Klarinet Archive - Posting 000729.txt from 1995/06

From: Bob Kreisa <bkreisa@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Advice to new clarinetist
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 17:02:08 -0400

Near tears, anyway. Only once. I wasn't probably in a very good mood as
it was. It was a Monday. And it's not that he makes me work
to hard, it's that he can't decide how he wants things played, and if I
play the way he said, he yells that it's wrong (and my fault, even
though I did what he said). He doesn't really think I'm totally
terrible, he's said very good things about me to the director (These are
my school lessons.). Oh, well, I'll live, as long as this particular
teacher isn't on this particular e-mail list.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Kreisa
bkreisa@-----.edu

On Thu, 29 Jun 1995, Chad Smith wrote:

> Apologies to all for the double response...
>
> Abby, in regards to your second response:
> You wrote "How can you be certain that a student can handle that little extra
> 'push'?" Well, as a teacher, I can just tell by a student's desire,
enthusiasm,
> and overall attitude whether or not he can handle this "push". If I ever feel
> that I am pushing the student too hard, I talk to him to see what his
viewpoint
> is. If we agree that the workload is too much, appropriate actions are taken
> to alleviate the situation; otherwise, we proceed. It's not that hard.
> In my case, when I've had students that couldn't handle any pressure or who
> weren't willing to work or at least make the effort, I would terminate that
> student's lessons. But that is only a last resort. In your case, it sounds
to
> me like you are unhappy with your situation. You leave your lessons near
tears?
> Why don't you talk to your teacher about this, or your parents? There is
either
> a big lack of communication, or you have the wrong teacher, period.
>
> I could argue with you all day, but I've spent too much time already on
> the net, and all arguing and no work makes Johnny a non-productive boy!
>
> -regards
> chad smith
> csmith@-----.com
>