Klarinet Archive - Posting 000675.txt from 1998/06

From: Karl Krelove <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Beginner students
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 23:49:48 -0400

At 11:15 AM 6/19/98 -0500, various posters have written:
>
>...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.
>
>Certainly. I did not mean to imply that a non-musician could become a
>successful teacher. . . on any instrument. GTGallant simply stated in his
>original post that most teachers "couldn't play their way out of a wet paper
>bag." This is the point to which I was referring. It is impossible to
>become a virtuoso on every instrument taught in the school music programs.
>Many work their whole lives to master one. Of course teachers in school
>music programs should be good musicians.
>
>A common axiom in jazz is, "No one can teach
>beyond their conception." "Conception" is a word which in jazz can mean
>various things, such as understanding, comprehension, and expertise in
>aural skills. So, in order to teach an instrument, or to teach
>improvising, or whatever it may be, the teacher must have a deep and
>comprehensive understanding of the subject being taught and the problems
>that students are likely to encounter in learning.

The principle common to these and several other comments that have been
made in this thread is that to teach music well, one MUST be a good
musician. The expectation that a school music teacher must be master of
each instrument he teaches is unrealistic. I would suggest, however, that
the teacher ought to be able to exhibit his understanding of the musical
problems that his students are only beginning to deal with. The clearest
way to demonstrate this understanding is for the teacher to be an
accomplished performer in SOME medium, whether that medium be a
band/orchestra instrument, voice, or piano. I don't mind that a very good
trumpet player is also teaching clarinet and percussion at school. I do
worry when the teacher is not competent in any performing medium. There is
so much more to music than correct notes and rhythms. It's hard for me to
imagine from what experience such a person would build his "conception" of
any of those things.

Karl Krelove

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