Composition Heap

It’s the theme of the week:

I was at a lecture of Ken Ueno at the Harvard Group for New Music the other week and was so personally touched that I spent the next few nights youtube-ing him. Sure enough, there in the comments is the same low level debate about what music has worth and what does not.  My question is, how did composition become bi-lateral, or even bi-partisan?  Why are there always these two camps who compete against each other?  I understand that historically there is the Stravinsky branch and the Schoenberg branch, but isn’t that a little simplistic by now?  Just off the top of my head, I can come up with serialism, total serialism, modernism, post-modernism, minimalism, spectralism, avant-garde, fluxus, electronic music, and complexity.  Then there’s modern composition influenced by world music, and as many different world musics that there are. Then there’s contemporary composition, symphonic composition and all the neo’s, neo classical, neo romantic, new simplicity, and as many sub categories there as well. At this point we could probably also take any of these categories and add a “post” onto it as well. Growing out of the El Sistema movement, there is also now composition as a social project and we could add as may social projects we can think of as sub categories there too. 

One Year Down

I was amazed when I found out the blog is only a year old. Congratulations to everybody!  Thank you for the fresh thought coming in here every week. There has been so much written and the niche we’ve created seems to say, we know we can do better. We can break the molds that we grew into and become the musicians we’ve always meant to be. I hope it reaches all of you in the same way it reaches me.

Short but sweet, appreciative nonetheless.

On “Listen to This” — by Jennifer Borkowski

When thinking about my response to Alex Ross’ Listen to This, the main thing that hit me about it is that I’d heard it all before, but hearing it before has not resulted in any lasting changes in the way we present symphonic classical music to the public. We are “other” and often “uppity” members of society, misunderstood yet arrogant in the way we insist that others get our music. We haven’t gotten it, that people don’t want to be preached to about  what “good” music is, or told that what they like isn’t “high art.” In America, orchestras are dropping like flies.  And you know what, it is change or die.

Theodor Adorno wrote a similar essay, On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening in 1938 and still not much has changed. Please, when you’re finished here, take a look at it.

Alex Ross writes about the deadening of classical music and how we moved from rioting and tomato throwing to behaving as a refined yet terribly boring group of people.

Classical concerts began to take on cultlike aspects. The written score became a sacred object; improvisation was gradually phased out. Concert halls grew quiet and reserved. […] Many composers liked the fact that the public was quieting down […] They began to write with a silent, well-schooled crowd in mind.[1]

Well schooled is the real problem. Being too well-schooled has taken away our edge and our real power. I’m using well-schooled here meaning well-behaved and proper, and it isn’t an automatic substitute for intelligent or thoughtful.

Product or Process?

 I’m dealing now with performance anxiety, and how we might treat ourselves better, and prevent this in our kids. A lot has been written, but I am writing this now with a tinge of rebellion. The occupy wall street movement has got me thinking about my own small way to change commercialism, greed and obliterate the senselessness of the must-have mentality.  I ended up with performance anxiety on my mind. Give me a minute and I’ll explain.

 There’s the so-called “outcome oriented” performer, who pays attention to the result of the performance. This naturally produces uncomfortable feelings on the stage as they are worried about what the audience or jury might be thinking. Then there are the “process oriented” performers, who are able to do two things. First, they see each performance along a continuum where they set performance goals over a larger span of time. Second, they are involved in the process of making music while performing, bringing their attention back to the music itself. Paraphrasing Stanislavski, in order to get your attention away from the audience, you have to be interested in something on the stage.

All of this is probably not news to anyone, but when I looked into plastic arts, there are some classes that are called process-oriented, and the others are actually called product oriented; where kids as young as two and three are being taught that they need to produce something within the hour to take home. The expectation is that this product will receive praise from mommy which will encourage them to produce more. (By the way, since I moved back to US, I have only found product-oriented classes. The Sammlung Essl near Vienna was process oriented. http://www.essl.museum/kunstvermittlung/kinder.html)

The process-oriented kids are given paper and paint. They are given big brushes, little brushes, lots of color, combs, and sponges, whatever they want. The teacher merely assesses when they look a little bored and puts another type of tool in front of them.  She doesn’t say a word. She just puts it there, and they begin to experiment. She feeds them paper and when it dries, they can take it home, or not.

It’s not a mystery to me that these kids like to paint more. It is also not a mystery which kids are retaining more of their inherent creativity. It’s not a mystery how we are creating performance anxiety by presenting music foremost as a commodity. It is logical that we then let self worth, artistic worth and monetary worth become entangled. It makes sense that when we focus on process, the value someone assigns to what we create is secondary.

 

I’ve actually written a creed:

 

This is my personal occupation, to see my work and myself as a process and not a product. When I perform, I invite people to share in my process with me. I will do everything I can to dissuade my children and my students from becoming product oriented, measuring self worth by the monetary worth given to the art that they create.

 

I was going to write a bit more about art and music education here, about impatience and the denial of the necessity of time needed to give artistic tasks. However, I went to a local toy store, here in educated and affluent Brookline, Massachusetts. The pictures say it all. I’ll let them end this post.

 

 

I’m wondering about the cutesy misspellings on products for kids, but the progression here is what is a bit humorous.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I don’t know why I should have anything against a saxoflute, except that it is neither “saxo” nor flute, it is a plastic tube.

 

 

 

A New Look at Musician’s Health: Implications for Research from the Art in Motion Symposium in Graz, 2008

Jennifer Borkowski

 

The following post is an article I wrote a few years back.  Today I just read a blog entry on deliberate practice where the author suggests practicing a passage five times correctly.  When there is a mistake, the player goes back to zero and tries again.  While in some contexts this can help focus practice sessions, in others it can be detrimental.  For me, I draw a distinction between exercises and repertoire. I feel like the flute repertoire is so relatively small that we need to protect it (even from ourselves).  We need to respect our repertoire as our personal expressive medium and leave the score keeping and testing for exercises. How sad it would be if Mozart became the place where we test whether or not we can play ascending thirds cleanly.  And in the spirit of participating in a broader dialogue in the field, here is the article: 

 

Looking for solutions to the health problems of musicians can lead one through many corridors of information. A new wing of interdisciplinary research has been opened which offers more possibilities to solving medical problems without traditional medicines or therapies. The following is a report on the Art in Motion Symposium held at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz in May 2008.  This paper seeks to assimilate the physiological and medical research of Horst Hildebrandt, Victor Candia and Jane Ginsborg with the research in motor learning of Richard Schmidt and Gabrielle Wulf to advocate for healthier and more productive practice for musicians. Where the medical research was done by and musicians, the research in psychology and motor learning was done by sports scientists. This collaboration of information made this symposium unique in its output. The assimilation of this information is new and ongoing, providing musicians new food for thought as to how they incorporate healthier practice.

Early Years:

Hildebrandt presented information about preventative work with children in his presentation, “Teaching Music Physiology and Motor Learning Processes at a University: Experience and Evaluation”.  Focusing first on the epidemiology of musician’s diseases and then moving to music physiology, he defined music physiology as “research and teaching in relation to the functionality of playing music.”

During the course of symposium, the following facts were discussed regarding the childhood roots of musician’s health.

1. Musicians’ problems are often archeological in nature.  Many students assume that directions about how to play are meant for forever. For example, as children were told to hold their instrument in a certain way and they never changed this position to accommodate their growing bodies. In addition to this, students often suffer from having contradictory instructions about technique from various teachers over the years. (Hildebrandt)

2. Musicians coming from musical families, presumably also having begun at a young age, have more health problems than those who did not. The assumption here is that expectations are higher in such circumstances. (Hildebrandt)

3. Students who began early have better representations in the brain of instrument specific skills. (Candia)  Candia then countered this with the statement that because those representations are in the brain does not mean that they are better musicians.

Gains in Research:

In a pilot project at the Lahr school of music in Germany between 1993 and 2001, Hildebrandt established models for students to practice in supervised settings along with their teachers and parents. The work in this setting is preventative in nature. Students practiced 2 hours a week at the school both individually and in groups. They were taught various training elements such as Feldenkreis[1] and Kinesiology.[2] The goal of the program was to help students help themselves to learn to practice with minimal health problems. Hildebrandt used dispokinesis[3] which includes:

a)  teaching a natural position for each instrument,

b)  individually adapting ergonomic aids and

c) fosters independence so that students are not dependent on teachers or equipment.

Hildebrandt’s work with dispokinesis builds a physiological foundation for practice. He offered some teaching suggestions about educating a more relaxed musician. He suggests that the teacher:

1. Give instructions for a limited period of time. For example, until the next lesson  so that students do not assume that these instructions are meant for forever. This will help to eliminate the belief that one can not, or should not alter their playing position. Corrections in posture become more malleable.
2. Avoid including the analyzed problem when giving the corrective instruction.  He asks for a “directly tangible solution.”
3. Replace negative words like “grip” with words like “touch”.
4. Use the mirror only for what can actually be seen.
5. Ask for exaggerations. For example, have the student play with wet hands or a high pulse rate.

 

Professional Musicians:

Moving to health problems in professional musicians, the research presented was considerably longer. In a study of 2212 orchestral musicians, the following figures were quoted as to the prevalence of medical problems on the job.

14% reported I medical problem

14% reported 2 medical problems

12% reported 3 medical problems and

36% reported 4 medical problems (Fishbein 1988)

These problems were orthopedic, neurologic, psychological and psychosomatic in nature.

Jane Ginsborg presented a study, “Comparison of Healthy Lifestyles, Health Problems and Psychological Variables of Music and Non-Music Students“, done between music students and nursing students. Overall, music students scored less in the areas of health responsibility, physical activity and spiritual growth. Among musculoskeletal problems, she reported the following facts:

Lower Right Arm /Hand  Head    Neck    Upper Left Shoulder    Lower Left Arm/Hand

Musicians:          31.8%       24.7%     9.6%                 10.1%                          9.6%

Non-Musicians: 30.8%       15.4%     7.7%                  3.1%                           1.6%

In addition to these two studies reporting the prevalence of musician’s health problems; Victor Candia presented information in “Playing Beyond the Limits of Health: Loss and Regain of Hand Control in Professional Musicians Suffering from Musician’s Cramp“ about a crippling disorder known as focal hand dystonia. Although the disorder is not highly prevalent among musicians, Candia, along with frightening images of deformed looking fingers and hands, lead discussions about solutions to these problems.

 

Solutions:

Candia, a neuropsychologist, began by advocating for changes in behavior, calling behavior itself “the most prominent neuromodulator ever known.” The answer lies in brain plasticity and it’s (re)-organization of its neural networks. Candia lists the characteristic of this disorder as being the “amount of time in physical practice.” While this discussion will not focus on the details of treating focal hand dystonia, changing behavior is critical to changing harmful practice patterns prevalent among musicians. The behavior changes need to begin psychologically so that a) learning is maximized and that b) physical behavior changes will naturally follow. Candia said that he finds it astounding that everywhere in the world, musicians all say that they should practice 8 hours a day for 10 years.[4] Most in the symposium agreed that this is the set standard in required practice. We know that practicing in such an amount produces high level musicians. What we don’t know, is that if practicing less can produce higher level musicians with fewer instrument related health issues. As the following studies will show, changing behavior not only benefits health, but fosters more productive learning.

To discuss the various solutions offered, the following concepts will be discussed:

1. “Over” Syndromes: Over-practice and Over-use

2.  Focus and Effort

1. Over-Practice and Over-Use:

 

The idea that one can practice too much is gaining attention because of work-related or instrument related injuries. Candia listed the only clear cause of focal hand dystonia as being related to a heavy work load.  Other research shows that over-use is the cause of tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome.[5]

Beyond solving physical problems however, the work of Richard Schmidt shows that over-practice, or repetitive practice, slows learning as well. This point should be stressed since many musicians who do not have health problems may not feel that this rule is applicable to them.

His studies show a marked difference in blocked practice versus random practice.

Schmidt tested various motor skills by altering the way that they were practiced. For example, the participants in the blocked practice group were taught 3 skills, and practiced them in a row, a, a, a, then b, b, b, etc. The random practice group never knew which element would come next. They were given the same 3 tasks, but practiced a,c,b, b,c,a, etc.  While one did not see great variations in their performance during theacquisition or practice phase, the random practice group scored much better during theretention or test phase. This is important because the goal of a musician is ultimately to perform under test-like conditions. Conditions in performance are never what they are in practice, so the results in practice are less important that the results in performance. During the test phase, the brain is involved in obtaining items from memory. When there has not been enough random or retrieval practice, this ability is diminished. Those who had more random practice had also made better connections between the similarities of the different skills. The blocked practice group had not made any such connections. Schmidt’s studies have been the catalyst for many others testing his (1975)schema theory hypothesis.[6] Ironically, random practice involves a higher degree of error during practice itself. However, varying practice is not only good for under test conditions, it fosters higher learning overall.

One can guess at why musicians historically practice such long repetitions of things. After being told that the most successful musicians practice 8 hours a day leaves a big gap of time to fill. Repetition also fosters a sense of security. Where musicians often expect themselves to play flawlessly, increasing repetition seems to put the odds in their favor. As a student, I was taught the following:

W=Wrong

R=Right

When on practices such patterns, W R R W R R R  W R R R = W or ?

On the other hand, practicing W W R R R R R R R R = R

The teacher meant to illustrate that one must be careful not to learn mistakes, or encode mistakes into the memory. What this doesn’t show is that this type of model is unrealistic to achieve. It can easily send a student spiraling into a pattern of unhealthy practice, trying to get more “Rights” than “Wrongs”. When one has such a picture in mind, the effect can cause anxiety about the likelihood of a poor result in performance. This can increase muscle tension can hinder objective thinking. There is some validity in this teacher’s theory however. For example, one can have falsely encoded motor movements that are difficult to re-learn. However, the approach to this shouldn’t scare the student into doing more repetitions, but to reduce the tempo so that the patterns are correctly learned with minimal strain. Then, one can concentrate on increasing the tempo without this type of detrimental score-keeping.

In addition to this, research in over-learning of motor skills shows a “point of diminishing returns for (the) amount of practice”[7] time and that learning deficits can occur, “due to a decrease in the amount of cognitive effort applied.”[8]  Again, to differentiate between this theory and how musicians practice, all repetition is not bad. Many musicians find a repetitive morning routine of technical work to be relaxing. Like a mantra, it brings feelings of security while waking up the body and mind to another practice day. The point is to draw clear line between repetitiveness that increases tension and that which relaxes.

Overall, musicians would benefit from the idea of restructuring their practice time. Focusing only on health, the evidence shows that over-practice is detrimental. Focusing on learning, one can not help but be convinced that musicians need to re-think the way they approach learning new works.

How practiced is structures is one area that warrants further thought and research.

What one actually thinks about during practice is discussed below.

2. Focus and Effort:

Moving back to the suggestions of Hildebrandt, he said that pianists who think of floating their fingertips over the keys are thinking something unrealistic. Technically, they move from the metacarpal. However, when they think of moving from the metacarpal, they suffer cramps.

Wulf conducted research to prove why this phenomenon is true. Wulf’s presentation, “The Role of Attentional focus in Motor Skill Learning” began by saying that experts who focus on the details of their movements suffer. Novices need to pay attention to step by step instructions, but after this phase of learning is complete, switching from an internal to an external focus economizes learning.

Wulf differentiated between internal and external focus by defining them as follows:

• Internal focus is focusing on your body movements.
• External focus is focusing on the effect you are trying to achieve.

In an experiment with subjects on a slalom ski trainer, three groups were formed. The first group was asked to focus on their outer foot (internal focus), the second was asked to focus on the outer wheels (external focus) and the third group (control) wasn’t given any focus instructions at all.

During the test phase, the groups performed in the following order.

1. The external focus group achieved the highest amplitude for the task
2. The control group was second
3. The internal focus group came in third place.

This means that having no instructions was actually more beneficial than having someone focus on their own body. In addition to this, other groups performed better the further away their focus was from their body. For example, those who focused close to their feet did not achieve the same amplitude as those who focused on the edge of the apparatus.

In another study, subjects performing bicep curls were measured. By measuring EMG activity[9], the study showed that those who focused on their biceps actually used more muscle than those who focused on the bar, although they were lifting the same amount of weight. This explains why the pianists that Hildebrandt described felt a cramp in their arm when focusing on it as opposed to when they focused on their fingertips.

In the symposium, a discussion followed about the relative ease of doing this when there is an apparatus involved. Some thought that with music there were certain situations where this is not possible. The point was clarified in that musicians performing without an external source will employ metaphors focusing on a desired effect. Musicians can use focus words to bring their attention to the desired sound, rather than the desired movement.

In another study by Wulf, subjects were asked to pedal on wooden blocks, some with external focus, and another with internal. In the test trial, the instructions were taken away, and both groups were to pedal as fast as they could and count backwards by 3’s. Even with the focus instructions gone, the external group was faster at both tasks.  With the pedaling task occurring automatically, the minds of the participants were less distracted to perform the counting task.

The summary of Wulf’s findings show that external focus promotes automaticity as well as faster reaction times by reducing “noise” in the motor system

 

Summary:

The research presented in motor learning can benefit musicians in structuring new practice schedules that reduce the amount of necessary practice hours and promote better learning. Reducing practice times is the first step in reducing over-use injuries. Using external focus can lessen muscular tension and require less physical practice overall. By implementing the recommendations gained from these studies, students and teachers are empowered to advocate for what they know to be healthy.

 

 

Questions for further research:

 

When would it help to randomize various aspect of practice and when not? How random, or far from each other, do we make the various elements of practice? Where do we lose continuity, and where do we gain heightened awareness?

What instrument specific elements could be studied regarding restructuring a practice program?  What instrument specific elements could be studied regarding the use of external focus?

Where does one draw a line to cross over from giving step by step instructions to using metaphor?

How does one foster the development of this when the ability of the student to form an implement metaphor is lacking?

 

Additional References:

 

Expert Performance and Deliberate Practice: an updated excerpt from Ericsson (2000)http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html, Retrieved on June 9, 2008

L I E B E R T, Mary Ann, Exploring Feldenkreis Practitioners’ Attitudes Toward Clinical Research, The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, Volume 13, No. 6, (2007), P. 593

M A G I L L, Richard A., Motor Learning and Control, 7th Edition, Mc Graw Hill, New York, 2004, P. 334

S A K A I, Naotaka, Hand pain attributed to overuse among professional pianists: a study of 200 cases, Medical Problems of Performing Artists: Volume 17 Number 4: Page 178 (December 2002)

www.dispokkinesis.com, Retrieved June 9, 2008

www.Kinesiology.net, Retrieved June 9, 2008.

---

1Feldenkreis is a system for developing self-awareness through movement, using the body as the learning instrument. Taken from Mary Ann L I E B E R T, Exploring Feldenkreis Practitioners’ Attitudes Toward Clinical Research, The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, Volume 13, No. 6, (2007), P. 593                                                                                                                                           2 Kinesiolgy is the science of movement that is used to diagnose various health problems though muscle tests. From www.Kinesiology.net, Retrieved June 9, 2008.                                                           3 „Dispokinesis is a scientifically based procedure to give students and performing artists […] a Re-educational Processing (REP- re-education of posture and motor capacity).“ From the International Center for Dispokinesis, www.dispokkinesis.com, Retrieved June 9, 2008

[4] This is confirmed in a study by Ericsson et al., 1993. This study documented the practice hours citing a remarkable diffference between the hours practiced by the „good“ and the „best“ students. (This information is quoted from classnotes of Mag. Anna Hofstätter in the course Psychologie für IGP, Kunst Uni Graz, 2008). The Ericsson study states, „For example, the critical difference between expert musicians differing in the level of attained solo performance concerned the amounts of time they had spent in solitary practice during their music development, which totaled around 10,000 hours by age 20 for the best experts,  around 5,000 hours for the least accomplished expert musicians and only 2,000 hours for serious amateur pianists.” http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html, Retrieved on June 9, 2008

5 Naotaka S A K A I, Hand pain attributed to overuse among professional pianists: a study of 200 cases, Medical Problems of Performing Artists: Volume 17 Number 4: Page 178 (December 2002)

[6] Richard A. M A G I L L, Motor Learning and Control, 7th Edition, Mc Graw Hill, New York, 2004, pp. 61-62

[7] Ibid. P. 334

[8] Ibid.

[9] EMG, or electromyography is „a measurement technique that records the electrical activity of a muscle“ from Richard A. M A G I L L, Motor Learning and Control, 7th Edition, Mc Graw Hill, New York, 2004, P. 33

Attention Performance Majors!

This blog entry is meant to be a little more practical, rather than my other musings found here. I’m writing this because I feel a little more than compelled to talk about making a living in the meantime, that is, before you get a full-time job. Now, for some of us, the meantime can be pretty long and grow into real time, or a conscious life choice. When I finished school, I suffered a bit of a shock. I couldn’t believe that as hard as I had worked, it was not about to be rewarded in any foreseeable future. I was in a bubble, studying with Julius Baker, dreaming of the NY Philharmonic, and thinking I was going to be the one who never gave up and went to every audition until I got what I wanted.

The first shock was the letter from my student loan company. They were not at all phased by my inability to pay it back and suggested that I work at anything to pay this back, pumping gas if need be. The next shock was in finding students. Someone told me, don’t worry, you can charge $40/hour teaching. I thought that was my insurance, I’ll just teach. I hadn’t majored in music ed. and I think this is a shame, but, music ed. was presented as the lesser of the two music majors. We all thought the performance majors were better. I wasn’t about to drop my standards and “waste my time” with music ed. Now, since I didn’t have the music ed. degree, the next hurdle was finding students. I put in some ads at the local schools and got some calls. One of the first bubble-bursters was a mom who was a little put off that I asked $40 and was only 22 and with zero experience. She asked me where I studied and I thought, ok, here’s my ace in the hole. “I studied with Julius Baker” To which she snidely responded, “Well, I don’t know who that is!” So, it went like this for a while.

Working retail, teaching as much as I could, my saving grace being the Haddonfield Symphony several times a year. This is where I hope to get practical for every performance major out there. There are a couple important lessons that can be learned. 1) Music Ed. is not dumb. It won’t take anything away from your practicing-you’ll just learn to be more focused with your time. It won’t ruin your embouchure. It can make the years in the meantime a lot more comfortable. 2) If you chose not to do this and would rather teach privately, you will teach a lot. At the height of my private teaching I taught Mondays and Wednesdays 9 to 9 with a break for a lunch, a short break to drive between schools and no dinner break. Tuesdays and Thursdays I taught only 1 1/2 hours, but with an 1 1/2 hour commute each way. Fridays were off, Saturdays I taught form 9 to 2:30, no break. I played piccolo in the Riverside Symphonia and lost money every time I did. I had to cancel students to make the rehearsals and the rehearsals payed less. I was also the orchestra librarian at the time. 3) You need to budget your money based on the school year, not the calendar year. Many musicians I knew made this mistake, including me. The reasoning was, I am making 40/hour, 20 hours per week. that’s 800 a week, which makes 3200/month which makes 38,400/year. Not bad. EXCEPT: it doesn’t work this way. Community music schools make their calendars based on about 34 weeks a year. That means, if you make your living teaching, you need to earn all the money for the year during these 34 weeks. That means to get to the 38,400 you thought you had, you need to make 1130 a week. That’s 28.25 hours per week at $40/hour. That’s a lot. School doesn’t finish until 3pm. You can’t teach much past 9. Having a full schedule 5 days a week will get this done. Another snag in this plan is that community music schools usually pay much less than $40/hour.

More advice on protecting yourself: 1) If you teach privately, base your rate on something similar to what academic tutors earn. They are in higher demand, and will probably earn more, but don’t short change yourself. In my area right now, they are earning between $60 and $70/hour to tutor in students homes. To travel to a students home, a piano teacher I know was earning $50. 2) Establish a calendar and cancellation policy or you will be left with much less than you thought. Ask them to pay by semester, or in 12 week blocks or something of this sort. 3) When budgeting your money, don’t forget an audition budget. When you do this, count on losing about 3 days of teaching income. This may be dated, but I average about $800 for every audition including a flight, hotel and lost income. You also have to figure out a way to keep your students ok with the fact that you can cancel and they can’t. This idea of a make-up lesson rarely worked for me. My schedule was much too full. When I missed, I refunded the money. All in all, it’s going to be fine. I was pretty happy with the flexibility that I had. I grew very proud of having created this life all by myself. I bought a home, played my flute and taught many great kids. It worked out just fine. I wish that someone had prepared me for this. I wish someone had been more of a mentor and told me about this process. I was completely unprepared for this reality and I hope this post helps lessen the shock for someone else.

Let me introduce myself

I’m a new author on this blog and wanted to introduce myself to all of you.  A little about me first:  I moved to Vienna, Austria in 2002 and found an entirely new musical culture. The first big shock was the quality of the state-supported music schools. Unlike my previous years teaching 50+ students a week, the teachers there were benefitting from a much more viable career. They are being paid as much as a normal elementary school teacher, including benefits and vacation, for teaching 25 hours a week.  They also all have a masters degree in instrumental and vocal pedagogy. You can guess what that means.  They are qualified first in their instruments and second in teaching that focuses on private lessons. They aren’t overworked. The students and parents are sure of the instruction they are getting, which they are paying a minimal amount for!  Something along the lines of 200 a semester.

Now, here I am back in the United States. Music teachers are working hard. They’ve practiced years and are highly skilled. In most cases, they find their own students and manage their own scheduling and money. Most of them love to teach.  But, most of them learn to teach on the job.  Most of them have little, if any supervision of their teaching.  Many have little inspiration to alter or improve their teaching.

I feel a little bit of a compulsion to change the bits of this that I can.  I don’t expect the government to start sponsoring music schools. Nor do I expect community music schools to start offering full benefits to part time teachers. But, I do think that by starting a dialogue, presenting some of the fascinating, cutting edge research, and perhaps by starting a study program, teachers can recharge and enjoy what they do more.

I loved my students. I loved the families. I loved the recitals and all the cards and christmas cookies. I know I would’ve loved it more had I known then what I know now about teaching