This Blog was written shortly after my dear friend, colleague, brother and competitor past away six years ago. Although it’s only been a year and a half since the last reposting, it seems a good moment to post it again; jealousies and insecurities seem as prevalent as ever among teachers to the detriment of our students. Can’t teachers please get past these jealousies and insecurities and remember our responsibility is to expand the knowledge and vision of our students?
It’s only natural that some
of my thoughts have been in reflection of my long friendship with Tommy
Johnson. Among those thoughts were the many students we shared, to us it was a
natural thing and was never problematic. In the 25 years that we both played
and taught in Los Angeles we have recommended to dozens of students that they
take some lessons from the other teacher. Similarly, I also remember receiving
many telephone calls from Harvey Phillips over the years asking if I would
please give lessons to a student who would be passing through Los Angeles.
Fortunately, most of our brass community agrees with this practice of a student
studying with more than one teacher.
It’s hasn’t always been that
way, however, and even today we occasionally encounter jealousies and
insecurities from some of our colleague teachers. It’s been known that certain
tubists giving concerts in major European cities have been made aware that
local students were discouraged from attending the concert. “I don’t want my
students exposed to those kind of things” was the explanation given by the
nervous teachers. However, human behavior being as it is, the ban on the
concerts resulted in the very students who were discouraged to attend being all
the more motivated to go and listen. There have also been occasions of masterclasses
that were canceled, especially in the old Soviet block Eastern Europe countries
because, “It would influence the students in a unhealthy direction”. Happily
this kind of thinking is rare and diminishing.
Of course, there have never
been any rules about studying with more than one teacher but there are a few
commonsense things that deserve our thought.
Both for teachers and
students it’s very important to be honest about the lessons; if it’s necessary
to be secretive, which is a very clear sign there is a problem, one simply has
to question if it’s worth it.
For students, it is a wise
idea to avoid studying the same repertoire with both teachers, especially, when
one of the teachers has strong and singular ideas regarding that repertoire. And
as a teacher, I have avoided working on repertoire that another teacher is
helping to prepare for an exam or a recital unless I have a specific request
from the permanent teacher to do so.
It is always a very good
idea that both the permanent and temporary teachers communicate as much as
possible. A phone call from the permanent to the temporary teacher requesting
he accept his student for some lessons is a wonderful way to avoid any
awkwardness and, of course, it is a great advantage to the student when the two
teachers can discuss the student’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s also a
wonderful thing when the initiative to study with another teacher comes from
the permanent teacher, especially when the permanent teacher can guide the
student to the visiting teacher’s specialties.
The principal duty of a
great teacher is to provide the student with as much quality information as
possible and recommending study with other teachers certainly is part of that
teaching responsibility. We are very lucky that this practice is usually
accepted in our unique community.
December 20, 2006, Kyoto,
Japan
Reposted March 31, 2010, Tokyo
Revised October 14, 2012, Tokyo
