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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Joyful Noise! A thread for musicians and noisemakers.
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I play cello. I learned as a child/teenager with eeeeeevil tyrannical teachers who made me ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif) and consequently gave it up as a young adult.*
...
*I could go off on a rant about stupid music teachers who don't realise that the reason most of learn music is for pleasure, but I'll keep it heavenly ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
This. Yes. Couldn't agree more.
I was a musician until three or four years ago when I gave up and ran away to sea, and I did quite a bit of teaching, both in schools and privately at home. I'm lucky - I enjoy teaching, many friends taught because they had to (well, I had to too, but I happen to like it).
If I had a pound for every time someone said something like this to me when I used to say "I'm a musician", or told me that they were told when they were at school that they were "unmusical" or "tone deaf" or whatever ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif) . Yes, one's darling pupils don't always practise, and yes, that's a little annoying, but none of my pupils wanted to be concert violinists - I saw my job as being to teach them what I could, to show them ways of practising that might be useful in other contexts (break stuff down, work on the stuff you can't do rather than the stuff you can, include a bit of pure playing for fun in practise when you've time, ways to fit it into your day - that sort of stuff, really basic things), to give them a good, fun, engaging, inviting experience of music - maybe they'd give up at secondary school, but I've met lots of people who didn't carry on at school, but returned to music later in life and derived a lot of pleasure from it, and just to be a positive person in their life - for many (most?) kids I was teaching, I might be the only adult they saw regularly one-to-one other than members of their family. That's quite an important relationship, I think.
Oo,
er,
um...
<clambers off of soap-box,
hands soap-box back,
slinks away>
That came out as a bit of a rant - but it does make me angry that some people have had this whole avenue of joy shut off to them by a bad teacher. If a pupil's not learning, a teacher needs to look at whether it's entirely the pupil's fault. Trying different ways to get someone to get it is one of the fun bits of teaching.
aaaand...
That Is All
![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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St Everild
Shipmate
# 3626
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Posted
A few years ago there was a "have a go" sort of day in the locality in which I then lived, where you could go and try out various instruments. I can play the flute, so I thought I would try brass. And I discover that I could play "Happy Birthday" on the French Horn, of all things. All the other brass instruments utterly defeated me. But, hey, I can play the horn...and there is a comedy skit about that, but I'm on my iPad and can't find it at the mo...
Posts: 1782 | From: Bethnei | Registered: Dec 2002
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
What luvanddaisies says, only to add that it ain't just music.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
What he said.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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Alex Cockell
Ship’s penguin
# 7487
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by South Coast Kevin:
quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
A couple dozen times I year I wake up with a new song in my head, or realize in the car I'm singing something I've never heard before.
Trouble is, by the time I find paper or a recorder, all I have is a snatch.
I have a suggestion - sing down the phone line! If you have a home and cell phone, call home when you have an idea while you're out and about. Get an answerphone if you don't already have one, and a hands-free kit for your car. If you only have one phone, either get a second one or find a friend who'd be willing for you to sing to their answerphone!
Not my idea, this - there's a secret track at the end of one of my favourite albums (Year of Meteors by Laura Veirs - samples on Amazon) which is just an answerphone recording of what became one of the main songs on the album. Neat, huh?
As long as you don't then use that as the basis for a Sony-backed talent contest... ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
Posts: 2146 | From: Reading, Berkshire UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Amen, luvanddaisies!
Some of my piano students came to me after leaving other teachers...and have started badly when they made a mistake. They had been smacked on the hands (with a ruler in some cases) and were surprised to find that I didn't punish them. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Music, for 99.9% (my best guestimate) of those who study, is for pleasure and as an outlet when words just will not do! How can the spirit fly when the brain is worried about the consequences of pain?
*gets off luvanddaisies' soapbox, wipes the saliva and foam off*
Sorry about adding to the Purgish tangent.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Izzybee
Shipmate
# 10931
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Posted
For the music teachers of the thread...
The Izlet is in love with her Violin (and the Cello that appeared in the house last week thankfully for free, but more about that later). She lives for music, voluntarily practices, and although she has only been learning for 18 months, she was advised to audition for the local youth orchestra (which is about to become a part of the city's symphony orchestra). She already plays for the non-auditioned section of the organization, and has done very well for herself there. She's usually incredibly confident - in fact Saturday she stood up at a Fiddle Convention and played for 400+ people because she "thought it was fun".
So yesterday was the audition, and she bombed it. Actually, she didn't bomb all of it, she played her prepared piece well and the excerpt that they gave her well - I shamelessly admit I was listening at the door. She got to the scales (three octaves, triplets) and froze. It was like she had never seen a scale before.
What can I do to reassure her that this is normal, and that it's not the end of the world? It's really not the end of the world because she's still able to play in the lower section, but she had her heart set on joining the big kids and I can tell she's mad at herself for freezing up. I don't want her first taste of audition to be her last, and I don't want her to start to dislike music because she didn't get where she wanted to be - this is literally the first time that has happened for her in music.
It's a life lesson, I just don't know how to teach it, especially without being a pushy parent. Any musicians who can share their ideas?
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Hate filled bitch musings...
Posts: 1336 | From: Baltimore, MD | Registered: Jan 2006
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
They had been smacked on the hands (with a ruler in some cases) and were surprised to find that I didn't punish them.
No way ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
I am quite happy to have discovered MuseScore recently. Finally an Open Source program for music notation! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
it needs 10.6 and I'm only on 10.5.8
Guess it's back to Lilypond for me then
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ecumaniac:
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
They had been smacked on the hands (with a ruler in some cases) and were surprised to find that I didn't punish them.
No way
I'm afraid so. I had thought that barbaric method of teaching had expired long ago.
Izzybee, what happened to Izlet is something that happens to musicians at various times. Sometimes it's just a little 'brain bubble' that happens when a person loses concentration or centering. Or sometimes it can be as simple as familiar scales or music engraved differently from what is practiced at home which looks 'alien'.
I'm sure all the music teachers here will join me in encouraging Izlet to continue to reach for the stars! Disappointments can happen at any time, but sometimes they can turn into great blessings! She may find that she's mentoring other students in the lower section. Or she may be a source of inspiration without even knowing it!
Above all, I hope she continues to love her music. Music without passion is just a lot of notes strung together! (IMHO) ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
ecumaniac: Guess it's back to Lilypond for me then
I'm familiar with LilyPond, but found the ASCII input quite cumbersome. MuseScore has (more or less) WYSIWYG input. I had to learn to do it all over again, since I was used to Finale, and I think it still has some children's diseases, but I think it's a vast improvement over LilyPond. I hope you'll be able to get it one day.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Izzybee
Shipmate
# 10931
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Posted
Thanks, JediJudy - that helped a lot. It's hard to know what to say when you're not musical! I can do the mom stuff, but the music specifics are hard...
I'm pretty sure she's actually going to have a great year in the lower section. The conductor of the lower section makes everything very kid friendly and fun, so it's not like she's doomed. I also love the organization - I know they'll do whats best for her, so I'm not worried on that front. I just hate seeing her feel defeated by something that she puts her all into!
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Hate filled bitch musings...
Posts: 1336 | From: Baltimore, MD | Registered: Jan 2006
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
ecumaniac: Guess it's back to Lilypond for me then
I'm familiar with LilyPond, but found the ASCII input quite cumbersome. MuseScore has (more or less) WYSIWYG input. I had to learn to do it all over again, since I was used to Finale, and I think it still has some children's diseases, but I think it's a vast improvement over LilyPond. I hope you'll be able to get it one day.
We had Sibelius at my previous workplace, and I had gotten pretty quick on it. Never really got to that level of familiarity with Lilypond unfortunately. For simple things it was still faster for me to dig out the manuscript paper!
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
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Posted
I think it's well worth laying out $39 for Noteworthy Composer (though if you don't have Windows you're SOL). I've tried MuseScore, and could probably get used to it, but it has some awkward features in the editing--if you make a mistake it's very cumbersome to change it.
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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Timothy the Obscure: I've tried MuseScore, and could probably get used to it, but it has some awkward features in the editing--if you make a mistake it's very cumbersome to change it.
Yes, that's my main gripe with it too. I hope they'll improve that in later versions.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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