Comprehensive Musicianship

[Alde]

Is anybody aware of this "comprehensive musicianship"?  It is surely an interesting approach to teaching.

[mike_lang]

Please elaborate on this approach.

Best,
ML

[pianistimo]

i see two sites.  one for comprehensive musicianship in performing and one for teaching.  not a bad concept - but kinda straight-lined 'i'll give you answers' ideas.  how about approaching piano with several methods and whatever works for you according to general ideas.  now, if you haven't gone through MTNA - it's a sad life because you have to figure out how to organize everything yourself.  at least one year in MTNA and you've gotten some ideas for how to organize things a bit and typically what students should know at each passing grade/year in terms of about 5-6 categories.  ie vocabulary, time-signatures, rhythms, types of notes, keys, scales, chords, knowledge of composers, sight-reading, ear-training, etc.

i'm not against the idea of coming up with a seminar in the summer to refresh your brain - but a lot of tangential stuff never truly helps with teaching.  you either have to take more lessons - or start playing as much repertoire as you expect your students to and become familiar with how it should be (moreso that having listened to it once or twice). 

as i see it - teaching is very time related.  if you don't have as much time - you really need a mentor.  somebody to call and talk BEFORE a lesson arrives.  i always feel that if someone is willing to pay me money then i should give them as much quality information and accurate of information as possible.  also, i hope that my teachers have played most of what they have taught me so that i know they could sit down and explain a passage.  i try to do this and practice the students pieces as well as my own.  currently i am not teaching right now - but i am seeing the benefit of occasionally diverging into these areas and putting a notebook together - like with MTNA - and putting graded repertoire and noted suggestions behind each piece.  thereby eliminating time when someone else begins working the same piece.

now - i see why some teachers favor highly the student that takes copious notes.  you can save these notes for later for your own students.  and, show a student how to mark a score without completely desecrating it.  how to put those nice plastic covers on the outside, too - so you don't have a ripped and shredded book at the end of the year.  and giving them a present (birthday /holiday) of a bookbag if they don't have one already.  sometimes - getting  organized is both for teacher and student. 

[faulty_damper]

Is anybody aware of this "comprehensive musicianship"?  It is surely an interesting approach to teaching.

You are not refering this approach as a method to teach piano, are you?  Probably not as CM is just one of a couple of methodologies for teaching music.

It's interesting in the fact that it will just confuse the white and grey matter in young people's minds as it is a terrible way to teach children.  It's also a terrible way to teach adults, too.  It's a methodology that came from 12-tone geekers in an attempt to expose young minds to 12-tone geek music.

I'm in the position that all music teachers should be capable of arranging and writing music for any class.  But this is mostly not the case.  Most music teachers don't know how to compose music.  But to put 12-tone geekers in a classroom of young people is a terrible waste of time.  What do 12-tone geekers know about teaching music?  It's a bit too "heady" for young people's minds.