Some random things

As a trumpet teacher, how many times do you end up teaching the Hindemith? Do you learn something new every time?

I’ve been thinking about how to approach teaching if/when I ever get a job. The first thing on my mind is that I would like very much to take only the amount of students that I can prepare for. That is, I’d like to be prepared for each of my students’ weekly lesson. If it means taking a day off and going through each student’s trumpeting agenda, then that’s what I’d like to do. That way, I am at least as familiar with the lay of the land as the person I am supposed to be teaching. It will also give me the opportunity to familiarize myself with any new repertoire a student might bring in.

The second thing I’ve thought much about pertains to the opening question of this post: how many students play the Hindemith Sonata? Probably most of them. Each one brings something new to the table in terms of challenges and abilities… my idea is to document it. How else can a teacher keep track of the challenges a student overcame and how he or she did it? Why start over each time a student walks through the door with a piece of music? It makes sense to me to address new problems with extensive documentation of old ones. Many students struggle with similar ideas; perhaps it could prove beneficial to go through case study files of previous students and find out what they had trouble with, and how they got through it. Obviously, teachers do this in their head daily, or with notebooks that their students bring with them. But why can’t a teacher augment this approach with his own notes to help understand problems he or she didn’t have to face? For instance, with the Hindemith Sonata, I don’t struggle with endurance. At least, not to the degree of many/most. It stands to reason that I would want to be able to address an endurance problem, despite the fact that it is not my problem.

In my mind, while this may come off somewhat rude (although do let me disclaim myself: this may simply turn out to be what I personally need to do in order to be a competitive teacher… there are many great ones who do not take this approach), I would say that doctors or electricians don’t show up on the job each day flying by the seat of their pants, addressing problems that come up without plans nor cares. Thus, I think it would be fair to say that trumpet teachers should approach their students with the kind of preparation they would expect to be shown to assignments, and with every bit of previous experience immediately accessible for reference. Learning the trumpet is difficult and professional careers seem to favor those from musical families, money, or ridiculous amounts of natural talent, with little chance given to the “average joe” like me. I believe that anybody who cares enough about it should be able to make it, and it would be my job as a teacher to facilitate that. In the words of a rat: Anybody can cook.

My transcriptions are complete. Once the quintet is done with them (in January), I will make them available in .pdf form for anybody who would like them, free of charge.