Klarinet Archive - Posting 000905.txt from 1997/12

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: lessons
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 11:18:10 -0500

Bill,
At Peabody Preparatory, we are the community music school end of
the Peabody and we take people at all levels. I am a generalist - not a
specialist. Obviously, this person is a specialist and doesn't want to be
bothered with beginners. Therefore, he is not the right person to be
taking lessons with, no matter how big his reputation. I strongly
recommend your wife simply find a generalist (such as me, e.g.) with a
good reputation (ask around - I'm SURE some players in the band can
recommend someone).
It's just like doctors. Would you want a heart surgeon
doing a simple tonsilectomy? I wouldn't. He'd be totally disinterested
and probably wouldn't be as quick, neat and knowledgeable about all the
potential complictions as a general surgeon who does dozens each month.

Fred Jacobowitz
Clarinet/Sax Instructor, Peabody Preparatory

On Sat, 20 Dec 1997, Edinger/Gilman wrote:

> Here's a sensitivity question: I've been thinking about taking lessons
> (I'm a middle-aged amateur in a local community band), but want to "get
> my mind right," so to speak, before delving in, since I want to make a
> serious commitment without causing problems with the exigencies of the
> rest of my life, a delicate balance, perhaps. My wife wants to call a
> local university clarinet instructor to "buy me" four lessons as a
> Christmas gift, which is a very nice idea but strikes me as being
> possibly inappropriate. I think of the Woody Allen movie "Hannah's
> Sisters" where some guy commissions an artist for a painting that will
> fit a certain wall space, indifferent to the merits of the work itself
> beyond its physical dimensions. Won't an instructor want to interview
> me a little first, to get an idea what he'd be working with? And find
> out what my sense of commitment and personal development are like? I
> don't want to sound ungrateful to my wife, but I don't want to sound
> like a jerk to a potential teacher. This guy is supposed to be the best
> in the area, and takes only "serious" students.
>
> Bill E.
>