Klarinet Archive - Posting 000229.txt from 1996/02

From: Teri Herel <Herelt@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Mr. Holland and other things
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 11:17:13 -0500

In a message dated 96-02-09 10:03:05 EST, SABARABA@-----.CA (SHELLEY
A BARABASH) writes:

>But here we have the opportunity to put the non - majors together, so
>the majors are not held back. I know that sounds snobby, but it lets
>them progress at their own rate (assuming that they are at a lower
>level) and lets us progress at ours. But like him, I would never
>deny anyone the opportunity to play or take lessons.
>
>I need opinions from people. My school provides one hour lessons
>weekly for the year, making twelve lessons a term for a total of
>twenty - four. We are given a mark for each lesson. The two terms
>make up two - thirds of our mark, and the jury at the end of the year
>makes up the other third. Does anybody think that it's fair to be
>marked weekly? How much progress can one actually make in a week?
>What if one person does really well throughout their lessons and
>reaches a certain level at the end of the year, and another person
>doesn't do so well in their lessons but has a break through and
>arrives at the same level? The second person gets a bad mark even
>though they are at the same level as the first. Please give me some
>direction and reasoning (if there is any) on this.
>
>
I have two points:

1. What if your non majors play better than some or all of your majors? If
so, then you are holding them back. Why? How much does the first few years
of harmony and history really & truely effect one's playing? Yes of couse in
time it does, but I don't think for those first two or three years when the
underclassmen are taking everything from geography to kiddie lit, it makes a
whole hell of a lot of difference.

Also, when your majors graduate and start taking auditions, the auditioners
may not give a flying donut who has the music degree and who has the math
degree. Tough. Why should college be any different? Perhaps if a non major
beats out his chair, the major will raise an eyebrow, get irritated, and
practice a bit more. That is life.

2. I find a mark for every lesson offensive. Again, what relation does this
have to real life? Yes, I believe you should always be prepared to play your
best: every week, every day, every hour, etc. But practicing is a whole
different animal. I practice to achieve a net end result: It is a
continuous, cumulative process. I tend to stress work on whatever I feel
needs it the most in my playing. If I, as an adult, had to get a weekly
grade, to have prepared two pages of scale, one page of etude, two excerpts,
etc, week after week after week for fifteen weeks in a row, my grades would
be as such: A, C, C+, B, etc, probably averaging out to a B-. But if you
were to compare my overall semester progress to any one else's, I'd have
probably progressed more than any of the A carriers. Again I ask: Why
should a college practice schedule be so different from a life practice
schedule? What are we really teaching these young adults?

That's it! Thanks for listening. Teri Herel