7. Is keller a good teach or a bad teacher? What did he teach Paul? What did he fail to teach him and why? did he teach him about life?

Bad Teacher

· Keller thought Paul’s ego would grow if he showed him encouragement and praise if he played successfully.

· Paul could then not please himself because he thought he only played to a recurring standard which was good but not good enough. E.g.; honourable mention had become the story of my life, no matter how much I practised. I had found my level, my performances frozen into a recurring pattern of Also Rans." Page 128

Good teacher

• He taught him patience
• Keller had good intentions for Paul but they were forceen, he showed Paul that beauty was skin deep, an e.g. Vienna was

What did he teach Paul?

On Page 12, we see lessons which Keller teaches Paul such as:
· “First, you must learn to listen”. Keller thinks Paul is spoilt, because Paul thinks that since Paul’s parents are paying him he should get what he wants the way he wants.

· “You are free to leave my home”, he answered. “At any time. But you are not free to play in my home without my permission”. This shows Paul the discipline and importance of authority. You may get what you want, but you need your manners and ask permission.

· Paul perceives Keller as always trying to punish him with making him work so hard. “It seemed Keller was determined to punish me-or-himself- for his excesses of Christmas gift-giving: lessons now lasted up to three hours, filled with scales, arpeggios, and the inevitable studies.”Page 64. Paul works hard to do well, Keller may seem as if he is “Punishing” Paul but he is “Punishing” himself because of the blame he puts on himself for the death of his family. He sees the love Paul has for music and knows that feeling and wants him to succeed in something he has so much love for.

What did he fail to teach him and why?

· Paul suppressed his ability, his personal perfection, because Keller never encouraged him enough to be first, but second-rate perfection maybe even third, but never first. Musical perfection was something which Paul could never reach; his ability was only able to touch technical perfection. “ But a second-rate perfection is all i have any hope of attaining: technical perfection, not musical perfection. Therefore, better second-rate than third." Page 148

· Due to Keller’s past experience’s Paul was not taught the romantic and passionate side of music, he failed to teach him how to play the Piano with passion and he was never able to learn or attempt romantic music, because this brought back past experiences of the war and his wife. Keller’s wife sang Wagner to the German Nazi’s who loved Wagner, but then was killed. “And to think she was a Wagner specialist.” My father said. Page 58

· Paul feels as if Keller was never taught anything by Keller. “He didn’t teach me a thing” Page 30.

Did he teach him about life?
· Keller taught Paul to ignore the judgements made by others, through his newspaper he shows him the superficial, fake.