Posted by Jay Bertolet on February 03, 2001 at 09:18:54:
In Reply to: Teachers posted by Curious on February 02, 2001 at 00:33:44:
Okay, as a teacher myself I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.
1) "I have also noticed that if one plays with a certain style they may have been taught that a teacher from the other style will not be pleased with their performance. Has this been everyone else's experience or not?"
No, that has not been my experience. Every good teacher I know of does not come into their lessons with rigid guidelines about the mechanics or style of playing. Certainly there are truisms in some of what we do but for every absolute you can state, I can show you a player who sounds great and doesn't do what you stated. A good teacher will listen to YOU and then decide, drawing on his knowledge and experience, what is the best course for improvement. If you find a teacher who says that you must play like he does or with a certain, specific embouchure, I would suggest you stay away. I also believe you won't find many teachers like that.
2) "Which teachers teach the "wide open" style of playing? Which teachers teach the gradually changing of the jaw? I know it will have a vast difference on where some people would like to go to school."
No, these things do not make a vast difference in choosing a school. To answer your question, most teachers teach all of these techniques. Some use them themselves. Pretty much all teachers understand these techniques and the effects they have in the student's playing.
3) "I am mostly interested in what teachers teach which style as I am looking for a place to study."
My answer to this statement is that it is irrelevant. The style you play in is determined by you, not your teacher. If that isn't the case, the teacher is doing a disservice to the musical community by taking away your voice and giving you his own. Learning to play is like going to a salad bar (okay Forrest), you take what works for you and discard the rest. Any good teacher will tell you to take as many lessons as you can from as many teachers as you can. That will get you as many viewpoints as possible, giving you a large pool of information to choose from. A good teacher will be able to help you find the information and techniques that work for your playing and help you implement them.
The only way to find a good teacher for you is to go out and take lessons with these guys and see how they "fit". There are just too many variables to consider. It is impossible to just look at one aspect of technique (jaw position) and choose based on that aspect. You won't be addressing the main issues in determining what a good teacher is and you'll have almost no prospect of making a successful choice, choosing on that basis alone.
My opinion for what it's worth...