Ok, the idea came to me in another topic,

Ok I have friends in another church the other side of Wales, one who is a piano teacher,
he has LRAM ARCM UPLM qualifications, ~
Hes in his mid 80s ... and I would love to get as much knowledge and advice out of him.. before anything happens (I am reminded constantly of his age) Hes an eccentric with a posh voice strange personality, but it all makes him a unique dream teacher to me!
http://www.benwilliamsdesign.co.uk/leslieriskowitz/ heres his so called website, however, he admits didnt make it, he doesnt even know how to send an email.


So who would your dream/ideal teacher be, what is it that they that stands out?

Leif Ove Andsnes

He makes such a beautiful sound, and plays with great precision.

it is how I would like to be able to play.

I guess I would like some Bach lessons from Angela Hewitt.

As we're going outwith the realms of possibility, can we go really outside? I mean, could you request some Bach lessons from Bach?!

No, he wouldnt be familiar with the instruments we have today. I wonder if he would like them !

This lady, here:

http://www.annabelthwaite.com/biog.php

She's very inspiring!

I've had dream teaching - my first recorder teacher has to stand out there: he does have some postnominals, but more to the point he took someone who had an enormous dollop of musical self-doubt, and turned her into a musician who not only loves her music, but can now make her instruments do something of what she wants them to, enough to make her feel she can express herself, and also share that with other musicians and an audience. From a might-manage-grade 6-at-a-pinch, to a very sound ATCL result, from don't-make-me-play, to yes-I'd-love-to-do-a-concert.

How did he do that? I wish I knew - it ought to be distilled . I needed confidence and encouragement, and to be taught how to practise and how to pick apart what I was doing, as well as to learn a sense of rhythm and how to listen. The first two I think he probably gave me by acknowledging what I had done, and never giving an impression that it was poor, but still finding the way to show me how to do this better. Practice skills had not, until then, really been taught to me by any of my other teachers, though I'd learned a bit from my kids' piano teacher. I was aware from what he did when accompanying me, of what listening skills he has, but I probably learned those more from ensemble playing in the end: both he and YAP, who accompanied me for my LTCL, are so good at adapting to a soloist that I was accommodated to, instead of learning how to fit in: no criticism for either there, they're just consummate musicians.

I'm not sure that it necessarily follows that those who play best will also make the best teachers, but if I were thinking of which player's skill mix I'd most like to have, it'd be Dan Laurin, for his unbelievable neatness at speed, and flexibility of sound and expression, which is utterly wonderful .

I don't think I would want to swap my teacher for anyone, but if I was going to have to I'd want lessons with Perlman. He seems on a similar wavelength - and he's got an amazing right hand technique.

But he might like the instruments. I think he would be delighted to find out what is doable on our modern instruments.

Beside that I have a fantastic teacher and there's no reason for a change.
If it would be possible (and if I would be able to play a lot better) I would dream of one lesson with Jean-Pierre Rampal.

The teacher I want for myself would be the deaf guy in the Joy Luck Club who just took his fee and smiled and nodded and praised his way through every catastrophic rendition!

But the teacher I want for my own children would be more like my old Latin teacher:

"The sentence for translation was "The armies advanced over the plain" and you've written "The farmer fell into a ditch"...what ails ye, girl?"

He might not be familiar with your instrument, but he'd be pretty darn familiar with mine Anyway, if we can bring Bach back from the dead, we can have him either bring his own instruments with him, or be magically filled with knowledge of the modern world (otherwise you'd never get a lesson, he'd be too busy with all the new stuff :imagines Bach sitting in front of iTunes listening to all the Bach he can find:)

at least he'd not have to walk as far to find some Buxtehude

Rather than the teacher, I would like to change myself!

Bach: If Bach were to be brought alive, it would be selfish to keep him as a teacher. A better thing to do would be to show the musical output/styles after his time and make him compose.

I personally would want him to write music for Clarinet as it didn't exist during his time

I agree hugely! As a clarinettist I used to play Bach transcriptions all the time and I'm sure Bach would love the instrument and be hugely excited by its possibilities. I used to play in a Cathedral where the sound of the clarinet was astonishing and as a mostly religious composer I'm sure he would have made great use of this sound.


For myself I love my teacher, and she's a great friend, but I would love to meet and have a lesson with any of the great contemporary viola players. On sound alone I'd love to meet Roberto Diaz (also president and CEO of the Curtis Institute) or Yuri Bashmet (of course ).

I already have the ideal/dream teacher .

We get along well, they are infinitely patient with my slow learning and uncoordination while still pushing me to get to the next level, and they know how to teach to me (i.e. cater to the way I learn), as well as teach me how to teach myself during practice outside of lessons. They're also kind and the sort of person I respect as a person, not just a teacher or musician (very important to me ).

There may come a time when I need to switch teachers in order to continue to grow, but for now I wouldn't switch for anything the world!

Seeing as I'm very happy with my 'cello teacher , and my singing teacher was great, and when I get back to it sometime, will no doubt continue to be great , and my Kodaly skills teacher is probably the best in her field in the country , I'll go for clarinet and flute. And it'd be Linda Merrick for the former, and Lisa Nelsen for the latter

You wouldn't have said that if you'd seen me at Tuff Skool last week, Baz...

Although I've not long started my violin learning, I would love to have a masterclass from Ida Haendel in a few years. Her playing just mesmerises me and she has infinite years of experience behind her

Daughter's first choice Gerard McChrystal but as that is likely to happen over the next few months then Rudy Wiedoeft

Mine would have to be Martin Frost (swedish) or Alessandro Carbonare (Italian), two inspiring and fantastic clarinet players

My teacher is already fantastic, but I think I would like lessons from some people like these if they would tolerate my mistakes and poor technique!

- Imogen Cooper -
- Pierre Laurent Aimard -
- Daniel Barenboim -

I would love to do a masterclass with Dame Fanny Waterman, a friend of mine did one last year and said it was almost intimidating how energetic, passionate and motivating she was about her subject bearing in mind she was born in 1920 and had to be helped onto the stage. She came back so enthused.

May we be celebrating her centeniary on here in 8 years time

It might be interesting to have a lesson with the teachers my own teachers studied with.

Yes I've wondered about that.