Klarinet Archive - Posting 000258.txt from 2003/08

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] The way it spozed to be
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 15:40:13 -0400

I noticed an advertisement in the newspaper:

"BE CREATIVE! BE BOLD! [Purchase our sportswear.....]"

I couldn't help thinking (and pointing out to my daughter): "They're
asking me to buy a style of clothing that _they_ designed. If I want
to boldly create where no man has created before, then I will design and
sew and wear something of my *own*. Of course, I'll probably need to
use the sewing tools and fabrics that someone else created....."

Sewing isn't my thing, but the principle applies. We all build on the
achievements of those who went before us, but the people who 'learned
before us' have a natural tendency to cherish and promote what _they_
learned.

So it's a dilemma, I'm sure. It's complicated by large class sizes in
schools, wherein individual attention is not always possible, but this
is only a complication, not the basic problem. The basic problem is
that the cosmos contains too many possibilities, including too many ways
to judge, and many of them contradict each other. Since no two persons
are identical...

I've never said this to a teacher's face, but I often reassure myself
that the word "teacher" should be replaced by "experienced guide". In
particular, I remember an art teacher giving the standard lecture about
composition --- center of balance, rule of thirds, travel of the eye,
and so forth. He ended with: "Of course, tastes have varied over the
centuries, and therefore I always back off when a student tells me that
he likes his own work, but I think it's horrible..... Now, let's look at
Tom's effort for this week's assignment and discuss what's wrong with
it."

It's a dilemma that does not disappear even in the most extreme cases.

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