Teachers are only human.  They sometimes have prejudices, like anyone else.  They sometimes make mistakes.  They sometimes say stupid stuff.  Don't expect the teacher to really be any wiser than any average person out of your friends and you probably won't be too disappointed.  Don't expect them to know what you *can* do any better than anyone else who just met you.

But you are steamed up about this.  Annoyed.  Excellent!

Use that fire.  Let it burn every time you have a chance to pick up the instrument and play.  When you are tempted to slack on practice and go do something maybe a bit more easily "fun" instead.. Remember that anger and pick up and play, working towards the day when you can show that teacher just how much they underestimated you.

Does it discourage a lot of adult players, so they maybe don't try as hard or work as hard as some kid whose parents make them put in their practice time before video games or whatever?  I am 100% certain that it does for many adult players who might otherwise turn out to be excellent players.

So don't be one of them.  Prove that teacher wrong.  If they are actually a good teacher, they will be delighted to see it!

In the end, it will not be the teacher that is the main factor that determines how good you can get.  It will be you.

@coolpinkone:  10 yrs?  Hmm.  Maybe.  If the pool is still open on that, I'll put a couple bucks on 5 yrs, rather than 10.  And that would be from when you started, not from now.

I believe in Toni, the coolpinkone.  I have faith.

To my way of thinking, we should always be playing "for fun", playing because we enjoy making music.  If being a "professional" means that one is only doing it for the money and the joy of making music happen is all gone, I don't ever want that.  LOL

Yeah..

To get right to the point, time to look for a different teacher.  Someone who obviously just ignores a significant musical background and doesn't listen to what your goals are?  How can they teach you?  What can they teach you?  Definitely far from optimal or even an acceptable teacher for your case, Bobby.

My long babble on how some teachers tend to think of adult students wasn't really directed at you specifically.  In your case you do have the classroom time and had to have some of the discipline that someone who is a beginner at music would have to be learning.

My best guess is that the teacher acts the way she does, because it is all she knows how to do.

I do not agree with the teachers that don't feel it is worthwhile to teach adult beginners.  I can understand some of the reasons, but I still think it sucks and they should mention in their advertising/promo if they specialize in teaching beginners who are of a certain age only.

But a sad fact of the matter is that in many cases, they may not even know how to approach teaching adults.  The violin teaching course I took was almost entirely exercises, games, activities and tactics that were designed for teaching children. Small children at that.  I had to ask to get any ideas at all on how one would approach teaching an adult beginner.  Most of the people who replied who already were teaching violin said to teach them exactly the same as little kids, the same exercises and games, the same methods. 

I personally think that is more than a little (pauses to think of a polite and family friendly word).. wrong?

I won't go into a long rant on how I think adults should be taught.. But my point here is that at least a good number of the people who actually train for teaching violin probably got zero training on how to approach teaching an adult beginner. 

There are also some where teaching adults just isn't at all what they want to do.  Someone can be very motivated to go to school to become a kindergarten or pre-school teacher and not be willing to teach a college course to adult students.  Their goal was to teach kids.  I think that is perfectly ok for a person motivated into getting the education to do that, but then they probably shouldn't take adult students.  Or at least they should explain that they don't really have a program for adults.

My goals are actually pretty similar to yours, Bobby.  I've already been a musician most of my life, and I am learning this fascinating instrument now.  I have respect for classical and bluegrass and that sort of thing, but they aren't what I want to do.  Orchestras are neat to watch, but they don't look like a musical environment I would like to be involved in any closer than maybe a good seat in the audience.  

Rock, blues, pop, dance, maybe a bit of folk, that's more what I do.  Being able to do it well enough to record some tracks and put out some stuff is what I'm after, not the opportunity to wear a tux and play concertos and all that.

But the problem is that even if there were plenty of violin teachers around here, I don't think that most of them would have the background to be able to help me much with that.  You're likely to end up in pretty much the same boat, unless you really luck out on your teacher hunt.   

@Bobby:  Well, the points you raised are serious concerns for adult beginners, and it is far from the first time we've heard in these forums about teachers either being less than optimally oriented for adult students or in some cases flat out refusing to try teaching them.  Or worse, their attitude risks discouraging the non-child beginner from even making the attempt.

My associate's degree is in Music.  I took the online 10 week course on how to teach violin mostly for myself, to make sure that I wasn't overlooking anything important in my self-teaching.  If you don't establish a good foundation of the basic skills and knowledge, then it will limit how much you can build on it later.  Some of the instruments I play I was self-taught and some I took classes or lessons, so over the years I have figured at least that much out.  LOL

I still don't see myself as heading any time soon into teaching others as an activity.  I would want to achieve some things with the instrument myself first.  I mean, why would anyone want to take lessons from someone where they can't see and hear evidence that the person has things they want to learn?  But taking the course, I did become aware that there are a lot of groups of people that aren't really served or helped by the current "traditions" in many areas.  

Other than adult students in general, there are children from economically disadvantaged families where even 100$ for a "cheap" instrument is a serious bite to the household budget and they certainly can't afford the "going rate" for private lessons in their area.  But what a kid can get from their school music program just isn't always going to be enough to give them a decent shot at even getting gigs in local bands.  Even if the teacher was actually experienced on all the instruments they are called on to teach in that environment, the amount of time they can spend with each student is so limited.

Then there's folks that want to play something other than "classical" or maybe bluegrass fiddling.  It isn't just violin where the genres anyone teaches tend to be limited, but violin has to be the absolute worst instrument in that regard that I have seen in my entire life.  It is such a shame with an instrument that is so capable of diversity, that can have a great voice in so many kinds of music. 

Anyway, at not quite 3 years on the instrument, I'm not taking out classifieds or putting up a sign.  LOL  But maybe someday, because the need is there. 

Music is one of the great joys and comforts of my life.  One of the few things where every hour I spend on it has felt like it was well spent, and every dollar I could put towards it was a bargain.  So to be honest, I tend to side with what risk has said about being angry to hear about people being shut out from it.

I can understand that much of this is "just how the world is".  But it feels like it is not how the world should be. 

Excellent to hear that you have gotten some promising leads on better teachers, Bobby.  You deserve better than the one you described in this thread.  I am sure I am not alone in hoping to hear more from you as a violinist as you explore the new opportunities that the move will bring!