Re: Re: College costs and beyond


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Posted by Jay Bertolet on February 26, 2000 at 23:55:00:

In Reply to: Re: College costs and beyond posted by Joe S. on February 26, 2000 at 22:59:22:

No rebuttal here! I do a similar thing with my students where I tell them that if they want to win a job, they have to play better than I do. Alot of my students blink at this, thinking maybe I misspoke. I saw this sentiment expressed on Doug Yeo's website and it is something I've always taught. For a student to be successful today, they are competing against more players, who are better equipped and trained, than I did. At least that is my perception of the current crop of tuba students. Your pimento cheese story is great too. My version is that I constantly share with my students the goings on in our orchestra. While I work with a great bunch of players, our relationship with our management and the working conditions we labor in are far from satisfactory. I find it very effective to simply tell my students periodically what we're doing and what goes on in a professional orchestra. These stories are sobering enough to paint a very clear picture of the reality of a performance career. I've had more than one student come to me saying something to the effect of "I started studying with you wanting to become a performer but after I saw what you go through, I have decided to major in something else". That is why I believe the best teachers for performers are the ones who are also professional performers. The things you need to know in this career are so specialized that it is a big advantage to have someone teaching you who is actually doing it/has done it.


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