inquiries about college tuba instructors


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Posted by bloke on January 12, 2004 at 18:49:05:

Dear 12th graders,

A public forum is not the proper place to inquire about the strengths nor in particular the weaknesses of non-celebrity professional individuals "by name".

Most all college instrumental instructors have a lot to offer. Though in any industry there are obviously stronger and weaker individuals, I've personally heard few 17-year-olds who could not benefit greatly from a four year course of study with most any college level instrumental instructor.

Asking 18-to-21-year-old college students to evaluate their instructor does not particularly yield the most helpful information either. Even if these young individuals were completely candid, their perspective is not much more sophisticated than yours - at their current stations in their life journeys and levels of experience.

The most important aspect to know about an teacher's strengths and weaknesses is their character - an attribute often ignored. This can be strongly hinted at through general reputation. Unfortunately, about the only way to truly determine the character of a teacher is to push them to the brink... As one type of example:
_________________________

- Be a heavily-recruited student with a large scholarship.
- Be the strongest student in the studio, and acquire a national reputation for your student accomplishments.
- In your Junior year, inform your instructor that you've decided to leave school/tranfer to another school.
_______________________

The way that your instructor would handle such a situation would be a true reflection of their character. Obviously, this type of situation seldom occurs, and when it does occur it usually isn't openly discussed. Other easier ways to evaluate a teacher's character are factors such as

- How well do the members of the instructor's studio get along with each other as a group?
- Is this instructor known to gossip about aspects of students strengths and weaknesses with other individuals?

You will simply have to make your OWN choice regarding a school and an instructor. As to their raw ability to teach music, most often those who "can" also can teach. If you interview a candidate-teacher, you should insist on hearing them play. If you are mostly offered excuses (rather than an eagerly-offered inspirational performance) to such an inquiry, you should probably weigh that in with other factors. In other words, upon completion of your course of study with this person, do you want to be prepared to offer "excuses" or "inspirational performances"? ...[your decision] Finally, music schools and the studios within are a lot like restaurants. If there are a lot of cars in the parking lot and a lot of people waiting to get in, likely what's for sale inside is worth the effort.

This is perhaps the first time in your life that you will have the opportunity and the responsibility to choose with whom you will dedicate a very significant amount of energy and quality time - a step towards adulthood. Others - no matter how full of advice they may be - cannot effectively guide you in these decisions.


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