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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP 11:09 is right. When I said "basic piano proficiency" (I'm the PP that 11:09 was replying to), I really meant "basic". That's roughly grade 3 to grade 5 piano at many universities. It's nowhere near enough to teach.

That said, quite a few music educators take classes that expose them to pretty much every orchestral instrument, piano, and voice, so that they can conduct chorus, band, and orchestra at a public school and give basic lessons in any of the instruments. Teaching those instruments [i]well[/i] is an entirely separate matter.

Honestly, the playing skills of all teachers, regardless of whether the instrument being taught is their primary or secondary (or "exposure") instrument, vary wildly, as do their teaching skills.

[b]Lots of kids get piano lessons for "exposure to music" rather than actual piano proficiency. Those parents want the experience of music, nice recital photos, and a teacher who is pleasant and easy to deal with. The results don't matter very much to them, especially if their kid is the 15-minutes-a-day-if-you're-lucky sort of practicer.
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If your kid is serious about being good, get the best teacher you can afford.[/quote]
NP here. I took 10 years of lessons and gave my senior recital, but I basically have no inherent musical ability *and* I was not very disciplined about practicing. Nonetheless I always learned my recital pieces well enough to play them cleanly. I have no idea why my parents kept paying for my lessons, but I can say that in retrospect the thing I value most about them was the music theory. My piano teacher was from Eastern Europe and started me off with pretty dense music theory...and she continued to expand on that throughout my education. My siblings both still sit down to the piano, but I really don't play anymore. Nonetheless I value the music theory which helps me understand and appreciate music as a listener. I'm really glad for the formal education.[/quote]

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