that's sad. a yearning musician should be able to learn and play whatever they want and whatever makes them feel a certain thing. moonlight sonata evokes something in me i can't explain (which is probably why it's a legendary piece). having strong opinions on what to play when learning feels so gatekeepy. i would have dropped that teacher quickly
My kids just started piano lessons last night and definitely I was a little unsure to hear one of them starting out with I Like Coffee ("the knuckle song"), but I quickly went through this same thought process myself: it's great they're off to a good start doing something that is fun and exciting for them.
Or they've learned through their experience they simply don't like the kind of person who insists on learning the one song they like, and can't teach them well, so it's a good filter.
But hey, not every teacher is for every student and vice-versa; and that's okay.
a major rule should instead be: "choose the song you love and let's learn it" -- tells me a lot more about the kind of teaching they do than off the bat shooting down songs. sounds obnoxious. teachers can do whatever they want ofc. doesn't make them good teachers
Actually, teachers are human beings and they're allowed to have preferences, likes and dislikes. It's okay that not every teacher is for every student 100% of the time. Something can be a bad student/teacher fit without it being a negative value judgment ("sad", "gatekeeping", "drop").
teachers are held to a higher standard because their responsibility is a lot higher than the average citizen, so while theyre fully allowed to do whatever they want and have preferences -- i won't hold them to a standard that i do an average person. they need to above all have the highest patience and the least amount of gatekeeping, full stop.
