Posted by anon on July 02, 2001 at 10:27:27:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: I ACTUALLY attended Curtis posted by Dale ready to bust out with obscenities at you Phelps on June 30, 2001 at 20:18:37:
The following has nothing to do with my unfair criticism of Paul K, but has to do with finding out about a teacher before investing lots of time and money in having a lesson...
So, you think that a 17 year old cannot have a valid, worthwhile opinion? I flew halfway across the country to have a lesson with the big name "teacher" at the big name sunbelt school. My opinion is that he is a very real disgrace to the teaching profession. In spite of extensive email contacts before I flew in to see him, he waited until the $50 lesson (yes, he charged me $50 for a prospective student lesson, the only teacher to do so) to tell me the following: He "hates" his teaching job (as a teacher, not as a symphony pro); he thinks the only school worth attending is Juilliard (where he went, not where he teaches now); he told me that I was crazy to study the tuba (he said he tells all prospects the same); he warned me against tuba teachers in the big square states (the "public" schools); he told me that he has only taken one undergrad into his program in almost 20 years (he told me that before I even played for him, but not before I spent a lot of money flying in to see him, so it wasn't some sort of easy "letdown" - I was sitting there when he said that thinking to myself "what the hell am I doing here?"). It was less a lesson than his "diatribe" against studying the tuba, music education, music in general, etc... My point: He could have revealed his negativism to me before I spent a lot of money to see him.
I don't think that 10 years is going to change my opinion of this "teacher" one bit.