Is teaching necessary or is performance enough ?

[m19834]

Right now I am thinking quite a bit about teaching.  There is always the question that if you could be doing anything you wanted, would you still be doing what you are doing ?  I am asking this to myself in different ways at the time and some interesting things have come to mind.

At the root of it all, I am teaching because I believe I have been initiated into a tradition of great value and that I have been exposed to subjects that are very important.  I have a desire to pass these things along and provide particular opportunities to the right people; to those whom would value it.  Of course, not everybody will value it, and that's okay.

Part of this tradition involves playing music for others, sharing music with others -- almost a sense of "breaking bread" together or so.  These days, the idea of "performance" vs. "sharing music" have sometimes become, I think, two separate things.  Somewhere along the lines a particular quality of tradition has been lost in many cases, I think.

Obviously, if tradition is to be continued, there must be avenues for its continuation.  This is where I have thought more deeply about the purpose of teaching.  For the purpose of tradition alone, is "teaching" actually necessary in order to carry out the tradition of music ?  Or, is performance enough ?

My deepest thoughts on performance are that it would be a form of teaching, a highest level of teaching.  In performance, one would be demonstrating in pure music what is to be learned by the pupil.  I suppose a pupil must be trained in how to recognise what is there, and perhaps a purpose in teaching arises here.

I don't think it's true that if there were no music and performance teachers, there would be no performers and musicians.  I think the desire to know music and play for each other/share music is actually a natural desire for humans (how else did it first come about ?), along with other natural, human desires to share with each other (we live in groups).  So, I think the desire to share would persist despite whether teachers exist or not.  I wonder what would happen to the quality of sharing/music though ?

[ahinton]

This is, of course, a massively large question. Whilst I am convinced that there can be no doubt that the value of fine and appropriate teaching is invincible, we really have gto think hard about what it is that we mean by teaching if this question is to be addressed adequately. As I am a non-pianist, I will refrain from commenting about teaching in terms of performers training other performers (as it is not my place to do so) but, as far as teaching composition is concerned, I do think that the principle of the teacher going on voyages of discovery with each of his/her students for the specific purpose of divining how to approach the very act of teaching each of them with a view to bringing out the very best that is waiting to be brought out has to remain paramount, yet how one codifies this into any kind of written-down and accountable series of disciplines I remain unsure. My remarks here are to some extent influenced by how my own composition teacher nurtured certain aspects of what I was trying to achieve yet at the same time seemed not to have "taught" me in any more obviously codifiable and accountable sense.

If anyone still wonders why it is that I refrain from attempting to teach, I would (hope to) be surprised - but let's now hear it from others who have infinitely more teaching experience than I'm ever likely to have...

Best,

Alistair

[piano_ant]

"You teach best what you most need to learn." Richard David Bach.

I agree with Ahinton, this subject is like opening up a door to another planet. The questions posed are huge. The simplest way I can see it is that teaching is just another way of learning for you and the 'student'.

Unless time is a huge factor, I can see nothing but benefits in teaching someone...

[slobone]

As far as tradition goes, it used to be the case that different teachers taught according to different traditions. If you studied with a pupil of Liszt, you played one way, with a French teacher, perhaps a different way, and so forth.

I wonder if there are any remnants of this approach today. Can an experienced set of ears tell by listening who somebody's teacher was? Or have recordings leveled the playing field?

I know that in singing, it's still very important, or was until recently. Beverly Sills always gave all the credit to her teacher, who was a student of Marchesi. But then Joan Sutherland seems to have learned most of what she knows from her husband. So who knows.

[dan101]

As a pianist and composer, I find it an honour to teach. The process of giving back knowledge to a new generation is a very high reward in itself. Having said that, I do find it necessary to combine this 'giving back' process with big professional challenges, either in composing and/or as a pianist.

The question you pose is excellent, and you will get a multitude of answers, both objective and subjective.

[hunkyhong]

I would have to disagree with the whole teaching is a joy. Teaching is only pleasurable when you have good students to work with. I could never work with younger students, especially in america, where they think that half an hour of practicing a day is already the maximum! but i teach to earn some form of money, and i perform for my passion. The thing about most "famous" icon pianists, not many of them had students...richter never officially taught anyone on a student/teacher level, but he had friends with whom to critique. I think thats where i will draw the line. When you have students that you don't need to "teach", but rather listen to, then its different. Its not just looking at the clock, waiting for them to leave, but rather, you're sharing in an art that is completely refined and surreal.

[pianochick93]

I could never work with younger students, especially in america, where they think that half an hour of practicing a day is already the maximum!

The thing is, a lot of younger students will be learning piano because their parents want them to, not because they want to be professionals. They might even just be learning it for fun, to get a little musical knowledge. For them, 1/2 hour is probably enough, especially if the student is young.

Personally I'm a teenage student. I love playing piano, but I don't want to be a professional. I practice a maximum of an hour a night, and not every night. Because I simply don't have time to have a life and school if I practice more.

[andric_s]

I believe that the tradition of Western Classical Music would not be possible without teaching.  It is such a highly refined and demanding style of music, that it seems unlikely that even gifted individuals could "figure it out" on their own.


Having said that, I hear stories about teachers in other music traditions, specifically Indian Classical Music, who for the first few years of instruction, don't let their students play the instrument-- instead the student listens to the teacher play.

[m19834]

This is, of course, a massively large question. Whilst I am convinced that there can be no doubt that the value of fine and appropriate teaching is invincible, we really have gto think hard about what it is that we mean by teaching if this question is to be addressed adequately.

Well, I see the main function of a teacher as passing on information; specific information meant to carry tradition as well as (perhaps) open the door to new traditions/heights.  Of course, that can all mean a lot of things, but there is specific information that must live on, and this passing on of information is what makes the craft a craft.  My highest hopes of a teacher/student relationship are that of apprentice and master caftsman.  To me this involves some kind of conscious watching, by the master over the apprenctice, until the apprentice becomes a master himself/herself.  In this conscious watching over, there is an awareness on the part of the master which enables him/her to respond appropriately to the path of learning and growth of the individual apprentice -- in the moment.

As I am a non-pianist, I will refrain from commenting about teaching in terms of performers training other performers (as it is not my place to do so) but, as far as teaching composition is concerned, I do think that the principle of the teacher going on voyages of discovery with each of his/her students for the specific purpose of divining how to approach the very act of teaching each of them with a view to bringing out the very best that is waiting to be brought out has to femain paramount, yet how one codifies this into any kind of written-down and accountable series of disciplines I remain unsure. My remarks here are to some extent influenced by how my own composition teacher nurtured certain aspects of what I was trying to achieve yet at the same time seemed not to have "taught" me in any more obviously codifiable and accountable sense.

I only have a limited experience with composition lessons and classes.  There were particular projects that we did, making up our curriculum, and I do feel that I learned some interesting things.  Whether there is something codifiable or not about learning how to compose, there are obviously some patterns that developed during particular periods of history and within individual cultures, and I would of course be interested to learn plenty more of all of that.  And, though I know I could grab score after score of music, recording after recording, and decode all of it -- and plan to do so for the rest of my life -- that study would be missing the element of having a watchful eye (more knowledgable and more experienced), consciously observing my individual growth and progress.  And, while the field of music -- both in composition as well as performance -- is vast, and obviously worthy of lifetimes of study, and, I think, will only continue to unfold its greatest depths through time, I would still be concerned that without the watchful eye of somebody who knows better than I, that I would be missing something, overlooking something, or just take infinitely longer to develop something in particular.

If anyone still wonders why it is that I refrain from attempting to teach, I would (hope to) be surprised - but let's now hear it from others who have infinitely more teaching experience than I'm ever likely to have...

Best,

Alistair

hmmmmm ...