By Laurie Niles: Lately we've had a number of stories about how to handle saying good-bye when you leave your teacher, but very often, a violin, viola or cello student stays with the same teacher for quite a long time!![violin teacher]()
Learning the violin is certainly a long-term project - it's not unusual to be taking lessons for a decade or longer. Some students spend quite a lot of that time with one or two teachers, and others switch around quite a lot. For me, I think the longest I ever stayed with one teacher was about six years, and the shortest was one summer (between years of college).
You can get quite a lot from a teacher during one summer, and it can be nice to have a combination of the long-term teacher and the occasional program with a different teacher, to get a different perspective.
During my time at Indiana University, when the violin department was chaired by Josef Gingold, the teachers had a sort of agreement: they would send a student to such-and-such to fix your bow arm, then work on Bach with so-and-so...It was okay and even recommended for students to spend time with various faculty members and take advantage of the fact that they had special strengths and interests.
What is the longest amount of time that you have spent, studying with one teacher? Was it continuous, or broken up by periods of time with another teacher or stopping the instrument? Have you mostly stuck to a few long-term teacher, or have you switched teachers frequently? Please participate in the vote, and then tell us all about it. And if you are a teacher you can tell us your thoughts about having students for long periods of time as well.
You might also like:
- How to Find a Violin Teacher Who Is Good for You
- When Private Lessons End: The Art of Saying Goodbye
- How to Find a Great Music Teacher For Your Child
We wanted you to read this article before we make our newsletter pitch, unlike so many other websites. If you appreciate that and our efforts to promote excellence in string playing, teaching, performance and community please click here to sign up for our free, bi-weekly email newsletter. And if you've already signed up, please invite your friends! Thank you.