[scots-l] Music teachers (was: player pianos)
At 10:55 AM 2/4/03 -0800, you wrote: He eventually yelled at me and threw me out for good when he found out that I was playing traditional music. That just makes me cringe! I can't stand teachers like that. Actually, no, I change that. I appreciate teachers like that, because those students generally end up coming to teachers like myself, and that's one way I make my living. I have 18 piano students now, and I'd say half of them came from a teacher who fired them because they didn't progress at the proper pace or wanted to play inappropriate repertoire or didn't pay attention or some such fool thing. There actually are a whole lot of teachers like that, aren't there? It's too bad. I've become good at sniffing them out. One quality that I think is essential in a good music teacher is being able to pick up on the character of any particular student. Some people like to be pushed hard, some people not so hard, so people need things to be really ordered and regimented, so people need things to be more loose, some people like alot of explanation, some people like to figure it out for themselves, some people need alot of verbal reassurance, some people are good with just a nod, etc. I've said this before, but I believe that being a good teacher and being a good player are two entirely different skills. My voice teacher is great in that respect. I think she sized up me up in one lesson, because I'm very happy with the speed of my progress and I constantly feel like I'm being pushed with hard stuff, which is important to me, because I get bored easily if I'm not constantly challenged. Toby Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Music teachers (was: player pianos)
I have a teaching and repetoire-related question .. I teach both piano at all levels, and violin at the beginner level (Kate D, my all-time most favourite teacher- yes, you're allowed to laugh - and cringe - at the latter !! :-) ) The parents of one of my very young, very beginner fiddle students are VERY keen on their daughter learning some Cape Breton / Scottish tunes as part of her instruction .. (they are big Natalie fans). However - even simple tunes like Mairi's Wedding are proving to be a challenge - can anyone suggest any simple but fairly recognizable / memorable tunes that would be suitable for young children to learn by ear? Thanks - I realize that this is a bit off topic, but any help would be greatly appreciated. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
RE: [scots-l] Music teachers (was: player pianos)
I've said this before, but I believe that being a good teacher and being a good player are two entirely different skills. Toby Yes. And I wish the vast majority of festival/school organisers would pay attention to this fact. Brilliant musician does not necessarily mean brilliant teacher. And we need more brilliant teachers than brilliant musicians at this point. Sharon Knowles Alot of the very best musicians can't even tell you what they're doing. That doesn't detract from their abilities or expresiveness. It just means that they haven't spent time developing that skill. It's definately a separate skill.. Articulating what to do and how to do it in way that connects with lots of different people is no easy task. Espcially if you're trying to teach little kids! Here is the US, teachers of any kind don't get the kind of respect or compensation they deserve (but that's a different story). One of the best music teachers I've ever dealt with is Stan Chapman, from Nova Scotia. I have endless respect for that man. His day job is actually as an elementary school music teacher. Bless his heart, he has the patience of a saint and cast iron eardrums. Stan was the guy who taught all these players of my generation, that sort of turned things around with the music, Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, Wendy MacIsaac, Jackie Dunn.. Those folks. One of the things that strikes me most about Stan's teaching is his flexibility. For instance, he told me that after having a long talk with Angus (Ashley's dad). They decided to let him keep playing the fiddle off the right shoulder, yet still strung up like a right-handed instrument. It's a highly unorthodox position, even for traditional musicians. What it does is effects the tone quality in strange sorts of ways. Think of it, all the strings are backwards! If you've ever heard Ashley play, there's something about his sound that is different from anyone else. There's sort of this ringing bite that hangs around as a constant undercurrent. I could pick out his playing in a second. Stan was flexible about that. My first teacher wasn't. I myself am left-handed, and my first teacher forced me to play off my left shoulder, with my left hand on the wood, becuase it is the correct way. Stan showed me some tunes one time, and I played them straight a few times, then tried to make them sound the way I wanted them to.. Rather then saying what the hell are you doing?, he smiled and said something like Ah okay, having fun with them already? The world needs more teachers like Stan. Toby Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
