2021-02-15
In the fullness of time...
We are in the depths of winter now. February in Massachusetts is a long slog even in the shortest month. A lot of snow, and a stormy week coming.
The college students have returned to school, at least those who are able to return to their COVID-19 impacted campuses. I had the good fortune of getting a note from a former student during the winter break. As always, it was good to hear from a former student; but he also pointed me towards his YouTube channel where he had uploaded a half dozen of his repertory projects this past few years.
We got along famously for various reasons; this student loves the big Romantic repertory, so we had no end of topics to cover and problems to solve. As I watched him play in the video, I was pleased to see the various technical issues that we had worked hard on perfecting were absolutely there. There is, as there always is, more security and more maturity in the approach, which of course happens as good young players get older and subsequent teachers instill their wisdom as well. Watching it definitely made my day, and I made the student promise to stay in touch and to upload more recordings.
This lovely part of the day followed a phone conversation with my cousin, who is a professional musician. We have been playing together ever since high school, and we entertain each other royally. (We share a similarly cynical and warped sense of humor... must either be genetic or the result of working in music. Hmmm.). He wanted to know how we all were faring in our bubble; I mentioned that I had a pair of new students this year, and these beginners had considerably brightened up each week. I have not physically met either student. We interact entirely through videoconferencing like the rest of the world presently does, but we laugh a lot and they both really want to learn how to play.
Sometimes people ask me whom I prefer to teach. They usually expect me to say 'oh the advanced students, of course. We can do so much more'. But I don't see it that way, and I never have. I am right there with my own violin teacher, who has lower level students along with incredibly advanced violinists auditioning for competitions, conservatories and orchestras. This keeps one's teaching interesting; the pedagogy for each level is different, and life is never boring.
I particularly love, however, the ability to shape a young player from day one. Technique is so important to success at the piano and other instruments; and it pains me to see players, young and old, who clearly were not lucky enough to grow up with technically savvy teachers. At the least, a compromised techniques prohibits you from expressing yourself completely. At the worst, bad technique will cripple you physically so that you will have to stop playing. The competition scene is particularly nasty for this; too many top level teachers encourage student competitors to push the limits of what is ergonomically good for their bodies, just to create the volume of sound and effect that will ride up and over modern orchestras. I don't approve; only a handful of physical types will survive such trauma. The rest will quickly develop repetitive stress injuries that will end their careers.
So I was delighted to see that the technical place my YouTube pianist was in was still healthy and useful. And I am pleased to know I have a few brand new neophytes whom I can encourage to play in the soundest way possible as they grow.
If you have more questions about this topic, don't hesitate to contact me and we can chat.
K
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