Another thought on finding a "good" teacher

[WxJeff]

I went to a trumpet recital this afternoon and it was fulfilling, uplifting and insightful. My neighbor and his two sons all take lessons from a TH member, "scream," and I learned a lot about this instructor from watching how he held this recital. Of course, my first reaction is the fact that he is conducting a trumpet-specific recital at all is a pretty strong endorsement!

The recital was extremely well organized and clearly focused on the students (I was going to say "kids," but there were two students who played.) Each child received a round of welcoming applause as he or she entered the auditorium from a side door. "Scream" then noted where the child attended school, how long he/she had been taking lessons and perhaps said a little about the music that was going to be played. It was all very positive and encouraging. After each piece, the student exited to applause, the side door opened, Scream called the name of the next player and they were welcomed to the stage. Very nicely done.

The interaction between student and instructor during the performance was professional, but personal. On a couple occasions Scream noted accolades the child had received for accomplishments in things other than music, which I'm sure was pleasing to the parents and helped the rest of us know the child a bit more. He did this with the students as well, perhaps a bit more even and truly lifted them up before us as "great folks" even before the first note was played. I think there were fifteen performances... that's a lot of facts to remember about people!

With the trumpet players (well, we had an excellent trombone solo (one of my neighbor's sons) and a nice baritone piece) mostly ranging through the middle and lower high school years, there was some good playing, some nervous playing, some fuzzy playing, some stuffy playing and some excellent playing (easy to be a judge when you're just sitting in the back and your horn is at the house!) I recall some of you have pointed out that character and relationship are as important in an instructor as technical savvy and skills. As I listened to these players and glanced over at their instructor I got to thinking... maybe I learned something today about how this particular instructor views his students and his instructional sessions.

If you're in the market for a teacher, maybe a call to the local music school to see if they have any recitals coming up this spring might be an effective way to shop around.