Teachers' Corner

[Sorrano]

Yes, but Beethoven had talent...!

Your daughter, undoubtedly inherited her talent from you.

[Megan]

[QUOTE=Sorrano;53158]Your daughter, undoubtedly inherited her talent from you. [/QUOT

I agree, and it must be wonderful to have a musical family.

[Agnes Selby]

I am very happy with my family's musicality but I am afraid I have
no talent whatsoever. Since the unfortunate episodes with my own
piano teacher, I have never touched the piano again. However,
it has not stopped me from loving music which is rather fortunate.

[Quijote]

My teacher sat next to me with a ruler in her hand. She used it by hitting my hands [...]

My mother told me a similar story (she was Spanish) : general education in those days was in the hands of the nuns for the girls, and Jesuits for the boys. My mother and her brothers and sisters all recount the same experience: physical punishment (beatings) for making mistakes. My own school days were better, of course, though not without a little bit of corporal punishent (cane, pump, head-bashing, slaps, etc.). It was a C of E school. My first 'cello teacher only employed sarcasm to keep me in line.

[Quijote]

Sorrano is right that there are teachers out there whose primary concern is the money - I've had plenty of pupils from past teachers who have been badly 'taught'. Have to say though that given the choice I'd take the indifferent teacher over the indifferent surgeon!

Strange, that ! Check out this article :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...ic-for-surgery

[Agnes Selby]

Music and Medicine truly go hand in hand. There are many Doctors' Orchestras
all over the world. There is a Doctors' Orchestra which performs
at Sydney University. The orchestra includes medical students as well.
Sydney University also has a Music/Medicine pre-med course which allows
students to study music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music which
is affiliated with Sydney University. Classical music is doing well
among Australian doctors.

[Peter]

Strange, that ! Check out this article :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...ic-for-surgery

Hmm - a bit contradictory, on the one hand they say there is evidence to suggest it helps and that 'calming' CM is probably best (the typical stereotype of sleepy CM), yet the majority are listening to loud heavy rock! How are they measuring this? - by which genre or composer has the best death rate?!! Personally I'd be rather concerned to know my surgeon was listening to 'death metal'

[Quijote]

Well, so long as the surgeon is not indifferent to the job in hand! May I just say that for the births of my three children (involving two women, though not simultaneously), the midwives (in French, sage-femme, literally translated = "wise woman") had asked us to bring along some CDs if we wanted some music during this "key moment". I shall not reveal that rather personal choice (which was really left up to the two women in question), though I will confirm that the "Triple" was not on the list.

[Quijote]

For enfants 1 and 2, I even had the privilege of cutting the umbilical cord (which I tried to time with a firm cadential moment in the music), but with n°3 I had left the room for a fag and missed the opportunity (Lord, I was so exhausted, as I was pretty involved with the birth, not just sitting in awe on some seat in the corner, but I will spare you the details!!).

[Quijote]

Back to teaching : today, lesson 3 for the 2nd year undergraduates (harmonizing Bach chorales). Woe, despair and gnashing of teeth (theirs). Despite my cajoling, the same old errors : augmented 2nds between the 6th and 7th degree in the minor key (instead of sharpenng the 6th degree), missing accidentals, parallel 5s and 8s, incorrect resolution of the leading note in V-I & V-VI cadences, keeping the tenor too low, and poor contrapuntal line (check out any chorale by Bach - every voice has a "melody" and is not just "harmonic padding", if you see what I mean).
Next week I shall be introducing the "Kalashnikov" approach.

[Quijote]

The "Kalashnikov approach" you ask? [They aren't, nobody's listening, you fool. Ed. By the way, you're fired.]

[Quijote]

I'm not sure I ever had a good music teacher, to be honest. The bad instruction I got is what made me want to teach myself, in fact.

There is no problem in being an autodidact (Schoenberg was, to an extent), but I find it sad to read what you have posted.

[Sorrano]

The "Kalashnikov approach" you ask? [They aren't, nobody's listening, you fool. Ed. By the way, you're fired.]

"Kalashnikov is commonly used to refer to a type of rifle, but it and similar words also have other meanings:" I'm listening!

[Quijote]

"Kalashnikov is commonly used to refer to a type of rifle, but it and similar words also have other meanings:" I'm listening!

Well now Sorrano, I have no doubt you would make an excellent student, or a "bitch", meaning you would ask me difficult questions and be generally demanding. I love such students, rather than those that sit in front of me with mouths agape, diligently writing down what I tell and show them without question.

[Sorrano]

Well now Sorrano, I have no doubt you would make an excellent student, or a "bitch", meaning you would ask me difficult questions and be generally demanding. I love such students, rather than those that sit in front of me with mouths agape, diligently writing down what I tell and show them without question.

I do recall, in a musicology course, the instructor erroneously stating that Bruckner had set the slow movement as the third movement only in the 9th Symphony. He didn't seem to pleased with me when I pointed out the 8th Symphony. But he agreed, as he had to.