There are many reasons why you should pay a teacher to study an instrument. One of the benefit that’s not talked about vey often is the fact that a teacher can hear/see your progress from week to week.
If you are serious about your playing and you diligently practice every day hoping to get a big giant step of improvement, you might, actually, be blind to said giant step. Because when you’ve got your nose in the handle bar of the bicycle while you pedal as fast as possible, you might not see the landscape ahead.
It is one of the frustrating alchemy of learning: not realizing that you are making progress. I know it first hand, it has plagued my own practice ever since I’ve started.
A teacher, a good one, an observant one, one that has a bit of memory from one week to the other, one that cares for her/his student (I know one just like that!) will notice the progression on an exercise or a piece. A really good teacher will be able to articulate said progression in terms that the student can understand. That’s invaluable because I’ve known too many student who quit because they are convinced they’re not progressing an inch.
Now, does it mean that you’re always moving forward, that you have a smooth ride towards perfection, that you never hit any plateau? No, it doesn’t, but, then again, with a good teacher, you’ll get through those tricky moments in a smoother way. You might have a wide range of assignments, for example. Some fairly easy that can be achieve in one week, some that are more difficult and some that have hit a ceiling and will get there eventually, in time, once you’re ready. Again, the right teacher is the key here.
