Soulful Sentiments

Policing the Practice of Fundamentals

2009-12-09T14:40:00.000-06:00

As my fifth semester of being a Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas winds to a close, I can't help but evaluate my effectiveness as an educator through my students' jury performances. Thankfully, I have had many varying opportunities to educate musicians in differing learning situations (i.e. masterclasses, private instruction, sectional/ensemble playing, chamber music) and, therefore, have had experience developing my pedagogical ideas. However, I am a firm believer that as an educator, our learning is never completely finished. In fact, some of the most influential teachers I have encountered continued their education far beyond the completion of their degrees and were not hesitant to share that knowledge (musical or otherwise) with their students. It is in the spirit of that always present yearning for education that I write this particular blog.

Music in the collegiate (university or conservatory) setting is a unique beast. On the one hand, students have the ability to be completely creative and ultimately have a unique control over their futures - an extremely different control than would be found during an accounting or engineering degree. That being said, there are certain fundamentals that are crucial to any musician's success. These hold true not in music academia, but throughout the entire world of music. The fundamentals of pitch, sound, rhythm, technique are important across the board, and therefore, have been deemed worthy of testing in the academic standards of music. There is no doubt the importance of students being masters of their instrument and the proof of this through certain exams. Most music programs do this through certain scale/technique juries.

My interest in this subject has been inspired by my students' recent performance in these specific exams. As an educator, I am not one to force students to perform certain repertoire. While I agree there are specific standards of each instrument's repertoire that need to be studied, I am also a realist and know if the student is not emotionally invested in a specific piece on some level, they will not put forth the appropriate amount of effort to achieve the level of mastery that we all hope for. Scales, however, are a different matter. As a student, I have always enjoyed practicing patterns and scales. In some place in my mind, I see technical exercises as a puzzle and my practicing the various techniques allows me to use those pieces to achieve many varying puzzles throughout my musical adventures. However, not every musician places that type of importance on certain skills. Furthermore, because of each music student's creativity and control of what is crucial to their musical performance, the focus of fundamentals can sometimes be deviated to other aspects of playing.

While we all agree the fundamentals of scales and patterns are the basics of music no matter what medium (classical, jazz, ska, rock, etc.), the importance each musician places on the practice of these fundamentals is extremely different. It seems as though younger students realize the importance of scales, but would much rather practice the music they enjoy playing. What they fail to see is the connection between the two. Through analyzing, I try to discuss the importance and show the application of such patterns in music. Furthermore, I have had students use specific patterns as practice for work on all twelve keys. And if it was a classical excerpt and student is also a jazz player, I've had them try to employ the specific "classical" skill in a jazz setting. Even with all of this, some students are still not committed enough to practice their scales to level of mastery.

There is no doubt, that one of the ultimate reasons to practice for mastery of certain skills is so the performer can truly control the instrument without any skills inhibiting the performance ability. And yet, students still come to their scale juries unprepared and unable to perform certain requirements that their idols know and use on a regular basis. Therefore, my question is, how to you prepare your students for success on the basics? What do you require on a regular basis? How do you enforce those expectations? At what point do you throw in the towel, or is there always hope that the student will learn the requirements?

The Plite of A Music School Student

2009-11-11T14:41:00.000-06:00

Music school. Being one of the first generation in my family to even attend college - let along pursue a DOCTORATE IN MUSIC - visits home become a sort of question/answer session with my family mainly centering around the central question, "Just what are you planning on doing with a doctorate in saxophone performance?" The quick and short answer is, teach at the college level. More often than not, that answer isn't sufficient and the follow-up question is, "Why do you need a doctorate? Haven't you learned everything you need to know? You have been in college for a decade!" If I were pursuing a doctorate in medicine I guarantee there would be no disputing the amount of time/money I have spent for my education because it is a respectable and, more importantly, a relevant career. By relevant, I am inferring that most people can see the importance and consider then means justifying the end. For music, however, we are constantly defending our decisions to the outside world.

With all of the defending, you would think music school would be the one place where you would be understood and your goals would be nurtured. To a certain extent, I believe this is true. We are allowed to pick our majors; while we must learn the "standards" not only in our music history classes and in our major instrument, we can still choose our own repertoire; we have opportunities to collaborate with whomever we want; and we ultimately have the ability to make our degree into whatever focus we see fit. If we have all of these freedoms, why, then does it feel like there are so many hoops to jump through. I am currently watching some of my friends go through dissertation topic proposal horrors! The have picked their topic, have and idea of what they would like to do, and although they have put a lot of thought into their topic, they must keep resubmitting for approval and in some cases are molding their original ideas into what their professors would like to see. WHAT?!?! As someone who is quickly approaching the dissertation topic phase of my degree this is extremely troublesome. I have many ideas floating around regarding what I would like to propose and how I would like to carry that out, but I'm afraid they will not be what my professors would like to see and I will be forced to change.

This conundrum reflects a bigger issue in education that is faced from age 5 and on. We are told what to learn, and must prove what we learn on standardized tests. In band, choir, and orchestra, we learn what we need to learn to sound like we know what we're doing for UIL and All-Region auditions. In college, finally we are at the point of free-thinking and creativity ---- but wait, no, even still you must conform. It's interesting to consider the history of jazz. Jazz began as an oral tradition, and was passed on from player to player. Improvisers wore out records listening over and over to pick up the language so they could use it to impose their ideas. While some experiments were met with resistance (I'm referring to when Parker and Gillespie started extending harmonies and bumping up tempos to push the boundaries of the music), this was truly a time when musicians were left to their own creative devices. Jazz music went through so many mutations and formations, and then it became institutionalized. So, did this kill the art? Obviously not, however, are we being true to the music. When Charlie Parker stood up to take a solo, was there someone standing in front of him saying, I'm sorry Charlie but part of that solo didn't exactly fit the changes. Go back and learn this new lick in all 12 keys and try that again. That definitely didn't happen, and yet we study and study and study Charlie Parker. Are we doing the music justice? I'm not knocking the institution that I"m a product of. There is NO DOUBT, I have learned so much buy being in school and have had so many opportunities that I otherwise would not have had. I'm just wondering if we are being the most effective with our students. As a product of the system, I can definitely say that jumping through all of the "hoops" is sometimes so daunting it makes me not want to practice. (Notice I said it makes me want....not that it makes me not practice.) However, I don't think the purpose of music was to make the creators feel discouraged and insufficient each and every time they step onto a stage. Some could say, I just need to suck it up and get a thicker skin. But, is that really the answer?

In one of my classes we read an article in which the author suggested doing away with school as we know it. You can read it at this link: http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm. What if all schooling was thought of in these terms? What would that mean for those of us who are already a product of the system? How can future educators take their experiences and improve upon the system?

The First Blog!

2009-11-07T14:23:00.000-06:00

Inspired by one of my current professors, I have decided to begin blogging my various experiences in performing and pedagogy in an effort to become a more aware and effective musician and educator. In my opinion, the vast array of opportunities presented by all forms of media can serve as vital components to any person's repertoire.

With those sentiments, my first post is actually a question for you, the reader. What is the best way you've utilized your technology in your pedagogy?

For me, it was the day I used Pandora on my Iphone to help teach a student rhythm. I currently have a student who has recently moved to Texas from Missouri. We all know the stigma that goes along with Texas Band Programs, and since being here I've seemed to become complacent to just how advanced (in some areas) Texas students are. This particular student further proved this point. She came into her first lesson (keep in mind she's been "playing" saxophone for two years) not knowing all the notes on the saxophone and only playing her G major scale. YIKES! Needless to say, it has been a constant challenge filling in the gaps that have been lacking in her musical education. One such gap ---- rhythm! After a month of lessons, I was ripping my hair our trying to figure out a way to get her to feel the beat and be able to make her fingers move in time! In the middle of a frustrating lesson, I remembered how I'd seen Jerry Blackstone, Director of Choral Studies at the University of Michigan, do a wonderful lesson with my saxophone students one summer at the All-State Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. His basic idea was teaching rhythm by using music that the students could relate too. He'd bring in his boombox and set up shop with the students minus their instruments. The students would use their bodies to articulate various rhythms by listening to various tunes.

DING DING DING!

So, with my student, I decided to use one of my 90 Iphone apps for good! I asked the student what her favorite band was, searched for that on pandora and cranked up the volume. Although we started with her just moving to the groove, but the end of her lesson we were playing various scales, in various rhythms, and she was actually improvising! Success!!

With that, I would like to know how you've used technology for good!