Klarinet Archive - Posting 000034.txt from 2001/06

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: [kl] The guru and the internet
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2001 00:30:40 -0400

There is a traditional model of how a student learns an art or a craft.
What they do is to go to a teacher of that art or craft, and work with
them. The teacher may have very clear ideas of how they themselves
perform, or at least how the student may develop, and may require the
student to follow very closely a particular path toward the mastery that
the teacher has.

Students typically choose a teacher whose mastery they themselves
admire, and the path involves close contact between the 'guru' and the
student.

On the other hand, the internet makes available quite another model.
It may never replace the intimate relationship between the teacher and
the student. But what it does offer is the possibility of a sideways
look at what is the 'straight ahead' model that the teacher gives to the
student.

Of course, the 'straight ahead' quality is an illusion. A great teacher
modifies the path of each individual student according to their needs.
So what *seems* 'straight ahead' to the student may in actual fact be
more complex.

Some might argue that the 'sideways' model is best avoided. Perhaps
we're always best off with a teacher. But, with which teacher? Here
the internet, and this group, may help.

But it cannot help if the 'guru' model is adopted. Dogmatic statements
about what 'must' be followed, while appropriate to a close
teacher/student relationship, cannot translate to a helpful interaction
here except by chance.

For example, if you, a clarinet player, come to study with me, then I
may well tell you to do certain things; even *demand* that you do
certain things, contrary to what you want. But the point is that I take
responsibility for the effects of those instructions, and if they turn
out to be counterproductive, I will change them.

I *HATE* the presence of false gurus on this list. What those 'gurus'
demonstrate is that they have no experience of how their instructions
may be the wrong ones to give in certain circumstances. On the other
hand, if I can 'be a guru' about something that is *always* true -- say,
about the necessity of understanding the context in which we play --
then I take the opportunity of doing so.

Apart from that, what can we do?

I suggest that we can 'take apart' the constructs that master teachers
provide, whilst understanding how they may be useful playing metaphors.

The notion of 'not biting', for example, needs careful scientific
discussion before it becomes rationally understandable. Unfortunately
in this particular case, elementary scientific understanding is
required. Such understanding is 'school-level' applied mathematics --
but that isn't available to everyone.

Of course, it could be, if we want. We could explain the concepts, and
invoke the abilities of the scientifically knowledgeable here. This
list can be a great resource.

But it can't be if we don't want, as some of the resistance to the
discussion about 'difference tones' showed.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN artist: http://www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

... To be intoxicated is to feel sophisticated, but not be able to say it.

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