Home Blog Page 117

It’s Not Easy Being Green – or Stressed Out

Bruce Hembd
-
1

The response and comments to “Are All Professionals Kind of … Jaded?” have been eye-opening and enlightening. My hope is that in opening this dank can of worms and sharing these insights, it might be better understood how to reach some kind of mental balance, or at the very least realize when things are out-of-balance.

As with solving a technical problem on an instrument, the first step lies in realizing and acknowledging that there is a problem.

A continuum

Being a visually oriented person, a rough graphic came to mind – kind of a musician danger zone – drawn out as a continuum:
anger-continuum500The title of this post – which is cheekily based on a song sung by a muppet –  refers to the two extremes of this spectrum.  From the inexperienced newbie to the burned-out and thoroughly-jaded musician, both are shades of green.

A classic model

At this point the Kübler-Ross grief cycle – the 5 steps of emotions that occur in terminal illness – comes to mind.

If viewed in terms of musician stress, it offers some very relevant parallels. This cycle can apply to any level of musician – from the inexperienced with fantastical expectations, to the seasoned veteran experiencing burnout.
grief2The danger for some musicians I believe, is that they get mired in the muck and never see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Getting stuck in a loop

A textbook problem with this cycle is that a person may get get stuck in one step, or may loop between several steps –  for an extended period or even permanently.

A musician stuck in denial for example, may never move on. They may feel anger, but may repress it or bottle it up inside. In the same way, a person may be stuck in permanent anger or repeated bargaining.

A different trap is cycling – a person moves on to the next phase without having resolved an earlier phase, and so they loop in cycles that repeat previous emotions and actions. A person that finds bargaining not to be working for instance, may go back into anger or denial.

In the classic application of this model, cycling is a form of avoidance – going backwards feels like a time extension before the inevitable happens.

The spark

The Kübler-Ross grief cycle begins with a shock. In its original context this would be the realization that a terminal illness will result in death.

For the purposes of analyzing musician’s stress, this shock could be:

  • a specific negative event,
  • a series of accumulated negative events,
  • an impending change that creates a sense of doom and dread,
  • or big changes whose outcome might be hurtful yet unavoidable.

Management in denial

Generally speaking, big changes in orchestra managerial operations can initiate something in business management theory known as the Change Roller Coaster.

As Philip Farkas notes in Chapter 10 of The Art of Musicianship, music performance involves the emotions.  By the very nature of the art itself, our emotions lie very near the surface.

This roller coaster effect therefore can have tremendous impact on a musician’s attitude and psyche. It can activate the grief cycle or open up the musician to the “danger zone continuum” illustrated earlier.

Smart managers should be at least aware of these principles and take appropriate measures in times of crisis.

Clueless managers are … well … clueless.

To be continued…

*Kermit the Frog, the Kermit the Frog image and the term “muppet” are the property of their respective owners. They are used here under the auspices of fair use as defined in our terms.

PSA: Brief Notes on Bell’s Palsy

John Ericson
-
1

Yesterday I was involved with a DMA defense of an interesting project on overuse injury prevention in string players. A number of the topics that were addressed in the project had parallels in wind playing, but there are other topics that are beyond what are seen in string playing that can impact a brass player pretty dramatically. While not an overuse injury, in preparing for that defense one condition that came to mind for me was Bell’s palsy.

I have had contact with two brass colleagues who had bouts with this in my career as a hornist. It is a type of partial facial paralysis and before you panic too much, in both cases the condition corrected itself in a couple weeks. But in both cases half of the players face was actually paralyzed which is a frightening thought! The introduction to this topic in the Wikipdeia is a good overview.

Bell’s palsy is a paralysis of cranial nerve VII (the facial nerve) resulting in inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. Several conditions can cause a facial paralysis, e.g., brain tumor, stroke, and Lyme disease. However, if no specific cause can be identified, the condition is known as Bell’s palsy. Named after Scottish anatomist Charles Bell, who first described it, Bell’s palsy is the most common acute mononeuropathy (disease involving only one nerve) and is the most common cause of acute facial nerve paralysis.

Bell’s palsy is defined as an idiopathic unilateral facial nerve paralysis, usually self-limiting. The trademark is rapid onset of partial or complete palsy, usually in a single day.

It is thought that an inflammatory condition leads to swelling of the facial nerve. The nerve travels through the skull in a narrow bone canal beneath the ear. Nerve swelling and compression in the narrow bone canal are thought to lead to nerve inhibition, damage or death. No readily identifiable cause for Bell’s palsy has been found.

Both of the individuals I had contact with seem to have had it caused by the “inflammatory condition” noted above. Again, it is a medical condition not an overuse injury but it is something to be aware of as something that could deeply impact a wide variety of musicians.

Returning to the topic of overuse injury, it is a good topic and I will return to it in future posts. Among prior Horn Matters posts, I have a few notes on prevention of overuse injury here, and Bruce has posted on the topic of focal dystonia here. Also ergonomics is an element of overuse injury relating to our left arm and hand; check out the strap on Fhrap tm in this post.

Are All Professionals Kind of … Jaded?

Bruce Hembd
-
10

clam_jaded234The pleasures in performing music are relatively well known – they seem practically innate from birth. Over time these joys can mature into a life-long relationship, and perhaps even into a professional career.

A regular job in a symphony or opera orchestra, or chamber group is a job that is like no other. The experience at its best includes:

  • the joy of performing great music
  • the pleasures of making music with others
  • sharing that experience with audiences

Why look at the underbelly?

Regular readers may notice that when writing about the music profession, I often examine its darker side.

The reasons for doing so are an earnest attempt:

  • self-analysis of my own music career and experiences, past and present,
  • to expose younger musicians to potential pitfalls that they might encounter along the way, and how to avoid or cope with them,
  • and to affect a positive change by drawing these darker issues into the light.

Compare and contrast

So if performing music is all about doing what you love, why do some professionals seem kind of bitter and jaded?

To a student especially this attitude may be very confounding. It seems so antithetical and counter-productive towards all the great things that great music is about.

Speaking in very broad and general terms here is one angle to consider – perhaps this odd dichotomy, in part at least, is a generational gap:

Younger people,
with the remainder of their lives well ahead of them, look forward to new things and new adventures in their lives. With an abundance of energy and a clean slate to drawn upon, they are ready to tackle the world. The young are eager to forge ahead with their lives.

Older people,
at the middle or end of their lives also look forward to new adventures, but at a certain point the majority of their life experience lies behind them. Older adults may look backwards more often and will want to share those experiences with others, as both encouragement and as cautionary tales to the young.

Younger people
may expend their energies in a wide spectrum, casting a wide path. They will explore as many avenues as possible to take advantage of all that life has to offer. They may take greater risks in pursuit of greater rewards.

Older people
having already explored a wide path and having discovered what works for them, might be less inclined to take big risks. Having acquired some experience, they may prefer to take more measured and calculated risks.

Younger people
in school get to experience a great deal of freedom and autonomy in musical tastes and repertoire, though large and small ensembles, and recitals.

Older people
who perform in orchestras or freelance may have less freedom and opportunity, but are able to support themselves with the earned income.

Perspective

Generally speaking, the quality of a musical life may have much to do with attitude, age and experience. There are positive things to be learned from each generation of course – the open-minded sense of wonder from the young, and the benefits of wisdom from the aged, as examples.

These are just a few broad points to get started. I invite comments below to continue this discussion.

Further reading:

Gunther Schuller on Achieving the Ultimate Articulation, Slur, and Tone Quality

John Ericson
-
0

Another article from the archive of the original HTML Horn Notes Blog, first posted on11/8/04.

This past year we have been honored to have IHS Honorary Member Gunther Schuller as distinguished visiting faculty at ASU. A former principal hornist of the Cincinnati Symphony and of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and author of a great little book titled Horn Technique, he is better known today as a composer and conductor but he still knows his horn, even though he has not performed on the horn since 1962. He gave his final master class with the horn studio last week and I am sure we are all going to aim for a higher level of performance pondering the points he made.

Prof. Schuller is certainly from the “old school.” He is very concerned about “bubbles” (attacks with sort of a mini-frack on the beginning), “clicks” (the bump in slurs), and having the ultimate, even tone quality with great control down to the softest possible dynamic. He presented clearly a very high standard for students to work to achieve in these areas.

“Bubbles” (his term) are a big concern for him, probably his biggest concern. Most players are not even aware of the somewhat uneven quality of attacks as they are just not really listening to them closely. We get used to how we sound. Open your ears! The cause of “bubbles” can be several things but in my opinion it boils down to two items. One is choice of mouthpiece and horn; some mouthpieces in particular will by nature produce an attack with a bubble. This is however compounded by choice of syllable for the articulation. We are taught so often to articulate a “TA” articulation, but in reality I rarely if ever really articulate “TA.” My normal articulation is something closer to “DA” or even “DUH,” and varies by range (very high is “DEE,” for example–“DUH” is more of a mid-range articulation). The best light articulations are made with a distinctly brushing stroke of the tongue to be sure. (Maybe someday I’ll expand this concept out into an article–a great title would be “Well Duh?!?”).

While bubbles can be addressed with careful practice, the “clicks” (his term–I would say “bumps”) in slurs are harder to remove. To a point they can be the result of valve changes but even without valve changes they are hard to not have. Blowing through the notes helps but even on a horn with leaky valves and a very deep mouthpiece I find that clicks are more or less inevitable. On a modern horn with an efficient mouthpiece it is very hard to not have clicks, especially if you are listening closely for them. At a distance, to a point, bubbles and clicks disappear (whew!).

As to tone, this again has as much as anything to do with awareness, that you focus in on this element to hear well what you are doing. No “twa-twa,” with a very even color of tone in all ranges. Tone is more than anything what separates the great from the near great. In a previous blog entry I noted more about tone production in Striving for tone (7/2/2004).[Note: not yet re-posted to Horn Matters]

Older school teachers would frequently spend a great deal of time perfecting these three elements before moving on to “real music.” They do need to be perfected and set as well as possible on a daily basis in the warm-up. These elements are extremely important but also these elements can in general be addressed while working on real music I feel. To do otherwise can really bog down a student.

It was an honor to have Prof. Schuller work with the studio this past year, I would recommend his book highly, and as you practice work for the ultimate articulation, slur, and tone quality.

The original post ended with this additional note.

UPDATE: The exercises at the beginning of Joseph Singer Embouchure Building are almost perfect for working on the types of things Prof. Schuller was concerned to hear.

Dream Big, Think Small

Bruce Hembd
-
0

In regard to a previous post – “Dreams and Goals; Music Performance and Music Education” – I have gotten some feedback though private emails, private conversation and online.

Specifically, the subtitle “Dream Big, Think Small” has gotten some mixed reaction.

This is a very abstract concept that I see as existing on a continuum, and it deserves further explanation. It might also be called “Dream Huge, Think Big” or “Dream Galactic, Think Global.”

Dreams and goals

The relationship between dreams and goals, fantasy and reality is the major point of this train of thought.

The logic behind this:

Dream – someday I will win a big job in a major symphony orchestra
Goal –  I will practice my orchestral excerpts for one hour every day

Dream – in two years I will have the perfect, most elegant lip trill
Goal – today I will practice my lip trills for 20 minutes

Dream – in two years my chamber ensemble will be full-time and will be a pre-eminent organization
Goal – in the next 6 months, my ensemble will perform 5 complete recitals

Fact and fiction

A teacher long ago advised me that we as musicians are never as good as our imaginations … but, we try. At the time I took this as cynicism but have since learned that this is actually a good idea for keeping your head on straight.

Thinking of dreams and goals as separate entities – goals being actions under our control, and dreams being the end results not under our control – has helped me in dark moments to maintain an ounce of sanity in an insane business.

In brighter moments too, it is all too easy to blur these lines. When any person, musician or not, begins to believe their own hype – that dreams are a reality under their control – they may be treading in muddy waters.

Throwing caution to the wind in performance is one thing. Doing the same in life is something else entirely.

In this regard, thinking of dreams and goals as separate concepts can be like an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. It can keep you in check.

Humility wins over arrogance. Hope wins over despair.

signatureBRUCE

Review: Recent Innovations in Stop Mutes, and Notes on Stopping on the B-flat and High F Sides

John Ericson
-
3

New products are always of interest at Horn Matters. Recently I heard of a new type of stop mute made of wood, the Woodstop, and Ion Balu has also introduced a new stop mute with a unique bell design. Both are very innovative designs about which we have not yet posted.

Stop Mutes in General

Most players would think of a stop mute being something we use more or less interchangeably with hand stopping. I would tend to use a stop mute instead of the hand in the following situations:

  • Low range stopped notes not very obtainable by hand stopping
  • Very loud hand stopped notes
  • Any situation where I have time to put it in that I feel it might help with accuracy or with articulations or intonation

In all of these above situations with my average to large hands I would use the stop mute with the same fingerings I would use for hand stopping. That is, the fingering ½ step lower than the printed note and on the F horn for intonation. If a horn with a stopping valve is available I would use the normal B-flat horn fingering but with the stop valve held down, which adds approximately the same tubing as an F horn second valve (so no transposition is necessary). [With small hands you may need to alter your normal stopped fingerings, as described here, but with a stop mute or a stopping valve the standard fingerings should work.]

The Woodstop TM

From the quotes in the advertising I thought it should be an interesting mute:

“What a great mute. Wow… the colors, articulation, the sound, pitch.” Gail Williams

“It is an excellent aid to performing stopped horn by its ease of production, and by allowing the performer to achieve more flexibility and variety in colors and dynamics. That it also works well on descants is invaluable.” Paul Navarro

That last part of the Paul Navarro quote kind of caught my attention. I don’t think of stopped horn on a descant to be an issue, it is actually easier to my mind than on a double horn with the stop valve on the typical descant. In the materials with the Woodstop mute the maker Kevin Warren explains further that this mute was

…designed to be played primarily on the B horn, [but] the relationship is close to that of the F side. Also the high F side works just fine as well.

With standard hand stopping I think of it raising the pitch ½ step on the F side, ¾ step on the B-flat side, and a whole step on the high F side. Does this mute behave differently?

woodstopA purchaser offered to let me try one of these and it is in short a very interesting mute. The first trials were done in our weekly horn studio class. We set up a brief trial that compared hand stopping to my trusty old Tom Crown stop mute to the Woodstop. I think we agreed in the studio on several things:

  • The Woodstop is a loud stop mute, perhaps 10% louder but we did not have a decibel meter to quantify it exactly
  • The Woodstop has a GREAT tone color, very much like hand stopping but more focused and solid sounding with crisp articulations in the mid and upper register
  • The Woodstop is beautifully crafted and finished, almost worth buying just as an art object

On the negative side, the player doing the test (a graduate student) felt that the low range was not as easy to stop as on the Tom Crown and I would also tend to agree with that assessment. The notes are there but at least on this example were not as easy to produce. The Tom Crown mute I should also note was observed by all to have a more metallic tone color than hand stopping or the Woodstop.

I enjoyed trying this mute (which I have to send on to another who is in line to give it a trial), it is a product to consider highly.

Interlude: What Stop Mutes do to the B-Flat and High F Sides

In further tests on my own I have explored the fingering/intonation question raised by the Woodstop. For my trials of the Woodstop mute I used several different horns including horns with a stopping valve. From the text cited above it seems like the Woodstop is supposed to allow stopping on the B-flat horn with fingerings a half step below, but honestly for me the pitch shift with the Woodstop is really close to the same as hand stopping or the Tom Crown mute. On every horn I have tried with bell sizes ranging from an Alexander to a Conn 8D on the B-flat horn I feel the pitch goes up about ¾ step. On descant and triple horns the high F side it goes up about a whole step. I can use the stopping valve just like normal with no problem on horns that have a stopping valve using the Woodstop mute. So I am still a little puzzled by the point about it being designed for the B-flat horn. But then again it could be a quirk of the mute I tried that it plays more like a standard stopping mute. [I address this topic in relation to descant and triple horns further in my publication Playing High Horn, available from Horn Notes Edition].

The Ion Balu Stop Mute

I have not yet had the chance to try one of these but the other innovative stop mute mentioned at the beginning of this post is by Ion Balu. This mute is another approach toward solving the eternal question of how to be heard on certain excerpts in an orchestral context. The bell is very large and mounted on a longer tube than normal that angles outward. The major selling points given for this mute are:

1) It takes the sound from the bell and projects it TOWARDS the audience. This way, you will never have a distorted sound or a loss of safety due to overplaying in order to be heard. The S-shaped tube is a Ion Balu invention.

2) It works great in ALL registers, and especially in the difficult octave bellow middle C, (C3-C4) (The stopped low C in Tchaikovsky 6th WILL be heard like never before.)

3) Our “mute bell” is the biggest one on the market; 2.5″ and in this case, bigger is better.

4) We make the mute with one bell size only. In order to change the colors, you only need to change the direction in which the bell points. This saves hassle, and you can create color changes in a matter of seconds.

5) The bell detaches from the body, for easy storage.

6) We are the first and only one to use a synthetic material that sticks and seals your mute in the bell impeccably.

I especially like he notes in point 2 that “The stopped low C in Tchaikovsky 6th WILL be heard like never before.” If you have performed this work you can relate. One other note, on bell size, the Woodstop is actually nearly 3″ in diameter (but obviously of a different material).

There are several endorsements of this mute given in the Ion Balu site, including one from Jeff Nelsen (IU/Canadian brass), who offers this poem that also mentions the innovative synthetic cork material used on this mute.

Ion’s Dr. Seuss stop mute is born.
Finally, all the Whos Hears a Horn!
While sounds of beauty they do tell
Balu’s great cork stays in bell

Again, I did not have a chance to try this mute and I would welcome comments from those that have, keeping in mind however this final thought from Ion Balu,

We’ve been asked to compare our mute with other brands. We’ve been asked this in the past with our straight mutes, and we believe that this would be in bad taste. Our intention is to make the best possible mutes, and we can do this without insulting our competitors, whom we respect and have good relations with. We believe that there is a place in the market for all mutes, and our products are targeting a specific performer: the professional musician. If you already own a Balu Straight or Practice mute, you will find the same difference when comparing the stop mute with other brands, and it will be your decision where to rank our stop mute. Thank you for your understanding.

To Conclude a Very Long Post…

For sure both of these new mutes have their place on the market! I salute both makers for their innovations, and I look forward to seeing how these products impact the market, each one offers a new flavor of loud stopped mute to consider.

Speaking of the market, to purchase both will set you back a bit. According to the receipt with the Woodstop mute it is currently priced at $185 and the Balu is priced at $149.95. It may seem a bit steep to a student but for a fine, handmade, newly developed professional quality mute it seems pretty reasonable to me.

In closing I have one final note. While Balu has a website, so far as I can tell the maker of the Woodstop does not yet have a web site. I am hesitant to put the E-mail address in this post for privacy reasons but it is published in his advertisement on page 15 of the October, 2009 issue of The Horn Call. Balu also has an advertisement on page 21 of the same issue. If you don’t know about The Horn Call, it is a publication of the International Horn Society. Check out their website and learn how to join here.

UPDATE: Please see comment # 3 for more on the Woodstop and contact information to purchase this product.

ALSO: Would note I’ve tried the Balu now, it produces a lot of sound! Perfect for certain passages.

Dreams and Goals; Music Performance and Music Education

Bruce Hembd
-
1

Note: this article is a follow-up to “The Community College Alternative” which stimulated quite a few comments. My own follow-up comment became a bit long, so here it is as an informal post.

A degree in music education isn’t always about teaching children – just as a performance degree may not always be ultimately about performing. I know of many musicians with education and performance degrees that went on use their musical background in another application, myself included.

I can also think of several performers that have no degree whatsoever and are very successful – it all depends on how you apply yourself. You have the skills of determination or you do not. The actor Nick Nolte, for example went to Phoenix Community College. He seems to be doing OK for himself.

The quality of an education and its application to the real world is directly related to the psyche of the individual. It has been pointed out that there are some music teachers out there that are unhappy with their jobs. I could also provide many – if not countless – examples of unsatisfied employees in music performance jobs.

In other words, unhappy people exist in any field.

Many people live in the life of “quiet desperation” that Thoreau wrote about years ago.

Fantasy and reality

Every college athlete for example, dreams that they will be the next Michael Jordan or Pele. As long as these remain dreams and not a sense of entitlement -which can lead to great unhappiness and dissatisfaction – this is healthy and productive.

While I might agree with the point that it takes much time and dedication to be a fine musician, I would point out that there is more than one path in doing so. This path may take four years or as long as six or seven years.

Even the most determined and logical plan may take a few twists and turns. There is no unilateral path that works for everyone.

Dream big, think small

There is nothing wrong with dreaming big of course, but reality suggests that a broader perspective and education will produce a more broader minded person who is better equipped to deal with diversity and ingenuity.

I speak from some experience here. I can remember a time in my youth when I regarded music education majors with some disdain. The axiom of  “those that can’t do, teach” was regular part of my misguided youth-speak.

Time has taught me otherwise.

Dreams are natural. They are healthy and encouraged.

Confusing abstract dreams with concrete goals however, can lead to very deep and muddy waters.

Further reading:

Short and Long Tuning Slides, and Seasonal Intonation Issues

John Ericson
-
0

Some readers may have noticed that with the change of seasons you have to move your slides around a bit, especially the main slide. The reason why is because temperature impacts the speed of sound; sound moves more slowly through cold air. As a result if your horn is cold it will play flat, or if it is hot it will play sharp.

Here in Arizona over the summer the indoor temperatures I often practice in are a bit over 80 F and in the winter down toward 65, so I am looking at a temperature difference of more than 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus I find that my main slide position has to change a good bit from season to season.

slidesAs purchased my triple in particular had slides that that to be pulled quite far to be in tune in the summer. I had longer slides made for the horn. The long main slide I later had to shorten a bit, it was too long, but the long high F slide was actually not long enough. Thus the longer high F slide in the photo was made by shifting around slide legs from the first valve slide. Also, while I was working on it, I added the water key.

I almost changed over to the short slides a few weeks ago then it warmed up on me again. We are still hitting daytime highs above 80 degrees F out here in beautiful Arizona! In a week or two it will cool off again and I will switch to the short slides.

One amateur group I used to play in had much better intonation in the winter. I think they thought they got more in the groove or more tuned into each other but I believe it had a lot to do with slide position, the change of seasons, and some of the players keeping their slides the same place all year around. They do move, and you will need to move them to keep your centering feeling the same as the seasons and your performing locations change.

The Stopping Valve: The Best Invention Ever

John Ericson
-
6

In the United States horns with a stopping valve are not common. The most recent recital I gave is probably the first that I actually made much use of my stopping valve (on passages in Alla Caccia by Alan Abbott) and I must say it is just about the best invention ever.

StopValveA stopping valve is most commonly seen on single B-flat horns, descant horns, and some triple horns. This photo is a close up of my triple, which is a Paxman compensating triple. The slide for the stop valve is at the top of the valve cluster. It is the same length as a F horn second valve, so it gives you the ½ step of extra tubing you need.

Backing up a second, normally when you play stopped horn for a person with average hands you finger down a half step while closing the bell tightly and use fingerings only on the F horn. This is because when you play stopped on the B-flat horn it raises the pitch for most players roughly ¾ step which renders it unusable. Some custom fingerings can be found that work on the B-flat horn, as I note in this post, but generally the rule of thumb is to play stopped passages on the F horn for better intonation.

If you have a single B-flat horn or a descant there is no low F side to play stopped notes on! So what do you do? You use the stopping valve which adds ½ step of F horn tubing. This valve has two big advantages over stopping on the F horn:

  1. You can play stopped horn on the B-flat horn which is much more secure and
  2. If your hands are small and raise the pitch more than a half step you can pull the slide as far as needed to get things to line up perfectly.

Talking to students over the years I know at this point some readers will be confused how this valve works and why it is a neat thing. Wording it a bit differently, you don’t have to transpose the stopped notes, you can use any B-flat horn fingering you want, and, if your stopped notes tend to be a bit sharp due to small hands, you can adjust the stop valve so that every stopped note is in tune.

More accurate with better intonation–what a deal! When you move on from the double horn exclusively explore the use of the stopping valve, it is a great tool for better playing.

The Community College Alternative

Bruce Hembd
-
5

At The Business of Music, Rose French makes a strong argument for instrumentalists to consider a music education degree over a performance degree.

What most aspiring musicians don’t realize is that teaching will always be a part of your profession. There are a lot of terrible teachers that are amazing musicians, and I am sure that you can think of several on any instrument. The unfortunate thing is that these amazing talents would be able to share their skills with just a bit of training.

This is an excellent point.

While a great deal of time and energy must be spent in order to land a job as a performer, pursuing the music education degree in no way shape or form detracts from that pursuit. It may in fact enhance a performer’s career.

The intend on whether or not to pursue a public teaching job is irrelevant. What is relevant at the base level is learning how to be a more effective teacher and all-round musician.

The community college track

My current private students are all music education majors at a local community college. Their program of study is based on a 2-year plan that gets them on track towards transferring all their credits to a state school, where ultimately they will graduate.

The community college to state university track is advantageous in several ways:

  • A big money saver – the per-credit cost at the community college is much less
  • A less intimidating campus – the student can learn the ins and outs of academia in a smaller, more intimate environment
  • Live at home, work part-time – the student can pocket savings for the university transfer
  • Get the general studies classes done first in order to focus on the music last

If I were to go back in time and do things differently, I would give very strong consideration to a community college. While my degree at Eastman has had some advantages, the cost kept me in debt for a long 20 years after graduation.

As it turns out too, some lessons from my “school of hard knocks” education may have been learned years earlier in a music education or music business program.

1...116117118...156Page 117 of 156
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv