1. Do you have any set expectations on what each student should know upon leaving your studio after 3 years ?
Yes. But this may not take three years. It may take one or five or (more rarely more). This is what I expect at the end of the course:
a. Competence in sight-reading.
b. Competence in analysing a piece of music
for the purposes of learning to play it. To give you an example, it could be argued endlessly what exactly is the basic motif in Bach’s invention no. 1. Is it the first seven notes, the first 8 notes or the first 12 notes? I would argue that it is the first seven notes if your purpose is analysis for learning, since it allows a very efficient and pragmatical learning of this piece, no matter how many more sensible arguments are there for the other two options (which may be much more appropriate for theoretical and musicological purposes), But musicology is not my main interest when teaching a piece, so I rarely – for instance – indulge in things like schenkerian analysis which has almost no import in the learning of a piece of music (which is not to say that it does not have other highly meritorious uses).
c. Competence in taking
any piece of music and knowing straight away which approach(es) will be the most efficient to learn it (e.g., outlining, breaking it into separate voices, how large should be the passages to tackle, etc.
d. Competence in practice methods and philosophy.
e. Knowledge of anatomy and anatomically correct movements, so that given any passage of music one knows exactly which movement will be the most appropriate, and even if one does not know straight away, one knows the steps required to investigate and arrive at such an optimum movement. This includes awareness of the possibility of injuries ad which movements are most likely to cause them.
f. A sizeable repertory of musically superior pieces from all levels from elementary to reasonably advanced.
g. Thorough knowledge of scales and harmonic relationships (as well as theory) so as to allow free improvisation – and perhaps competent composing (not superlative, but competent).
h. Experience in accompanying.
This is of course what I aim at, not necessarily what I get. At the end of the day a teacher can only teach – it is up to the student to learn.
This is what I do not offer:
a. Exquisite criticism and teaching in the area of musicality. I am still learning about this one.
b. Teaching concerts and works with orchestra – I have no experience in this area (and most importantly I have no access to an orchestra).
c. Teaching aspects of professional performance like dealing with different hall acoustics, with the public, how to market oneself, the intricacies of recording, etc.
d. Providing the student with “contacts” in the professional world. (I am afraid I have none).
For these areas I will always refer the student to a more appropriate teacher.
Then, do you have an expectation of what each student should learn/know in each year ?
I have hopes, not expectations.
And usually I don't believe in miracles, I rely on them.
2. If you DO have set courses of study, do you only accept students at the beginning of each year ?
I will accept a student at any time of the year provided I have a free slot. The only circumstance your question would make sense is if I was teaching groups, so for groups a definite start is mandatory, but my teaching is strictly individual, so the beginning of the “year” is whenever the student begins.
I just sat down and typed up all of the general and some specific aspects of music I would like my students to both learn overall, as well as in the first year. I just wonder how realistic it is.
You will soon find out.
My philosophy is always to aim high. The truth is that no one ever achieves what they set out to achieve. We are always a bit below our own standards. So set your standards impossibly high, and you will fail, but you will still achieve far more than the person who set them low and equally fails to achieve them.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
Topic: Dear Bernhard