Ref: http://tinyurl.com/5nj263
The following post (and my response) was posted on the Violin Forum
from Luscombe Violins, Inc. The OP has had one year of lessons and
has been playing for a year beyond that, and wants to teach. I say
that he shouldn't. Do you think I was right, or no?
ORIGINAL POST:
Hello! I took lessons for about a year some time ago and played
approximately another year on my own. I have recently begun working
again on my own, going through some old books I had used before. I am
progressing quickly now working through different positions.
Recently several people in my church asked if I would be willing to
teach their children to play. I put this off for some time, but
finally gave in. In the past two months the group has grown to 9
ranging in age from 5-18. I am not charging much because I know I am
not nearly as qualified as other teachers. This has caused me to work
extra hard in my own practice. I also bought viola recently as well so
that I could teach that as well. Learning the alto clef is going well
so far. So this brings me to a few questions:
1)I am taking my students through the Essential Elements books. At
what should point should I add other books to these, and what books
would be recommended at that level?
2)I never completed all 4 Essential Elements books, so aside from
fini****ng that, what books would you recommend for me to starting
working on myself. I have a scale book and a positions book that I was
working on when I stopped lessons, but I only went a few pages into
it.
3) Should I teach any theory other than that included in these books?
I know there are advanced theory books out there, but I am not sure if
it is normal for violin teachers to teach this.
Thank you very much! I appreciate any input!
MY RESPONSE:
I wasn't going to respond to this, but in good conscience, I must: I
have to say that I think someone who has taken lessons for a year, and
played for a year -- I wonder if they're really qualified to teach. It
takes about five years to begin to get into the violin; what do you
have to teach, I wonder?
Personally, I think it's a disaster for you, and for your perspective
students. I have students who have studied with me five or six years;
they are not qualified to teach until they finish at least an
undergraduate degree in music, and/or take some Suzuki training (which
you can do at age 16.) For fiddlers, no degree is necessary, but a
great deal of fiddling with other aural-tradition musicians, would be.
I don't mean to be hurtful, but you need a great deal more training
than you have before you can in good conscience, hang up a ****ngle and
begin teaching anyone. At minimum, the teacher needs to be able to
play the instrument, themselves. Honestly, the odds of anyone being
able to play the instrument well in two years time is pretty much
zilch.
See:
Violin/Viola FAQ
29. How long will it take me to get really good at the violin?
http://beststudentviolins.com/PedagogyTech.html#29
This question is one of the most "frequently asked" of any. It takes
about five years to get into the violin, and that is with a good
teacher and a great deal of work. Ten years, however, seems to be the
normative time that it takes to master any skill. See the materials,
below, borrowed, (waiting to get permission), from Peter Norvig's
Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years
Researchers Bloom (1985), Bryan & Harter (1899)*, Hayes (1989), Simmon
& Chase (1973)** have shown it takes about ten years to develop
expertise in any of a wide variety of areas, including chess playing,
music composition, telegraph operation, painting, piano playing,
swimming, tennis, and research in neuropsychology and topology. There
appear to be no real shortcuts: even Mozart, who was a musical prodigy
at age 4, took 13 more years before he began to produce world-class
music.
In another genre, the Beatles seemed to burst onto the scene with a
string of #1 hits and an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964.
But they had been playing small clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg since
1957, and while they had mass appeal early on, their first great
critical success, Sgt. Peppers, was released in 1967.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) thought it took longer than ten years:
"Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a
lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price." And Chaucer
(1340-1400) complained "the lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne."
Hippocrates (c. 400BC) is known for the excerpt "ars longa, vita
brevis", which is part of the longer quotation "Ars longa, vita
brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium
difficile", which in English renders as "Life is short, [the] craft
long, op****tunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment
difficult." Although in Latin, ars can mean either art or craft, in
the original Greek the word "techne" can only mean "skill", not "art".
* Bryan, W.L. & Harter, N. "Studies on the telegraphic language: The
acquisition of a hierarchy of habits. Psychology Review, 1899, 8,
345-375
** Chase, William G. & Simon, Herbert A. "Perception in Chess",
Cognitive Psychology, 1973, 4, 55-81.
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