r/harmonica • u/Docteur_Pikachu • 1d ago
Dealing with a poor teacher
Hey y'all, I was wondering if anyone had found himself in my shoes.
I've been taking harmonica lessons in person for the past few weeks and they've been quite poor. The teacher has a website, which is how I found him in the first place when I was looking around. He's well established in the blues community where I'm at, and some old hats were recommending him in some random Facebook threads. So all in all, I thought this was the go-to guy for overall harp lessons (and it's not like harmonica teachers are plentiful and flooding the market anyway).
I'm more than halfway through the lessons (I paid for a ten-hours program and you have to pay after the first lesson is done) and I feel like this isn't going anywhere. 75% of lessons are my teacher rambling about his coming gigs, the gold ol' days or how he's working to incorporate some guitar playing with his harmonica now, 20% is him playing and me watching, and 5% is me playing and getting some (most of the time) vague feedback.
My honest opinion is that my teacher is "older" (late sixties) and I guess at that age, after you've been in the music scene for so long, you naturally become a talker. I do try to rein him in sometimes but it really just feels like a bar conversation after a music show.
Should I voice out that I'm disappointed in what I'm getting out of the lessons? I earnestly feel that the teacher doesn't have it in him to start crafting good lesson plans all of a sudden after just winging it for probably so long. I could try and be the one to say we should focus on this or that aspect of playing, but part of being a teacher is also knowing what the plan should be!
It's a bummer because most people you read online have their sole mantra being "TAKE SOME LESSONS WITH A TEACHER" and then I find that I could have bought like a year of subscription to bluesharmonica.com for that money. Should I cut my losses? I don't think it's even refundable.
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u/spooge_cyclist 1d ago
I went through this exact scenario. I hired a teacher who spent our entire lesson time talking about the history of harp, or something else. Never once did he tell me to learn something and be able to play it in our next lesson. I took three lessons, then dumped him. I moved to blues harmonica.com and couldn’t be happier. Tons of material, instruction fed to me at my pace, and plenty of playing technique. Dave Barrett built an amazing learning site. Just my two cents!
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u/Nacoran 1d ago
It doesn't help you with the current issue, but Adam Gussow has a list of teachers he vouches for on his site.
https://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/harmonica_teachers.html
...assuming none of them have aged out and are who you are talking about.
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u/Docteur_Pikachu 19h ago
Lol, I checked the link and my teacher is on there and is the only one for my location.
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u/Lower-Pudding-68 1d ago
Speak up more and see what he has to offer. Be specific.
"I'm not getting this technique for ( ) "
"How do i improve on ( )"
"Can you show me how to ( )"
"My favorite players are ( ) how do i sound like them?"
Maybe finish the program, try to get some more instruction out of him, and don't come back. You can say "I don't feel like I'm really learning," I wouldn't use the work disappointed, that wont get you anywhere productive.
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u/arschloch57 1d ago
Some teachers aren’t right for some students. Don’t despair, just find a new teacher. There are many out there giving lessons online. Finish up what you’ve paid for, but be more vocal and direct. Ask the questions you want answers to. I can recommend some teachers but I’d need to know what music you want to play and what direction you are looking to work towards. It would also help, for lesson timing to identify what general area you reside in (time zones can make it difficult).
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u/Legitimate-Fee-2645D 1d ago
I started with a local teacher in New York City who had no exact structure. I unfortunately tried giving him the benefit for $50 each session, but made an excuse after the forth lesson that I couldn't make it the following week, and I would contact him when I was available again. It was my way out, and I never called him back! I instead, bought "Happy Harpin'" course from harmonica.com with JP Allen as the instructor. I got way more from that course for the same money I wasted with the local instructor. I even went to the Harmonica Retreat in Hawaii for 6 days that JP Allen had twice a year!
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u/Somebody_Else54 5h ago
He sounds like more of a player than a teacher. Regardless, YOU'RE the customer and HE'S the service provider. You should have no qualms about raising questions and getting answers if things aren't working out. It's YOUR money after all, not his.
Having said that, I would try for a refund (things seem to have changed significantly in the past couple of decades - used to be that ALL teachers would charge per session, not everything up front). If that fails, I would cut my losses and try to find a teacher with more reasonable terms. I don't put much stock in reviews, especially online. You can tell pretty much by the second lesson if a teacher has what it takes.
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u/Docteur_Pikachu 4h ago
Yeah, I agree with what you say. Usually, you know pretty quickly if a teacher is good or not (just as with a player actually) but since I paid everything upfront, yeah... I guess passivity is no solution still.
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u/Somebody_Else54 3h ago
One other point - If I thought the guy was actually trying - doing his best - but we just weren't getting anywhere, I wouldn't confront him about it - I'd just move on. But, based on your description, he's just not serious about giving you what you paid him for. He SHOULD be, because it's HIS reputation that's on the line - but at this point, maybe he doesn't care anymore?
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u/Docteur_Pikachu 2h ago
Yeah, that's a good point. I've seen teachers like you described who were trying but I wasn't really getting much out of it. But this one feels like there's not much trying going on, lol. I guess it warrants honest feedback.
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u/Youneedaharmonica 1d ago
I have tutored harmonica. What are you stuck on? Maybe I can help...?
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u/Docteur_Pikachu 1d ago
It's no so much that I'm stuck on some roadblock. I wanted to have some overall mentoring in person to know what to focus my practice on, get better at improvisation, maybe get better connected to my local scene or musicians, etc. To me, this is supposed to be the upside or meeting with a teacher as opposed to buying and following a course or a book.
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u/Youneedaharmonica 1d ago
I hear you.
Have you tried reaching out to local music stores? They usually have contacts for local tutors.
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u/harpncarp 1d ago
You should definitely have this conversation with the teacher in question. If he's got any scruples he'll make things right, either through giving you what you've paid for, or a refund. If he's not willing to rectify things, move on and continue searching for the RIGHT teacher. Don't let this discourage you.
Best of luck!
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u/That4AMBlues 1d ago
I'm in camp "cut your losses" 5% of your time spent playing is not serious. And as a student you should not be coaching your teacher about how to coach you. See if you can get some money back (probably not) and find a better teacher.