TromboneChat

Hello All,

I am a public school music educator and private lessons teacher and have a dilemma I never thought I would encounter as a teacher. My recent trombone teacher at the university level just texted me saying one of my students emailed them about taking lessons from them and asked if the student has talked to me about it. I never heard anything or never felt like the student didn't want to take from me anymore..but just recently they had their solo festival and he did not qualify for state for the second year in a row. He is currently a sophomore and I have been teaching him for 3 years.

Now, this student started trombone with my old teacher who then handed him off to a colleague of mine when he retired. This colleague then recommended me as a teacher when they stopped teaching lessons. The student has talent and can be a great player but I feel like his attitude is holding him back from becoming a great player. He often says his goal is to beat this one student at state solo but I'm trying to teach him to just improve on his fundamentals and stuff we work on in lessons and not to worry about that stuff. I have a feeling if he switches to lessons with my recent teacher that he would still hear some of the same things and he wouldn't improve as much as he would like. My teacher IS great and would be a great teacher for him, but I feel like I still have things I can teach this student. Though, I also feel if a student doesn't feel like I am an effective teacher anymore.. then they won't progress with me anymore.

What are your thoughts? Has this happened to you before?

You can't take it as a reflection on you. Students can benefit from having more than one source of instruction. If you look at the bios of successful players, they usually studied with several teachers and gleaned different things from each. Sometimes it is beneficial to hear the same thing from more than one source. If you have done a good job, the word will spread

What is the dilemma, exactly?

What I get from your description is that you have a jerk student and your feelings are hurt. Does it go beyond that?


Two other thoughts:

(A) If I was looking for a different job, I'd ask around, network for months, send out feelers... and have something secure in place before I told my current job that I was leaving. It's not the same thing as what you're dealing with, but I wouldn't be mystified at this "behind your back" behavior.

(B) You could be serving the finest caviar in the world, but if the kid turns his nose up at it, you can't force him to appreciate it. Ten years from now, maybe he'll look back and realize what an arrogant dope he was, but you can't control that.

What is the dilemma, exactly?

What I get from your description is that you have a jerk student and your feelings are hurt. Does it go beyond that?


Two other thoughts:

(A) If I was looking for a different job, I'd ask around, network for months, send out feelers... and have something secure in place before I told my current job that I was leaving. It's not the same thing as what you're dealing with, but I wouldn't be mystified at this "behind your back" behavior.

(B) You could be serving the finest caviar in the world, but if the kid turns his nose up at it, you can't force him to appreciate it. Ten years from now, maybe he'll look back and realize what an arrogant dope he was, but you can't control that.