Klarinet Archive - Posting 000389.txt from 2001/03

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] band rivals
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 10:26:59 -0500

<><> Roger Garrett wrote:
Are you objecting to competition as a teaching method in general or to
all competition within the parameters of a classroom? What specifically
sickens you?

Roger, I do not object to all forms of competition in education.
Spelling bees, tests and examinations, intramural sports, awards at
science fairs, competition for scholarships, and so forth are all fine
by me.
But what I do perceive happening too often is when the musicians
and the people who teach music become so focused on competition and the
standards of excellence to which they happen to subscribe that they lose
sight of the real purpose of music, which IMO is to bring pleasure to
the player and to share pleasure with other musicians and with
audiences.

Therefore it *is* a matter of where to draw the line.

The Klarinet list has addressed ths question is several different
ways recently. Example: we discussed whether a school can take a
student's money and then say, "You aren't as good (by this school's
definition) as some of the other students this year, and therefore you
can't take the class or ensemble that you requested (which may or may
not be required for graduation)." I agree that you must draw the line
somewhere. A really terrible musician shouldn't be allowed to ruin
everyone else's education. But I have perceived (in some conversations
here) an attitude that the best educational facilities should be
reserved for the best musicians alone and thast nothing else is more
important thyan finding the best musicians and the only way to do it is
by competition.

Another example was the young lady (I've lost track of her name) who
faced weekly cometitions for her position in a band. Once again, this
is partly a matter of resources. What's the best use of pulic funds.
What do you do if there aren't enough teachers or instruments? But
this particular young lady's situation seemed unacceptable to me --- the
sort of thing that breeds paranoia and perpetual anxiety and a need to
retaliate and cliques and isolation and anger and that reinforces
undesireable personality traits. As I said above, the fundamental goal
of art is pleasure (IMO).
If I remember correctly, eventually the band teacher in this case
cut the competitions back to once a month or something like that, and so
the school made a step in the right direction. But the bottom line is
that, IMO, the school wasn't meeting its obligation and purpose when a
child who can play (and wants to play) scales and articulate notes and
keep on the beat is denied the musical experience because someone else
appears (in somebody's judgement) to do these things better.

I could go on, but it would be needless repetition, I think. Do I
think that "Standard Of Excellence" is a proper title for an
introductory method book? NO !!!! It's a terrible title that
projects the wrong attitude toward any form of art, right from the
beginning of the student's education.

Cheers, and thanks for listening,
Bill

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