The trouble with MacPhail is two-fold: 1) a lack of accountability; and 2) an across-the-board lack of appreciation by ALL MacPhail personnel (with few exceptions) for the enormous degree of trust that students place in their teachers. My experience as a former adult student is that, while certainly not all, some MacPhail faculty cannot or will not take personal responsibility, or otherwise hold themselves accountable to the students under their tutelage for the things they say during lessons, or for the content or the quality of the product (their lessons) that they deliver. Second, ALL MacPhail faculty and staff, from the Chief Operating Officer down to the front desk staff, need to better understand, appreciate and respect the trust that students place in their teachers. A betrayal of trust against a student by a teacher is emotionally devastating, and a surefire way to get a student to quit music is to tell him/her that he isn't any good, or that she can't perform. In the end, my trust in MacPhail turned out to be terribly misplaced.
Space limitations prohibit me from providing a more detailed account of what happened in 2010, but the short version is that I was a MacPhail student for 14 years: from September 1996 through August 2010, during which I took both classes and private lessons in: voice, piano, guitar, ensembles, music-theater performance labs, and solfege (sight-reading). Over the years I worked with no less than 16 different faculty & staff accompanists. Voice was my primary instrument.
I had the same voice teacher for four years, from 2006 through April 2010. My relationship with this teacher ended abruptly, after one bad lesson. My teacher made some extraordinarily negative comments to me, her student, during lesson, in reference to a solo recital that I had done on March 30th.
Her words to me were: "I couldn't stand to watch you, you were so nervous. I thought you were going to lose it, but you didn't. I don't know how, but you kept it together, your voice was there for you. I would not have been able to sing through those phrases if I was that nervous. You sounded fine; I just could not stand to look at you." She then went on to say that it (being so nervous that your teacher can't to watch you?) was "no big deal." Those two comments contained a mixed message that I simply could not resolve. Never before had she been so harsh or negative. We did no singing or any other work at all the entire hour.
I emailed her and told her how hurt I was by those comments. She first responded with an offer to have a face-to-face discussion, to clarify what she called a miscommunication. But then 24 hours later she completely reneged.
Rather than take ownership with a simple apology, she canceled our remaining lessons and deferred me to the director of student services to make arrangements for a new teacher. She chose to dismiss her student: a) on a negative note; b) mid-semester; c) after one bad lesson (our first ever); d) after four years of work together; and e) after we just finished a solo recital, the whole purpose of which was to showcase and celebrate that work.
I was devastated. It was to me a breach of trust on the deepest level, and a terrible way for any teacher to treat a student. It was a violation of the Code of Ethics as laid out by the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
To their credit, MacPhail did assign me a new teacher, and a very good one at that; one in many ways much better for me than the former. But beyond that, they considered their obligation to the student met. They refused to account for what happened, or give any feedback as to where I failed as a student. I tried earnestly to end our student-teacher relationship on more peaceful & graceful terms, but unfortunately neither MacPhail nor the teacher would cooperate.
It took MacPhail 4 months to issue a written apology. On July 30th 2010, I was called into a meeting with the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Human Resources. At this meeting, I was handed a letter warning me to not to make any direct communication with my former teacher, and to not discuss what happened with other MacPhail personnel, or else "MacPhail may need to decide whether it is the appropriate place for you to continue your lessons". In other words, I would be kicked out. At the very bottom of the letter they apologized "that the situation occurred." After that meeting, I left MacPhail.
At that meeting, I asked that they refund me the one hours' tuition for the April 15 lesson. The response I got was tentative, that they needed to check with their attorney. (The COO could not offer a "customer" a mere $80 refund without first having to consult his lawyer!) Then to my surprise, on August 15 2010, I received a check for $80, the cost of one hour-long lesson with a Level-2 instructor at MacPhail, along with a second and more sincere letter of apology. Much appreciated, albeit late. read more
