any comment. Next time you are removed from the piano let her play a little and then say with an air of as much authourity as you can muster "Well shall I try now!" Good luck, but do change teachers if you don't gel with this one.

I had a singing teacher like that once, she spent almost the entire hour singing to me, and basically showcasing herself. I didnt learn a single thing about singing whilst there, i just got my own recital from her each week. Suffice to say i only went 4 or 5 times, and luckily managed to move on to another teacher who did wonders for me, even if he did make me sing scales at 8.30 inthe morning :|

Anyway, my advice to you would be to either mention it to the teacher and say that you would like to spend a bit more time on the instrument yourself, or if it continues then i would suggest finding another teacher.

I think the best thing is to be up-front about it or find a way of dealing with it. For example, make sure you take plenty of things to play, and lists of questions to ask about your pieces etc. However, I still think that honesty is the best policy, as it may be that the teacher doesn't actually realise they are doing it.

David

My teacher used to do this too, but I was close enough to her to make a couple little jokes and she quickly got the point! When she asked me to move out for a minute, I would say something like, "But then I'll never get back on!" In hind sight, perhaps I was a little brash, but we knew each other well. Mainly her problem was, I picked pieces she wasn't familiar with and she had to fool with them a bit until she knew what she wanted to say exactly, since I couldn't play them very fluently yet, at that time.

Dear Chocolatedog, Barry-clari, Petrat, Deborah, David and Christian,

Thank you all for your advice....all totally useful and much appreciated (and also amusing- "'l'll never get back on" - I wish I'd thought of that line!!!)
I felt quite shy about asking for advice but I am glad I did. I have seen that another adult learner has mentioned here somewhere that it can, at times be a slightly isolating/lonely musical experience being just adult learner + teacher, and I can see that these forums are a really good place to learn from others experience when you don't have a load of music school friends to talk out these things in a quick and/or drunken manner!

Many thanks for your time and have a good week!

Pianist 666, if you look slightly further down the main Forums page you'll find a whole board dedicated to Adult Learners like you and me. We're all in that strange, isolated state and it's a great place to find the mutual support we all need.

I teach adult beginners mainly but I would not demonstrate as much as that, only if I think they need help in a certain area. I have two pianos at my disposal anyway

Maybe you should make explicit your goals and aims - produce a report of progress made and where you want to go to. I always ask my pupils what they want to achieve with lessons for most people it is to play the kind of music they derive enjoyment from whether it is classical jazz or popular music

Your teacher should identify with your needs not her desire to show off
I once played some scales for a Grade 5 lady pianist of mature years who just looked at me said "thats just showing off"