5 Reasons You Don't Need A Music Teacher
Plenty of great musicians never paid for lessons. You may not need lessons either. Here's why...
1 - You get good in practice, not in the lesson
A teacher won't actually make you better. If you practice, you'll get better, even with a bad teacher or no teacher.
2 - Better, free resources are everywhere!
A teacher is a very limited resource. There is so much free information out there - between sites like Vimeo, YouTube, and other one-off music education sites, you have access to much more and much better material than any one teacher can provide no matter what you pay them.
3 - There are more, better perspectives out there.
Each teacher thinks they have a unique take on music - and they might - but they will also have their favorite influences. Go to the source: ask a teacher who influences them and then go watch the videos, read the books, listen to the interviews with those people.
4 - The books lay out the steps
Most teachers are going to have you walk through a book series starting at book 1. If you can turn a page, you can follow the same path. If you really want to follow a specific teacher's path, just call and ask what curriculum they use.
5 - There is no end
Learning to play music must be about the journey - either the pleasure of learning or the skills and discipline acquired along the way. You might decide to quit getting better, but you'll never arrive at "good". You have an infinitely better chance at winning the lottery than becoming one of the "best musicians in the world" - if such a thing even existed. Your teacher can keep charging you for lessons until one of you dies.
4 Things A Good Teacher Can Provide
1 - Guidance
You don't need a teacher to find a good, generic path to instrument skills, but a good teacher will pick up on a student's interests and adapt the songs and styles to match the interests of the students. A good teacher works to foster the curiosity and interest of the student to whatever degree possible.
2 - Efficiency
Unlike a passive curriculum, a good teacher will also help prevent bad habits when they start, saving a student time down the road in fixing those habits.
3 - Accountability
One of the best times to practice is right before a lesson - the pressure is on and the student is focused. In the best situations, the student really wants to impress the teacher.
4 - Inspiration
Another great time to practice is right after a lesson. Obviously, a good teacher should be a musical role model. Hopefully the student gets re-impressed by the teacher in the lesson and is driven to go home and practice! The teacher sets the long-term bar by how well they play but also sets the short-term bar by giving tough but accomplishable assignments each week that are unique to the student's skills, desires and self-perception. Often a student can accomplish more than they perceive in a week, so the teacher will have to give an assignment that is too small for the student with the "call me as soon as you've mastered this" instruction. Other times a student will be eager to bite off more than they can chew and the teacher should set a smaller goal with the "call me if you need more, but it's okay if you don't finish the whole thing this week" instruction.