Klarinet Archive - Posting 000713.txt from 1996/10

From: Richard Johnson <rjohnso@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Decisions, decisions...
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 11:19:48 -0500

>
> This is all very confusing to me. Teaching music to students "just
> to get by" ?? It's made to sound as if there were something shameful or
> unrewarding about the art of teaching one's skills and knowledge to
> younger aspiring musicians. I can't think of many things more noble than
> passing one's legacy onto future generations.

Nothing at all shameful or unrewarding about teaching, and I'm sorry if I
sounded that way. I just meant that Glenn Holland's main ambition was to
compose, not to teach. He taught to get by until his ship came in as a
composer. It never did, but he inspired generations of students and was a
great success as a teacher. I personally failed as a teacher because (in
part) there were precious few "young aspiring musicians" in the school
where I taught. Bunch of jerks and nitwits, they were. School politics
also drove me off, and at the foundation of it all, I realized that I
just was not cut out to be a school teacher. I honor and respect those
who are, however, with a reverence second only to my reverence for God.

Rick