How to give a Public Masterclass

[mike_lang]

Dear all,

I played for a flute studio class yesterday in which the topic was "the masterclass."  Each member of the flute studio in turn played the master teacher, with another playing the student.  We saw a variety of approaches, with some methods more effective, and some less.

What do you believe to comprise a good public master class?

-What are appropriate issues to address?
-To what degree is the audience involved, and how should the class be given such that both student and audience learn something?
-What is the difference between the public master class and the private lesson?
-What should the overall atmosphere/psychological ambience be?

Looking forward to this discussion,
Mike

[asiantraveller101]

Conducting an effective masterclass is extremely difficult. First and foremost, the master teacher has to be a good public communicator. It is different teaching one to one than trying to communicate to a general public. In general, the masterclass is conducted, beside giving the performer an opportunity to perform,  is to enable the audience to learn something from it. Otherwise, why a masterclass and not a private lesson? Everyone knows how to blah! But to blah effectively is the key to a good masterclass. It is important for the master teacher to keep in mind not to be caught up with too much details, but to focus on the general and overall effectiveness of the performance. For example, sound projection, lines, dynamics, acoustics, pedaling (for piano) rather than trying to fix little details like "why aren't you playing that note which is written?" Moreover, there is time limitation allocated for each performer and going into too much detail work for a long duration will bore the audience, especially if the audience do not have the music score. There is also a difference whether the audience is comprises of general public, or a more selected group of musicians, or academicians. Throwing out too much technical words and jargon to the general public can be turn off as well. (*I have sat through some fun masterclasses and some really boring ones!!)
In addition, it is also important for the master teacher not to "talk down" to the performer or audience. An amiable teacher is always better appreciated than a sarcastic one. It is already very intimidating for the performer to be critiqued publicly. He or she does not need to criticize anymore than needed to, but to be encouraged and guided to be a better performer. 
With that said, not every teacher can be a master teacher! Besides having the acquired skills and experience, it take wit, guile, character, and good communication skills to be an effective master teacher.

[lostinidlewonder]

asiantraveller pointed out some great ideas, notably, do not talk down to the performer or audience. I think it is important when starting the masterclass to allow everyone to know that each and every musical journey is unique and ultimately a personal one. Each person that you have come up for analysis will offer you a broad range of skill level and greatest need. Because you have very limited time you must merely pick on the most important parts that the student is missing out on.

Usually it is an expressive issue that masterclasses focus on because most students will play something that they have polished up. The master needs to demonstrate exactly how things should sound to save time, if you rely completely on words to express it you will waste time. A combination of demonstration and words is effective. Trying to highlight generalized ideas in musical expression is also very important to try and pick up on, because these sort of ideas will help not only the performer but the audience as well. Getting too detailed and specific makes what you say too narrow and the broader audience might miss out. But at the same time exploring specific issues is helpful to give the audience insight into how detailed our work can get.

The master also does not have to think that everything needs to be critiqued. In fact they should highlight in the performer good playing, get them to repeat passages that you thought where brilliantly played for example. The tone of the masterclass does not always need to be a corrective one, but acting as a re-enforcing energy can be very constructive. The master should allow the performer to play the entire piece before asking them to repeat certain passages. I found it extremely annoying to attend masterclasses where the master would stop the performer constantly and we never can hear the entire performance first before the  clarification process.

It is also helpful to projected images, hand out information, discuss something about music that is relevant to the group you are hosting the master class for etc.