Posted by Daryl Hickman on June 07, 2000 at 10:04:05:
In Reply to: No college? posted by Pete on June 07, 2000 at 06:43:58:
Some of things you'll miss by not attending a music school...
1) Ensemble Performance - Included are playing in a section and matching pitch, style, dynamics, etc. Receiving different conductor's interpretations of the same piece of music(some good, some bad), and exposure to a variety of music in performance settings.
2) Music Theory and History - Learning styles of music greatly assists the performance of a piece of literature. This goes beyond simply understanding form and analysis - it covers the social and political climate when a piece was composed. It is important to understand both the impact of society on the composer as well as the impact of the composition on society. As an example - knowing how Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was received by audiences really enhances the musician's understanding of the composition. Ear training is especially important to performance. All of those painful sight-singing classes will make a differnece to an individual's ability to play in tune, to hear pitches, etc.
3) Exposure to other quality musicians. Not just other musicians on your instrument, but other great student musicians and professionals. Recital attendance requirements aren't just to put people in the audience for that viola recital - they are there to expose musicians to music that they would not normally encounter.
There are others, but I have to go teach rotary valve repair to my patiently waiting class. Take care,
Daryl Hickman, Instructor
Musical Instrument Repair
Renton Technical College