Re: I have a confession. I HATE TO TEACH


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Posted by Doug Whitten on February 09, 2004 at 19:36:17:

In Reply to: I have a confession. I HATE TO TEACH posted by Sean Chisham on February 09, 2004 at 00:28:08:

I am definitely in a minority here, but I love to teach! Especially the weak musicians. As a professor in a small State school I don't get the "cream of the crop" students. This makes the quality of my teaching even more important. I like to think that I will be able to take a moderately talented tubist from a small school and turn them into a tubist with skills to be a high quality professional performer or educator (or both).

I would not want to teach in a big name performance school because I find the efficacy of education to be its most compelling aspect. My dream is to take my students from rural and often impoverished background and send them out into the world full of hope and passion. It may be nice to send students to major orchestras or Washington DC bands, but it is also satisfying to prepare students to make great music in the schools.

When I hear others state that non motivated students should be booted from your studios I cringe. In my studio, I try my best to motivate students for success. I do not always succeed, but I try. The bottom line is that I am a teacher to serve the students, they are not here to serve me.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to teach! There are many professions that I don't want to do, and therefore, I don't do them.

On a side note... Dave Zerkel, you made a statement that I really like. To paraphrase, you tell the students with performance aspirations that you are the competition. If you want to work, you'll have to beat me. That is great! I will be using that as a motivator for my 2 performance majors. Thanks!




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