Klarinet Archive - Posting 000630.txt from 1998/06

From: "Mr. Sheim" <fsheim@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Beginner students
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 09:49:59 -0400

I tend to disagree with this. "If you can't play, then you can't teach" is
quite different from "If you can't teach, then you can't play." True,
teaching is an art, but if you can't teach, you certainly can become a
great player- one has nothing to do with the other. However, "If you can't
play," how would you know WHAT to teach? There is a great difference
between "playing the notes" and "playing from the heart." Great players
imbue their performances with phrasing and emotion that comes from beyond
the printed page. If those qualities are a mystery to you as a teacher,
how DO you teach them. You can't. So "If you can't play, then you can't
teach" really IS a valid statement.

Fred (fsheim@-----.com)

At 04:57 PM 6/18/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>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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