• FAQ  • Search  • Memberlist  • Usergroups   • Register   • Profile  • Log in to check your private messages  • Log in 

A Candid Assessment of Modern Trumpet Pedagogy



 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    trumpetherald.com Forum Index -> Pedagogy
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Old French Model
New Member


Joined: 21 Sep 2018
Posts: 6
Location: Paris, France

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:38 pm    Post subject: A Candid Assessment of Modern Trumpet Pedagogy Reply with quote

As regards the vagaries of modern trumpet pedagogy, here is a draft translation of an article I am writing for a Euro arts magazine. The story is true down to the finest details but is intended as whimsy and entertainment, so no need for ponderous replies.

“Candide Learns To Trumpet”

“Learn as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow!” Gandi’s famous exhortation in favor of learning makes a lot of sense. It has always been a kind of guiding principle and thanks to many great teachers I have learned a great many things.

I have had private lessons from qualified instructors in acting, voice, classical singing, piano, sailing, windsurfing, flying, golf, archery, shotgun, rifle and pistol shooting, cooking, and most recently, trumpet playing. And thanks to many great teachers I have gained a level of proficiency that spans from almost satisfactory to professional in all of them, except one.

I played the trumpet as a boy until my parents and an all to willing orthodontist decided otherwise. Well I tried to play along with Herb Alpert wearing barbed wire on my teeth for years until the bleeding and ingested wax threatened my health.

A half century later, for professional reasons, I picked my beautiful horn up again. And I decided, because of all my other learning successes, to have a private lesson. That is when the mischief began.

Now if you want to learn to cook, fly or act on Broadway there are a few different schools of thought but at the end of the hour’s lesson they all pretty much teach the same thing. After all, getting too creative with flying lessons can be dangerous.

But in the trumpet playing world, there seems to be a school of thought for every teacher. Anyone who has sat in a chair staring at the white page with specks of black hearing words that just don’t make sense because they contradict what another teacher taught a week earlier, will probably know where I am headed now.

Or maybe those of you who have never had the pleasure of a private trumpet lesson at all have, instead, spent hours reading manuals, instruction or exercise books vaunting grossly opposing teachings, theories and technique.

Some of you will have ingested morsels of knowledge on brass instrument internet forums only to regurgitate them five minutes later at the insistence of another poster, hawking SKYPE lessons, who “knows better.” These online teachers, vying for student’s cash, often wind up in conflict with other teachers doing the same. And most times their heated exchanges make mincemeat of anything even resembling professional instruction.

But know that it didn’t used to be like this in the brass instrument pedagogical world, because way back when, a century or so ago, a dozen Frenchmen were writing comprehensive books of cornet instruction that all basically said the same things, with only slight variances at the virgules and accent aigu level thrown in just for visual interest.

But today, the overall impression you get is that no one knows how to play the trumpet; and if there are a handful of trumpet virtuosos enchanting listeners every century, they most likely learned from God. The rest of the mass of trumpet practitioners are just grasping at straws, mouthpieces, buzzing tools, venturi effects and bore sizes. And those of us unwashed potential students wind up jammed in the resulting quagmire.

I remember the day of my first private lesson so well. My trumpet was cleaned, serviced and ready to make beautiful music once again. But to my dismay the teacher, who had an advanced degree in trumpet teaching from a swanky East coast music school, told me to keep the horn in the case. I was immediately concerned and my concern grew into full fledged fear just a few moments later.

He looked deep into my eyes with Cagliostro type effect and said, “now listen to me and do as I do.” And thereupon he started to do what can only be described as an imitation of a fly! He started buzzing. Now the actor who played “The Fly” in the movies is a good friend of mine. We studied with the same acting teacher in New York. But his “fly” character work was weak compared to this trumpet PhD. Crescendo after wall shaking buzz crescendo left me wondering about this poor teacher’s sanity…and mine.

Of course, I had no experience playing a fly. I’ve played just about everything else in my career and I have a strong sympathetic imagination, but try as I may I could not make a buzz. “Not to worry”, my winged friend said,”in six months of lessons and study you’ll do it just like me!” I gasped.

That experience is stamped on my soul forever, but I never went back.

Since I didn’t hear my first teacher actually play the trumpet, I decided that my second teacher should be a trumpet player and not a professor. And there was a wonderful player in a city I was visiting.

My second lesson started with such promise. My teacher asked to play my horn, and let loose with an absolutely rapturous riff of glorious music. “Wow”, I thought, “This guy is no insect! He’s the real thing.” “Ok you’ve got a good horn, now lets hear you” he said, pointing to a page of very modestly arranged notes. I lifted the horn, and some fog horn trumpet-like sounds came out. I had played my first notes for a teacher again! I exulted, “Like this?”

“Well”, and my teacher paused, thought for a moment, and said, “not like that, try to do it like this.” And he played the same notes perfectly. “Now you do it.” I tried again and any ship within a hundred nautical miles would have been alerted. And so, my earnest teacher played the notes yet again. This went on for about an hour when I finally had the temerity to ask how he made his notes so beautifully and mine were so pitiful.

My new teacher thought for a moment, played the notes again for me, and said, “Well you just do it like I do.” And it dawned on me that this great player, who could play the dickens off the horn, didn’t know how to transfer his knowledge except by demonstration. But I was wrong, he was using a teaching technique from a famous trumpet master. You see, in this method a student learns to play by imitation not thought.

Anyway, I saw him take a deep breath while his face became a kind of frightful mask and his abdominal muscles flexed. So I tried to mimic him in every way but fog notes came out nonetheless. “I asked him if I should try buzzing and he said, “Buzzing is a ridiculous waste of time!” Now I had learned something! Teacher number two didn’t agree with teacher number one.

My third teacher came announced as a certified instructor of one of the most famous trumpet teachers of all time. I was so excited because I had read about this famous guru, studied some of his books, and found how similar his method was to what I learned as a singer. So, even though this teacher was miles away, I decided to make the trek to see him.

“Trumpet playing is all about air, and is as simple as breathing” he advised pointing to a page of notes. This was great news because I had a lifetime of experience breathing. So, since I had been trying to imitate teacher number two for a month or so, I took in a huge Pavarotti breath, tensed my face into the mask of a serial killer, flexed my aging wobbly six pack to the max and let loose with all the air the environment could spare. The room shook. The dogs barked. The cats ran. And the neighbors groaned. At this point my teacher smiled and pulled out a black box that ticked. I remembered this thing from my boyhood. Mine was green and made in Germany.

Teacher number three turned the ticking bomb on and said, “Now play it in time!” To tell you the absolute truth, and it is what I told him too, it took real effort and a lot of luck just to play the notes much less to play them in time. Anyway I soon learned that air was essential but that the secret of good playing was Rhythm. “What are you going to do when you are asked to play first trumpet at the Berlin Philharmoniker?”, he explained with fierce assurance.

My imagination escaped to Germany’s capital. I saw Furtwangler before me, bathed in wondrous light, swinging the baton, the beautiful Rhine maidens were singing..and there I was, missing a beat. The music stopped. I was lead to a wall and offered a cigarette. Trumpet playing can be dangerous for your health.

I awoke to find teacher number three had assigned me a half ton of material to learn to play, in time. I was keen. “But how do I play these notes better than I do now?”, I asked. And his reply surprised me, “That I cannot tell you, you will have to find it yourself by feel. When you play this music you will adapt by feel to play it right.”

“Ah ha..hmmm, its all about feel, that’s the secret”, I thought. But the next day sitting alone at the controls of my trusty Selmer trumpet, I wondered how I’d feel if a flight instructor took me up in an F-15 and as he bailed out cried, “Don’t worry, you’ll learn to fly by feel. You’ll figure it out. In any case, you’ll find your way back to earth one way or another! Good luck! Geronimo!” So, right then and there,I decided to bail on teacher number 3.

Chance had it that I had to go to LA for work and I stayed with an actress friend of mine. I brought my horn with the hope that breathing would teach me how to trumpet. My friend blushed and giggled when I played for her. She had never taken me seriously; and even back in our acting class days when we were often paired onstage, she just thought I was kinda harmless and cute, you know, like a sad-eyed cocker spaniel puppy. And my wanting to learn to play the trumpet as a near septuagenarian did nothing to change, but rather, confirmed her feelings about me.

As it turned out, one of her friends is a famous composer of movie scores who had a band and he was invited to dinner. When the subject of my trumpet playing came up, this clever man said he would send a real trumpet player over to give me a lesson the very next day.

Teacher number four was an L.A. Studio player of some renown. I was so pleased to meet him. Here in the splendor of a Benedict Canyon estate I could blow the horn to my heart’s content without scaring small children, dogs, or cats. So I started to play an exercise given me by teacher number three for my new found teacher number 4. He frowned. I smiled and told him I was learning to play with air, by feel and in strict time. He frowned even more. He switched off the time bomb and said, “How can you expect to play in time when you can barely make the notes? Your embouchure is all wrong!” Being French, I was so impressed that he used a word from my native language.

“Embouchure?”, I repeated with the correct accent. But what in blazes did he mean? “You have to do calisthenics for your face muscles! They are in terrible shape”, he explained. So I tried to show him my muscles and put on the death mask from teacher number two, “No, no not like that..like this!” And he proceeded to put on his own death mask that, frankly speaking, looked just like teacher number two’s.

“If you wanna have any hope of playing that horn you will have to learn to play The Six Notes”, he said. I thought I heard the vibrations of a gong sound in the background, but I may be mistaken, And then he handed me “The Six Notes”, don’t be alarmed it’s nothing more serious than a “calisthenics” exercise I was to do every day, five times a day, for the rest of my life. “But what about air?”, I asked, feeling like a pro who knew the real inside secrets of the trumpet trade. “Baloney!”, he scoffed, “Listen to me carefully, trumpet playing happens in the mouth, and in the embouchure. Do the six notes and forget everything else!”

My world was turned suddenly upside down. My head spun in the thickening California heat. Sweat poured down from my trembling brow. And like any man submitted to such incredible pressure I did the only thing possible. I took a dip in the pool, and shared a cool drink with a real Rhine maiden. I would start the calisthenics the following day.

Well I am recruiting teacher number five because all of my adventures so far have been so diverse and the experiences with trumpet pedagogy so Quixotic that I can hardly restrain myself and wonder what new adventures await me since not one teacher of the four I have engaged so far has taught anything that even remotely resembles any other.

Wish me luck, ye Trumpet Gods! Wish me luck!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Irving
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 11 Feb 2003
Posts: 1884

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You've has teachers that contradict each other. Your next teacher will contradict himself.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HaveTrumpetWillTravel
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 30 Jan 2018
Posts: 1019
Location: East Asia

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is an entertaining essay. I'd still say that while there are a lot of ways to get there (the buzzing, long tones, etc. that the writer encountered), most of us are still working on a core range of basics that takes time: intonation, rhythm, articulation, breathing, and range. There's not a lot of disagreement on what matters and there's a lot of overlap on how to get there (scales, exercises, etudes).

For some of us there are also some things that work better (I haven't done a lot of mouthpiece work but was really grateful for exercises on bends, pedal tones, long tones and slurring).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HERMOKIWI
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 24 Dec 2008
Posts: 2578

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Advancing on the trumpet is aided considerably by knowing what works for you and what doesn't work for you and understanding why. We are all different so what works for one player may not necessarily work for another player.

The process typically used is "trial and error" but that is a very precarious way to approach things since a player is often employing multiple changes/characteristics, some of which are beneficial and others which are not beneficial. How does the player sort things out? The ideal solution is a teacher who can sort things out accurately for you, but those people are few and far between and are handicapped by the fact they can only observe, they really can't put themselves in your place and feel what you feel.

Teaching someone how to play the trumpet with the greatest effectiveness is more difficult than parting the Red Sea.
_________________
HERMOKIWI
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Voltrane
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 629
Location: Paris (France)

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Voltairien!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LSOfanboy
Veteran Member


Joined: 08 Jul 2018
Posts: 347

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its an entertaining story, and it contains a lot of the ironies we encounter when learning to play.

I do think there was a key element missed out by the storyteller however, and that is the simple act of doing some practice.

Like all trumpet teachers, I have my particular ideas regarding trumpet pedagogy, but any of the approaches mentioned in the story, when combined with a student who is serious enough to go away and practice them, would be sufficient to generate a level of improvement. No, they might not make the narrator into the dream player he wanted to be, but three months of following any of the given advice and you can be sure he would sound a lot better than when he started.

The problem here sounds like a student who is looking for a quick fix solution to playing the instrument, like being handed the recipe for a certain dish or given the explanation for solving an equation, but anyone who plays the trumpet will know that it is a far far longer and much deeper process.

The story is entertaining and a good read, but on a serious level reflects on the unrealistic expectations of a student who was not prepared to follow any ideas through.

Lovely contribution.

All the best
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
brassmusician
Veteran Member


Joined: 25 Feb 2016
Posts: 273

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Love it, what a great tale

You need lessons from a teacher who teaches beginners regularly, in my opinion. I could help, but in the wrong country.
_________________
Cannonball 789RL
Yamaha 635ST
Yamaha 16C4
Wick 2BFL
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Trombacan
Veteran Member


Joined: 30 Nov 2009
Posts: 102
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brings to mind a dark and sordid tale titled "A Candid Assessment of Modern Trumpet Students"
_________________
"It's simple, it just isn't easy" - VC
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
Andy Del
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 2660
Location: sunny Sydney, Australia

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just love teacher shopping students! A bit of faith, following a line of instruction for a period of time, and who knows? One may actually make progress.

Unless of course, the student knows best and refuses to listen, follow or even try.
_________________
so many horns, so few good notes...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Seymor B Fudd
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 17 Oct 2015
Posts: 1459
Location: Sweden

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 6:40 am    Post subject: Re: A Candid Assessment of Modern Trumpet Pedagogy Reply with quote

Old French Model wrote:
As regards the vagaries of modern trumpet pedagogy, here is a draft translation of an article I am writing for a Euro arts magazine. The story is true down to the finest details but is intended as whimsy and entertainment, so no need for ponderous replies.

“Candide Learns To Trumpet”

“Learn as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow!” Gandi’s famous exhortation in favor of learning makes a lot of sense. It has always been a kind of guiding principle and thanks to many great teachers I have learned a great many things.

I have had private lessons from qualified instructors in acting, voice, classical singing, piano, sailing, windsurfing, flying, golf, archery, shotgun, rifle and pistol shooting, cooking, and most recently, trumpet playing. And thanks to many great teachers I have gained a level of proficiency that spans from almost satisfactory to professional in all of them, except one.

I played the trumpet as a boy until my parents and an all to willing orthodontist decided otherwise. Well I tried to play along with Herb Alpert wearing barbed wire on my teeth for years until the bleeding and ingested wax threatened my health.

A half century later, for professional reasons, I picked my beautiful horn up again. And I decided, because of all my other learning successes, to have a private lesson. That is when the mischief began.

Now if you want to learn to cook, fly or act on Broadway there are a few different schools of thought but at the end of the hour’s lesson they all pretty much teach the same thing. After all, getting too creative with flying lessons can be dangerous.

But in the trumpet playing world, there seems to be a school of thought for every teacher. Anyone who has sat in a chair staring at the white page with specks of black hearing words that just don’t make sense because they contradict what another teacher taught a week earlier, will probably know where I am headed now.

Or maybe those of you who have never had the pleasure of a private trumpet lesson at all have, instead, spent hours reading manuals, instruction or exercise books vaunting grossly opposing teachings, theories and technique.

Some of you will have ingested morsels of knowledge on brass instrument internet forums only to regurgitate them five minutes later at the insistence of another poster, hawking SKYPE lessons, who “knows better.” These online teachers, vying for student’s cash, often wind up in conflict with other teachers doing the same. And most times their heated exchanges make mincemeat of anything even resembling professional instruction.

But know that it didn’t used to be like this in the brass instrument pedagogical world, because way back when, a century or so ago, a dozen Frenchmen were writing comprehensive books of cornet instruction that all basically said the same things, with only slight variances at the virgules and accent aigu level thrown in just for visual interest.

But today, the overall impression you get is that no one knows how to play the trumpet; and if there are a handful of trumpet virtuosos enchanting listeners every century, they most likely learned from God. The rest of the mass of trumpet practitioners are just grasping at straws, mouthpieces, buzzing tools, venturi effects and bore sizes. And those of us unwashed potential students wind up jammed in the resulting quagmire.

I remember the day of my first private lesson so well. My trumpet was cleaned, serviced and ready to make beautiful music once again. But to my dismay the teacher, who had an advanced degree in trumpet teaching from a swanky East coast music school, told me to keep the horn in the case. I was immediately concerned and my concern grew into full fledged fear just a few moments later.

He looked deep into my eyes with Cagliostro type effect and said, “now listen to me and do as I do.” And thereupon he started to do what can only be described as an imitation of a fly! He started buzzing. Now the actor who played “The Fly” in the movies is a good friend of mine. We studied with the same acting teacher in New York. But his “fly” character work was weak compared to this trumpet PhD. Crescendo after wall shaking buzz crescendo left me wondering about this poor teacher’s sanity…and mine.

Of course, I had no experience playing a fly. I’ve played just about everything else in my career and I have a strong sympathetic imagination, but try as I may I could not make a buzz. “Not to worry”, my winged friend said,”in six months of lessons and study you’ll do it just like me!” I gasped.

That experience is stamped on my soul forever, but I never went back.

Since I didn’t hear my first teacher actually play the trumpet, I decided that my second teacher should be a trumpet player and not a professor. And there was a wonderful player in a city I was visiting.

My second lesson started with such promise. My teacher asked to play my horn, and let loose with an absolutely rapturous riff of glorious music. “Wow”, I thought, “This guy is no insect! He’s the real thing.” “Ok you’ve got a good horn, now lets hear you” he said, pointing to a page of very modestly arranged notes. I lifted the horn, and some fog horn trumpet-like sounds came out. I had played my first notes for a teacher again! I exulted, “Like this?”

“Well”, and my teacher paused, thought for a moment, and said, “not like that, try to do it like this.” And he played the same notes perfectly. “Now you do it.” I tried again and any ship within a hundred nautical miles would have been alerted. And so, my earnest teacher played the notes yet again. This went on for about an hour when I finally had the temerity to ask how he made his notes so beautifully and mine were so pitiful.

My new teacher thought for a moment, played the notes again for me, and said, “Well you just do it like I do.” And it dawned on me that this great player, who could play the dickens off the horn, didn’t know how to transfer his knowledge except by demonstration. But I was wrong, he was using a teaching technique from a famous trumpet master. You see, in this method a student learns to play by imitation not thought.

Anyway, I saw him take a deep breath while his face became a kind of frightful mask and his abdominal muscles flexed. So I tried to mimic him in every way but fog notes came out nonetheless. “I asked him if I should try buzzing and he said, “Buzzing is a ridiculous waste of time!” Now I had learned something! Teacher number two didn’t agree with teacher number one.

My third teacher came announced as a certified instructor of one of the most famous trumpet teachers of all time. I was so excited because I had read about this famous guru, studied some of his books, and found how similar his method was to what I learned as a singer. So, even though this teacher was miles away, I decided to make the trek to see him.

“Trumpet playing is all about air, and is as simple as breathing” he advised pointing to a page of notes. This was great news because I had a lifetime of experience breathing. So, since I had been trying to imitate teacher number two for a month or so, I took in a huge Pavarotti breath, tensed my face into the mask of a serial killer, flexed my aging wobbly six pack to the max and let loose with all the air the environment could spare. The room shook. The dogs barked. The cats ran. And the neighbors groaned. At this point my teacher smiled and pulled out a black box that ticked. I remembered this thing from my boyhood. Mine was green and made in Germany.

Teacher number three turned the ticking bomb on and said, “Now play it in time!” To tell you the absolute truth, and it is what I told him too, it took real effort and a lot of luck just to play the notes much less to play them in time. Anyway I soon learned that air was essential but that the secret of good playing was Rhythm. “What are you going to do when you are asked to play first trumpet at the Berlin Philharmoniker?”, he explained with fierce assurance.

My imagination escaped to Germany’s capital. I saw Furtwangler before me, bathed in wondrous light, swinging the baton, the beautiful Rhine maidens were singing..and there I was, missing a beat. The music stopped. I was lead to a wall and offered a cigarette. Trumpet playing can be dangerous for your health.

I awoke to find teacher number three had assigned me a half ton of material to learn to play, in time. I was keen. “But how do I play these notes better than I do now?”, I asked. And his reply surprised me, “That I cannot tell you, you will have to find it yourself by feel. When you play this music you will adapt by feel to play it right.”

“Ah ha..hmmm, its all about feel, that’s the secret”, I thought. But the next day sitting alone at the controls of my trusty Selmer trumpet, I wondered how I’d feel if a flight instructor took me up in an F-15 and as he bailed out cried, “Don’t worry, you’ll learn to fly by feel. You’ll figure it out. In any case, you’ll find your way back to earth one way or another! Good luck! Geronimo!” So, right then and there,I decided to bail on teacher number 3.

Chance had it that I had to go to LA for work and I stayed with an actress friend of mine. I brought my horn with the hope that breathing would teach me how to trumpet. My friend blushed and giggled when I played for her. She had never taken me seriously; and even back in our acting class days when we were often paired onstage, she just thought I was kinda harmless and cute, you know, like a sad-eyed cocker spaniel puppy. And my wanting to learn to play the trumpet as a near septuagenarian did nothing to change, but rather, confirmed her feelings about me.

As it turned out, one of her friends is a famous composer of movie scores who had a band and he was invited to dinner. When the subject of my trumpet playing came up, this clever man said he would send a real trumpet player over to give me a lesson the very next day.

Teacher number four was an L.A. Studio player of some renown. I was so pleased to meet him. Here in the splendor of a Benedict Canyon estate I could blow the horn to my heart’s content without scaring small children, dogs, or cats. So I started to play an exercise given me by teacher number three for my new found teacher number 4. He frowned. I smiled and told him I was learning to play with air, by feel and in strict time. He frowned even more. He switched off the time bomb and said, “How can you expect to play in time when you can barely make the notes? Your embouchure is all wrong!” Being French, I was so impressed that he used a word from my native language.

“Embouchure?”, I repeated with the correct accent. But what in blazes did he mean? “You have to do calisthenics for your face muscles! They are in terrible shape”, he explained. So I tried to show him my muscles and put on the death mask from teacher number two, “No, no not like that..like this!” And he proceeded to put on his own death mask that, frankly speaking, looked just like teacher number two’s.

“If you wanna have any hope of playing that horn you will have to learn to play The Six Notes”, he said. I thought I heard the vibrations of a gong sound in the background, but I may be mistaken, And then he handed me “The Six Notes”, don’t be alarmed it’s nothing more serious than a “calisthenics” exercise I was to do every day, five times a day, for the rest of my life. “But what about air?”, I asked, feeling like a pro who knew the real inside secrets of the trumpet trade. “Baloney!”, he scoffed, “Listen to me carefully, trumpet playing happens in the mouth, and in the embouchure. Do the six notes and forget everything else!”

My world was turned suddenly upside down. My head spun in the thickening California heat. Sweat poured down from my trembling brow. And like any man submitted to such incredible pressure I did the only thing possible. I took a dip in the pool, and shared a cool drink with a real Rhine maiden. I would start the calisthenics the following day.

Well I am recruiting teacher number five because all of my adventures so far have been so diverse and the experiences with trumpet pedagogy so Quixotic that I can hardly restrain myself and wonder what new adventures await me since not one teacher of the four I have engaged so far has taught anything that even remotely resembles any other.

Wish me luck, ye Trumpet Gods! Wish me luck!


Mon Dieu! Living in that far away land from where the Nobel Prizes emanate I´m sorry to tell you that this year´s laureate in literature will not be chosen - a certain "cultural profile" (of French origin by the way ) has succeeded in wrecking the whole institution. But if I were the one responsible you´ll be the chosen one! Such eloquence, pinpointing in the most humorous way the self "grandeur" of these pompous teachers!
Beware!
Alors! What to do now? Publish the story and go find a teacher. Probably a guy (or female) who should start telling you "now you see, ain´t gonna come no decent sound out of that horn unless you practice by the motto "blood sweat and tears". Ain´t no shortcuts whatsoever. How to produce a decent sound? Begins with the attack - sound immediately no grunting, spitting, tongue should.......there must be a core curriculum generally valid for playing the trumpet. The teachers you´ve met so far may not have grasped your needs, or maybe you did not express them, or even did not know them? In spite of being a most versatile man for all seasons! A good teacher should have the obvious ability to "tune in". Be able to diagnose!
Hopefully this is not a "ponderous reply
Anyway a downright funny story!
_________________
Cornets:
Getzen Custom Series Schilke 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)


Last edited by Seymor B Fudd on Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:10 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TKSop
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 23 Feb 2014
Posts: 1719
Location: UK

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 7:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andy Del wrote:
I just love teacher shopping students! A bit of faith, following a line of instruction for a period of time, and who knows? One may actually make progress.

Unless of course, the student knows best and refuses to listen, follow or even try.


Nail, head - Wham!

Spot on.

If the divergence in highly successful trumpet pedagogy tells us anything, it's that there are different ways to become an awesome player - a pick and choose approach done right can work, but the experience to keep it in balance lies with quality teachers, and is what makes the cost of their services justifiable...
But a pick and choose approach done wrong is a mess - cognitive dissonance, confusion and mistrust.

If nothing else, the great schools of thought stand in isolation partly because they provide a good blend of foci that's proven to work - find a good teacher and give it a good, trusting, run and more often than not there's no need to go shopping across lines.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
bg
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 12 Oct 2003
Posts: 1292
Location: boulder, colorado

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

" Q: What is the improper mental attitude toward study and practice?

A. The improper mental attitude toward study and practice consists of a general misconception on the part of the student of the entire purpose of study and practice. This attitude embodies erroneous impressions and undesirable personal traits, either singly or in combination. In the opinion of the student with this malady, the instructor is always guilty until proven innocent. Such a student may come to take a lesson simply to see what the instructor has 'on the ball'. He may have been forewarned that the teacher would 'try to change his embouchure' and his visit may be a combination of fear and mistrust. Or he may have visited so many teachers previously, with negligible results, that the new instructor has three strikes against him before the lesson even begins. Or the student may have such tremendous conceit that he is completely unreceptive to any suggestions from anyone; his definition of a splendid instructor is one who will compliment him, not criticize him. Or he may be the type who imagines that somewhere there is a 'magic method' whereby he may acquire overnight the relaxed perfection while playing for which he yearns. Or he may have formed the habit of absorbing the remarks of many different players without considering the source or the validity of the information. Or he may be the type who experiments continuously with different model mouthpieces. instruments of various bores, makes and models, lip exercising gadgets, and embouchure formations, to name just a few of the devices employed by the escapist. Such close-minded specimens should realize that logic, concentration, hard work, and sweat are essential factors for study and practice; otherwise they should save their instruction money."

- Donald S. Reinhardt
_________________
Brad Goode
www.bradgoode.com
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
boog
Veteran Member


Joined: 04 Jun 2014
Posts: 247

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 9:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, Grasshopper! How is it you do not hear?....Master Po
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Andy Del
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 2660
Location: sunny Sydney, Australia

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

BRad's post is spot on. But I re-read the OP, in case I missed something.

I think I did, so I must rephrase MY post. TO this.

'Don't give up your day job.'

I have had a few students who were like this. They invariably did NOT want to learn, just to be reassured they were right. When they were demonstrably, and incontrovertibly, wrong. I am lucky to be on the other side of the pond!

cheers

Andy
_________________
so many horns, so few good notes...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
starkadder
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 01 May 2008
Posts: 542

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did I ever tell you that things were better when I was a Kid?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
starkadder
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 01 May 2008
Posts: 542

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andy Del wrote:
BRad's post is spot on. But I re-read the OP, in case I missed something.

I think I did, so I must rephrase MY post. TO this.

'Don't give up your day job.'

I have had a few students who were like this. They invariably did NOT want to learn, just to be reassured they were right. When they were demonstrably, and incontrovertibly, wrong. I am lucky to be on the other side of the pond!

cheers

Andy


Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    trumpetherald.com Forum Index -> Pedagogy All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group