With a Knuckle and a Belt

It’s been my pleasure and good fortune to attend a music camp or some form of summer musical event since my first year at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan in 1954. These music camps were fewer then, but today they seem to exist in almost every village or every college or university campus. This is a good thing, a wonderful thing; at this time in our turbulent world we need to connect with our creative aspects more than ever before.

I just arrived back to my home in Oaxaca, Mexico and awaking at 3:am jet lagged and energized. It’s dangerous to speak in superlatives in today's world, they seem abundant in just about everything but in my thoughts at this moment Italian Brass Week resonates as a superb event. The venues of all the concerts and events in this historical magical city of Firenze are certainly without compare. One such event that must be noted was an antiphonal concert with over 100 players in three different locations: from the Pontevecchio, 4 Gondolas anchored in the middle of the Arno River and from the bank of the Arno River. The players on the Pontevecchio and from the riverbank were largely students and the players on the 4 gondolas were mostly the Italian Brass Week faculty.

The faculty for this year’s Italian Brass Week was comprised of some of the best young (younger than I) palyers and theachers we have. I deeply appreciate them for what they have taught me. As in all the summer music events I’ve enjoyed since my 1954 Interlochen experience I have returned much more enlightened. However, we cannot ignore time or history.

I remember so well performing at what I considered a high level and being aware that there was a growing number of younger players who were surpassing me in both tuba skills and musicality. It was clearly time to turn my attention to teaching; this was a new direction that freed me from the encumbrances of tuba performance and opened the door to a wider view. Da Vinci said it’s the student’s duty to surpass the teacher. I have seen and enjoyed many times that da Vinci was right.

But there is another serious dimension to address. We cannot escape history or ignore the future. As in performance, new ideas, methods and techniques in teaching are rapidly emerging. An aging teacher cannot continue functioning in a period from a time that has past. The knowledge and thoughts of the new generation of teachers, maestros and senseis are the key to moving ahead. We have a choice here: we either incorporate the new thoughts and ideas and add them to our greater experience or stubbornly hold to our inevitable obsolescence. It needs to be mentioned that much of the ‘old school’ pedagogical methods are harmful to our students. The time of the knuckle and the belt have past.

Hopefully aging brings knowledge and wisdom with it. Da Vinci is right again, the new generation of teachers have become the mentors of their Maestros.

Roger Bobo, Oaxaca, Mexico, July 23, 2017