*Note: I am NOT a teacher, music or otherwise, I AM a student (music and otherwise) who has studied under a variety of styles and thinks she has learned something even by not learning things sometimes*
IMNSHO, one (and only?) reason this might work is if the student is absolutely in love with the Schumann. I personally love the Glière horn concerto, but am not by any means ready to perform it. I do pull it out as motivation for me to return to the fundamentals that I need to build on in order to be able to play it, and as a ruler to measure my progress as a horn player. (Also, Fur Elise was literally the first piano piece I ever learned to play and memorize, even before I could read music, thanks to that stupid McDonald's commercial. I played it very badly and have returned to it over the many years to fix the mistakes, but it kept me at the keyboard at times I might have otherwise given up.) But, if psychology isn't a factor in this teacher's decision, then I'm pretty doubtful. Then it is in danger of falling into the category of teaching pigs to sing - it wastes the teacher's time and annoys the pig. ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:59:42 -0800 (PST) From: Wilbert Kimple <[email protected]> Subject: [Hornlist] Is this correct teaching? To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hello all. I really want your honest opinion on the following. I have a friend, a college freshman non-music major, who is playing in a local college/community orchestra. Her horn teacher has her working on Schumann's Adagio and Allegro. I feel this selection is entirely too difficult for a freshman. I saved it for my Graduate Recital! This student does not yet know her major and minor scales and arpeggios, two octaves. She has not worked through any type of exercise book such as Singer of Standley. She has never been introduced to the Farkas warm up. She has never played her way through Kopprasch book one. Am I out of line here? I always thought that to play music, let alone to play music musically, one had to have a firm foundation in technique. How do you feel? I've seen this teacher do the same type of things to other students in the past. I feel she is totally wrong, and is placing a brick wall before her students that they just can't climb over. It's one thing to challenge a student, it's another thing to frustrate them. Wilbert in SC - _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
