| Author |
Subject |
Laura
Wichers
Registered
User
(8/20/00 10:22:48 pm)
Reply |
Encouraging young musicians
Reading "Classical Music Criticism"
by R. Schick, I ran across this interesting quote:
"Our real
duty - and it is a true kindness - is not to encourage them [young
composers] but to discourage them. In art vocation is everything,
and a vocation needs no one, for God aids. What use it is to
encourage them and their efforts when the public obstinately refuses
to pay attention to them? If an act is ordered from one of them, it
fails to go. Two or three years later the same thing is tried again
with the same result." -Theophile Gautier, 1864.
I'm glad
this doesn't seem to be the mindset today.
-Laura
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Liz
Schneider
Registered User
(8/20/00 11:17:33 pm)
Reply |
discouraging words
I'm sorry to report that I've been
subjected at times to the accumulated gloom and doom of those who
would advise or teach me - "you're not ready to play this piece"
(did the next year), "You'll never get into Juilliard" (did after 2
years) and from others more recently, "you'll never get a college
position" (still hoping to prove them wrong about that). I certainly
didn't solicit this negative advice, and hope to God I don't deserve
it by lack of talent or whatever. I have the vocation, the true
"it-chose-me" situation. And I swear if I "make it," I won't be one
of the spreaders of doom. Why do some people seem to take such
pleasure to sit thus in judgement? Hate for my fate to be filtered
through their personal disappointments. Ditto the attitude I've
gotten: "I was harder on you because you were one of the talented
ones." That's not your job, professor. Life will be hard enough on
me. I come to mentors for something more constructive. Here's to
those who would facilitate - not falsely, but with belief that
people are not statistics.
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MusicKid13
Registered User
(8/21/00 12:14:39 am)
Reply |
Encourage/discourage
Hmmmmm. Interesting. While I think
that teachers should never break a student's spirit (confidence is
pretty important in my opinion), a little constructive criticism can
be a good thing. I walk away from each of my trumpet lessons
challenged, realizing that I'm not as great as I sometimes think I
am. Maybe it's becoming aware of a slighty ugly note that I just
skipped over. Maybe I didn't phrase "Amazing Grace" too well. But I
am thankful for these bits of insight that improve my playing so
tremendously. But as far as what you said, Liz, that's just not
right for a person to say. Anyway, there's my input. Bye!
MusicKid13
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sarah
schenkman
Registered User
(8/21/00 9:58:59 am)
Reply |
encouraging
Good for you, Liz, for not letting
the numskulls get you down. I hope you get the position you want and
have the opportunity to encourage others.
|
Paul
Tseng ICS Staff 
Administrator
(8/21/00 2:19:43 pm)
Reply
 |
Re:
Encouraging young musicians
I'm surprised at the date of that
quote. I've encountered some professional muscicians AND teachers
who have this attitude.
I don't fully agree, but if you
consider that the sate of music today compared to back then doesn't
seem to ahve improved, then there may be a reason (not necesarily a
justification) why some people have this negative attitude.
I
like what Liz said about music being a vocation that chose her.
That's how I feel too.
Why don't people discourage youngsters
from being a Doctor, Lawyer, Business person? It's not like there is
a lack of things that one would want not to have to go through in
those fields.
If it weren't for money, then I would encourage
every interested person to persue music as a vocation as long as
they were willing to be committed enough to work hard at maitaining
their artistic integrity.
Paul Tseng, Cello Chat Administrator
Today's Quote
My Website
MP3!
The San Diego Cello Society
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ruthann
Registered User
(8/22/00 11:05:22 am)
Reply |
Re:
Encouraging young musicians
Yes, but how much encouragement is
appropriate?
I think encouragement is part of a teachers job
- playing an instrument requires quite a bit of effort, and the
rewards aren't always immediately forthcoming. I try to tell my
students that playing the cello is an incredibly rewarding hobby,
and for a select few, an incredibly rewarding career. I try to
instill in them an appreciation of how much music can enrich one's
life.
Granted, there are those whose parents think their
child is incredibly gifted and pass on that belief to the child -
usually with not good results.
And, too, I know of one young
person, quite gifted and not interested in much beyond the violin,
whose parents are actively discouraging any advanced study. Not
practical, they say. Grrrr.
So I say, encourage away for the
sake of the art and personal enrichment. Studying music for the sake
of music is a fine thing. But explain, too, how tough a music career
can be to obtain.
cello_suttonr@hotmail.com
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SrPilha
Registered
User
(8/26/00 10:47:40 am)
Reply |
Re:
Encouraging young musicians
This from a guy who used to read
dictionnaries as a hobby, so he would improve his
vocabulary!!
I'm amazed that Thophile Gaultier would have
writen this!
Paul definitely hits the nail: why not
discourage people from being anything else than a musician? The
question is of course why to discourage people from anything at
all?
We all know there's no such thing as a free lunch, and
every career will have its challenges. I believe evry form of
encouragement is good, and frequently necessary. But encouragement
doesn't always mean rewards. For me at least, it has frequently
shown up as clear indications of flaws and the solutions to them,
like "it's not good (at all), try it this other way. See? it works.
Now work on it."
My impressions on
this.
Guilherme
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MusicKid13
Registered User
(8/26/00 1:58:47 pm)
Reply |
Oops!
Mistake with my words.
Liz, I went back and read this
thread today and realize that what I said to you could have been
misunderstood. I was refering to what you said your teacher was
saying when I said "that's just not right for a person to say," not
what you said. Just wanted to clear that up just in case you or
anyone else misunderstood. Oops!
MusicKid13
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matthias24
Registered
User
(8/26/00 10:03:38 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Encouraging young musicians
I think that if a student only gets
negativity from their teacher, do they realize that they are
improving at all? usually (at least for me) i dont realize that I am
improving until someone compliments me. If i never got complimented
(in any of the instruments i play) i would think that i am not
improving at all, and am just a lost cause. (i know that this
doesn't directly relate to the discussion, but it's
related)
~ aaron ~
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