I wholly agree, Seth. As a teacher, I would do a disservice by
dissuading any student from their desire to be a musician. We know
going in that most kids who sign up for band or choir or art will
not end up a Arnold Jacobs or Josh Grobin or Van Gogh. Gosh, if
everyone who started in choir or on an instrument had 'the gift',
how crazy would that be? Sometimes a simple appreciation of music or
that rare experience that being in band offers is a realistic goal
that I have with my students. And so far that has been the case. Of
course I get those rare cases where a student is working beyond
expectations and at the right time we discuss their goals beyond my
class. I will talk to parents as well. Many times they already know
and just need pointers on where to go from square one. None of my
students are ever discouraged from this experience. It's hard work
sometimes and I sense some frustration day to day. But the
expressions of joy and relief after conquering a particular
difficult passage seems to more than make up for all that.

Ken F.


--- In low_brass_coolertalk@yahoogroups.com, "Seth Jervis"
<sj189104@...> wrote:
>
> Hmm, after reading all of the posts thus far, I'd say that it is
more
> important to inspire everyone to do their best than to judge
whether
> or not they will be the best. As corny as that sounds, it is
> impossible, and I do mean IMPOSSIBLE, to judge the level of one's
talent.
>
> While I admit that my experience in this field is limited at best,
I
> have known people that were promising, said to be among the best
> players in the state in his age bracket when entering college (for
> lack of a better term), and now in grad school he has made little
> improvement and has come to encounter several mental blocks and is
> unable to surpass them. On the other hand, I have also known
people
> that were told all throughout grade school that music was a carreer
> out of their reach and that they should aspire to something that
> suited them better like a carreer in mathematics, and yet here they
> are blowing past the competition and making dramatic improvements
in
> as little as two years. Who can say where someone will be in a
few years?
>
> In any case, even if someone does not become the best I would
> encourage them to pursue their heart's desires. I find music very
> fulfilling and I am certainly no Carol Jantsch, and I think that by
> telling kids that they don't have a chance when we really don't
know
> what they will be capable of in time is a fairly harsh thing to
do, as
> well as convincing them to do it because they look like they could
be
> the next best tuba player. In the end, it should be a decision
that
> they make for themselves and we have no place but to encourage
them in
> that decision and show them the realities of it.
>
> Back to the point at hand, I would say that the situation with
Carol
> is rare, but that is due in part to her understanding of music and
> hard work. Generally, music isn't something you understand without
> being taught, sure, you might be able to play some, but it's
abstract
> and has been defined in some ways by the human ear over time.
What is
> the job of our teachers if not to put the right "sound" in our
ears.
> What do marcato, staccato, and legato mean? How are you taught?
It's
> short right? How short is short? It's not short!? We eventually
> agree on something that sounds right to both our ears and the
> teacher's ears. Again, it's still possible to discern the correct
> sounds from recordings, but not as likely.
>
> In the end it boils down to both ways exist. True talent (although
> more rare than people believe it to be in my humble opinion) does
> exist and I would say that it simply takes the form of great
> intellect. If a person is naturally great at an instrument, they
> could be great at nearly anything, because they are smart enough to
> easily see the idiosyncracies of whatever needs to be done and
apply
> principles that work towards their goal. More commonly, people
have
> to work hard to discern the differences in sounds to make a great
> sound (articulation, style, tone, intonation, etc.) and do so
through
> strong will and determination (and I'm not saying they're dumb,
music
> is highly taxing on the brain, think of all the multi-tasking!).
> Either way, everyone works, and most enjoy it. :) That's my two
> cents, whatever it's worth.
>
> Seth
>
>
> --- In low_brass_coolertalk@yahoogroups.com, "Ken" <knuxie35@>
wrote:
> >
> > A 20 year old tubist with 8 years on the instrument gets
selected for
> > one of the premier orchestras in the world. What effect will
this have
> > in the world of low brass? Does it give hope that anything is
possible
> > or a delusion resulting in a flood of wide-eyed kids buying
tubas and
> > dreaming of their shot? I'll get your opinions then I'll try to
give
> > mine.
> >
>