FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY

Almost every transfer student will come away from the first few lessons with feelings like "I don't understand the new teacher", "the teacher makes me feel like I know nothing", "I am not as good as I should be", or "My other teacher didn't teach me right". Please keep in mind that these are natural feelings, but NONE of them are completely true. Every teacher will naturally try to identify where the student is lacking in something, especially in areas that he/she personally thinks are important. Here is some advice to help you through these feelings:

"Don't Understand": Ask your new teacher questions. Repeat instructions in your own words. Play examples to show you understand. Take charge of your lessons and be actively engaged. Never leave the studio feeling you do not know what to do or are unsure of the instructions. If during the week you realize you did not understand what you thought you did, come to your next lesson prepared to ask questions. Write them into your assignment book if necessary. Your teacher is ALWAYS open to discussion and dialogue about what is going on and how you are learning. Our goal is always for you to understand however long it takes, not to dictate and judge how quickly you understood.

"Don't Know Anything": There is a saying, "The fool thinks he knows everything - the wise man realizes he knows very little". So, intead of thinking that you don't know anything - just realize that you have a lot more to learn. Hopefully, you have chosen your new teacher because you believe you will learn more and advance better, which means the need for improvement was the underlying motivation for the change. Your new teacher realizes you already know something, and is still trying to identify exactly what you know and what you need to learn to proceed. The assignments you receive in the beginning are to fill in the gaps in your knowledge so that you can progress to the next level without too much struggle. We try to balance every instruction with positive feedback so that the student doesn't feel only criticism. Teachers are always looking for areas needing improvement, and can too often overlook areas of strength. We are well aware you need confirmation of strengths just as much as identification of areas for improvement. If you get the feeling you "don't know anything", let your teacher know so that she/he can remember to include more positive comments in the lesson to reinforce this fact, or at least we can affirm to you that "It's not your fault you do not know - you were just never taught it."

"My other teacher didn't teach me right": Each teacher has her/his own approach to the instrument and teaching which is based on how and what she/he was taught as a student. The fact that your new teacher focuses on different things, or has identified specific areas for improvement does not mean your former teacher was terrible - each teacher just has different priorities, background and approaches. Keep in mind that the world of music is complex and vast, and that the sequence in which certain knowledge and skills are taught can be somewhat arbitrary. One teacher may find that concept/skill A is the most important to learn first and another may believe concept/skill B is the most important. This does not mean you are a bad student or that your former teacher did not know anything or taught you incorrectly. You simply need to learn and understand what your new teacher requires. You need time to adjust and get used to what your new teacher wants. You will learn that at every stage of life you will learn things that "correct" or "contradict" something you learned earlier - and that is simply a part of education. The reality is that no one person has a monopoly on the truth - and even with your most advanced instructors (professors) you may find you do not believe "everything" they tell you.

"I can't do it - it seems too hard ": For every technical skill that you have not yet mastered, there are two possible reasons: 1) You were not taught the skill, 2) You have not practiced it to the level of mastery. As your new teacher identifies technical skills which need work, there will be some that seem totally new (you were not taught them), there will be ones you knew about and thought you already do correctly, and there will be ones you knew about but felt you never did correctly. In these latter categories there are three possible reasons for the situation: 1) You WERE executing them correctly according to the old teacher, and the new teacher has stricter or different requirements for proper execution; 2) You NEVER executed them correctly for the old teacher, and the old teacher just ignored it; and 3) You NEVER executed them correctly for the old teacher, and the old teacher tried to fix it periodically with little success (were you resistant?). Every teacher has different priorities, but in general it is the goal of every teacher to teach a student how to play AS MUCH music as possible CORRECTLY. If a student is struggling with a specific skill, the teacher will try to help the student overcome that difficulty and each teacher has different points at which time they will give up trying. Talk with your teacher about your difficulties and be sure you make EVERY effort that your teacher requests from you to develop the new skill. Every student comes to the right answer by different paths, and hopefully your new teacher will give you new ideas to solve your technical problems.

"My teacher makes me do things that seem silly or unnecessary": If you have this feeling, it means you do not fully understand what the teacher wants and why it is important. Absolutely NO teacher deliberately makes students do things that are silly or unnecessary and the student has every right to understand fully WHY she/he is expected to do it. At KMI we believe in explaining every requirement we make of the student and why it is important for the student's development. We try very hard to balance those requirements that are more important for potential professional musicians, and those that are important for amateurs and less serIous students. We are fully open to a discussion in this regard and to adjustment of expectations to suit the student's goals for music education. As is true for the expression "against medical advice", we may aquiesce to a change against what we believe is best for a music student, but acceptance of such changes is not beyond our ability.

Do not let feelings of inadequacy cloud your goals of wanting to advance and get better. Talk about your feelings with your teacher and be sure to make every effort to understand what is expected from you.