Posted by Graham Smith on May 03, 2003 at 16:15:55:
In Reply to: Re: too many ? posted by Kenneth Sloan on May 03, 2003 at 13:11:23:
My tuba prof, back at the dawn of time, was actually a French horn player who'd also been the university's band director for a number of years (but didn't have to deal with that anymore by the time I came along in the mid-60's.)
He admitted to me along about my junior year that I had about learned all he had to offer, and he wanted me to start taking lessons with the man who was then principal tuba with the New Orleans Symphony, which was about a three hour drive each way from where I lived. For a number of reasons that seemed valid then (full time job, full time school, and interests outside of music), I didn't do that, nor did I follow his later suggestion that I go do graduate work. There are times when I wonder how life would have been different had I done what he suggested.
What I did get from him was a love of the instrument and a challenge to use the gifts I had been given. That's rare, I think.
He was, above all things, a dedicated teacher who cared deeply about his students.
One other sidelight was that I wound up doing two Mozart horn concertos as part of my jr. and sr. recitals. It was an interesting and challenging experience. At the time, that may have been due in part to a lack of good tuba literature back then. On the other hand, it may have been due to his knowledge of good repertoire for the instrument that he knew best, French horn.
I did do some other things, like the Beversdorf tuba sonata, but I remember best those horn concertos.
I left playing for a very long time, about 30 years except for brief forays into some brass quintet recitals in the early 80's and a brief orchestral gig in the mid-80's. I've been back at it a little over a year now with the Lafayette Concert Band and wonder why I ever left.
I still have my prof's practice exercises and his scrawled notes, and I think of him often when I'm warming up. I don't think I ever heard him play the tuba, nor do I know anyone who did.
But what I remember most is wonderful gift of spotting the talents that his students had and encouraging them. He gave me a great deal of encouragement at a time when I needed it, not only for my development as a musician but also as a young man. I wasn't the only beneficiary of that gift; there were many others.
By the way, he had an Ed.D. However, I don't think that had anything to do with what he really was - a man with a wonderful love of music and a natural ability to convey it to others. He was, above all things, a gifted teacher, tenured professor though he was.