Klarinet Archive - Posting 000035.txt from 2002/06

From: A4ACHESON@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Teaching the 'students' of today
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 04:23:15 -0400

In a message dated 1/6/02 1:51:36 pm, Tony@-----.uk writes:

<< Someone said that it wasn't a good idea to teach pigs to sing, because
it was useless -- and it annoyed them. This makes a joke out of another
aspect of the matter that it's worth taking seriously.>>

This was not meant as a joke. I was never more serious.
As people who have had the experience of learning a musical instrument I
think we have a duty to discourage those who have no realistic idea of what
is involved. A teacher's time is a valuable resource, but so is a student's.
Almost all people wish to learn a musical instrument just as "everybody wants
to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."

<<In my view, you should simply not teach 'students' who don't want to be
in your lessons, as a matter of principle. It's not as if the world is
in need of clarinet players, after all.>>

I totally agree.

Arthur Acheson

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