Multiple teachers at the same time

[Trumpetstud]

What do you all think? Is it ok to have 2 or more teachers while studying jazz? Will there be a conflict etc?

I'm not talking about on a regular basis, but a certain teacher may teach a certain concept I want to explore. Maybe a one and done kinda lesson? Another may approach teaching improvisation a different way than my regular teacher?

[astadler]

Caveat: not a jazz player, primarily classical, but I think it applies all the same.

This sounds like something super common in my experience; you have a primary teacher, but you should be encouraged to take lessons with other people who might have other perspectives or different areas of expertise to learn from. Frankly if your primary teacher discourages you from taking outside lessons in general, you should find a new primary teacher.

[abontrumpet]

+1 to astadler

I'm also classical player.

As a teacher, I want the absolute best for my students. I would never discourage a student from another perspective.

In a University setting, you're working with that teacher for 4 years, it's a relationship. Give your prof a heads up and breach alternative subjects relatively respectfully. If you actually have frustrations with your teacher/prof, then it's important to bring those up and communicate.

[TrumpetMD]

I had two private teachers in college. One was my trumpet teacher. The other was my jazz teacher, who was a saxophonist that many of us took private lessons from, to study jazz improvisation.

Mike
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Bach Stradivarius 43* Trumpet (1974), Bach 6C Mouthpiece.
Bach Stradivarius 184 Cornet (1988), Yamaha 13E4 Mouthpiece
Olds L-12 Flugelhorn (1969), Yamaha 13F4 Mouthpiece.
Plus a few other Bach, Getzen, Olds, Carol, HN White, and Besson horns.

[LaTrompeta]

You wouldn't be the first. Just don't step on any toes and it should be OK.
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[stuartissimo]

Loyalty to a teacher (or a student) is a nice thing, but in the end what matters is your playing and how you advance. After all, it's not the teacher who has to deal with the results of the lessons for the rest of their life, but the student. As long as you're respectful about it, it should be ok. If your primary teacher takes issue with it, they're probably willing to explain why, and you can reconsider accordingly.
_________________
1975 Olds Recording trumpet
1997 Getzen 700SP trumpet
1955 Olds Super cornet
1939 Buescher 280 flugelhorn
AR Resonance mouthpieces

[Shaft]

UNT - Don Jacoby outside of school……….. & ………

Well …..

If you know you know

[spitvalve]

When I was at UNT I got a couple of lessons with Jake before he passed away. A semester's worth of learning in those few hours.
_________________
Bryan Fields
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1991 Bach LR180 ML 37S
1999 Getzen Eterna 700S
1977 Getzen Eterna 895S Flugelhorn
1969 Getzen Capri cornet
1995 UMI Benge 4PSP piccolo trumpet
Warburton and Stomvi Flex mouthpieces

[mike ansberry]

[Steve A]

Ultimately, I think you're going to have to navigate this decision on your own, because no one on the internet knows your teacher, your program, or your relationship with the teacher, and all those things potential have a meaningful bearing on the situation.

However, if you and your teacher have a good working relationship, and they feel that you're consistently giving them good, hard, honest work on the things they want you to do, done in the ways they want you to do them, I think most teachers would have zero problems with you having the odd lesson with someone else, especially if it's someone they respect.

There are, however, a few things I'd want to proceed cautiously about to make sure you don't pick an avoidable fight.

Sometimes teachers perceive students as looking for easy answers, and not really having the appetite to buckle down and do the hard work of improving. If your teacher gets that feeling from you, they might not be into you shopping around until you find someone who tells you what you want to hear.

Also, in some cases, teachers have strong feelings about the rightness of their methodology or school of teaching and the wrongness of others. For instance, if your main teacher isn't a believer in the value of mouthpiece or lip buzzing, and the person you'd be going to see uses those extensively, and you come back to you main teacher for your next lesson and tell them you're all bent out of shape because you've been lip buzzing for 90 minutes a day, they might be angry about that.

As long as you're in good standing with your main teacher and make sure whatever you do with someone else doesn't intrude on the work you're doing with your main teacher, I think most people would have no issues at all with this. (In fact, I think most people would probably regard it as a positive, as long as they think you're doing it for the right reasons.) It might be an idea to just ask them if it's okay if you have a lesson or two with someone else, though.

[Trumpetstud]

Thanks for all the responses.