Learning, Teaching... and Questioning

Across nearly twenty years of my own teaching, from pre-college to conservatory levels, I have puzzled over our traditional teaching methods. While I have great respect for my colleagues in music education, I fear they face a difficult task if they hope to leave a legacy of inspiration and enrichment across a wide cross-section of the student body.

It was Mark Twain who said, "Those who don't read good books hold no advantage over those who don't read." More than an echo of truth lies in this quotation as it parallels our lives in music. I do believe there is hope, and so I try to act as a force for positive change. Today, through an imperfect lens, I think I see a path that could help our teachers and our students more closely approach their goals. That path winds outside the boundaries of traditional music education, and it requires we re-examine the way we teach our young people and the way we invest in our musical future. My concern is for the broader education of all students and for their future involvement as adult citizen consumers, sustainers, and patrons of music and the arts. A pyramid needs a very broad base upon which to stand, and with our present teaching methods we are asking those in music, and all of the arts, to prop-up the top, without a sufficient foundation.

My own early studies began in music education, and although eventually drawn away from that path, I determined at a young age to embrace a concept I then called music education through performance. I don't believe I understood very clearly how that concept might evolve, but I knew I wanted to reach out to people through performance; to help them understand the beauty, the joy, and the unique importance of fine music. As funding for music and the arts is repeatedly reduced or eliminated in many schools across America today, I am struck by these questions, questions I think we should be asking.

"How is it that the large and growing music education programs, now in place for a half-century in our schools, have produced a citizenry that is so ignorant of great music, a public that apparently does not value and thus will not support the arts?"

And secondly, in observing what might be a typical public school music program...

"Why are we teaching only a select few students about the rudiments of playing musical instruments, while depriving the larger majority of the recognized values and rewards of musical understanding and appreciation?"

If these two questions resonate with any truth, I hope we can find a better path.

I especially admire one who has been an inspiration to many and whose work illuminates that same concept I coined long ago, the amazing performer, educator and trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis. Better than anyone I know, Wynton's complete body of work exemplifies and perfects that same vague concept I so naively described long ago, music education through performance.

Thinking of Wynton and the scope of his work, I'm reminded of a question once posed to me as a student, when a prominent teacher asked me, "Would you rather be known as a great clarinetist, or a great musician who just happens to play the clarinet?" My response was clear, and I think I know how Wynton would respond. Yet, I can't help wondering whether many of our students today would understand the difference.

- LN