Klarinet Archive - Posting 000623.txt from 1998/06

From: "Joseph Nassar" <jsnassar@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Beginner students
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:51:42 -0400

>Lets face it,
>how many music "educators" on the 1-12 grade levels can actually play their
>OWN instrument, nevertheless teach ALL instruments? Most school music
>teachers I've run across can't play their way out of a wet paper bag! The
level of playing by the
>music education majors at the local university (and other top
conservatories
>I've been around) is a horrendous joke. The level of mediocrity schools
are
>willing to accept is amazing and befuddles me.

I refer you to Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser's wonderful book, The Art of Successful
Teaching:

One of the most popular phrases often heard in the halls of music
schools around the nation is, "If you can't play, then you can't teach."
That always bothered me! Teaching is an art in its own right. A great
teacher can amass information of any kind and have students excited and
interested in a topic, not so much because of the topic, but because of the
presentation of the material, or, if you will, the performance of the
teaching.
Being and "expert"on any subject matter does not a teacher make. We all
have the example of our college professors who were the "international
expert" on the given subject matter and had written the definitive text
concerning that very topic. Yet, in the classroom, they failed time and
time again to teach...they simply lectured. There was no sense of
performance or art in conveying this information; in fact, it often seemed a
burden to their schedule and they would much rather have been researching
or writing. Likewise, we have all experienced that enthusiastic graduate
student who could take the most elementary information and have everyone
buzzing about what a fantastic class they were having.

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