And today's debate topic is: 'How to play like Linda'

November 2, 2007 at 10:28 PM

In school, at least one day every week, someone will raise their hand to state an opinion. This will often lead to more people stating their points of view and eventually the whole class will be involved. It’s a great scenario for a debate class, but the class isn’t about law or politics—It’s about orchestra. High school orchestra.

Yes, there are a handful of students who find it necessary to question every little thing the teacher says, just because they can. These students have discovered how easily the teacher can get annoyed and have experimented enough to find out the best way to do it in the shortest amount of time. The teacher isn’t great in terms of controlling the class either—Sure, he’s a nice guy and he really tries hard to please everyone, but he’s just a bit sensitive for the average high school orchestra. Combine the students and the teacher and you get an everyday situation:

Student A does something really dumb to get the teacher pissed off just because-->
teacher getting annoyed, which is what Student A wanted in the first place-->
Teacher makes big long speech about ‘behavior’ in orchestra, how it’s the last time he will get angry, how it’s always the same people-->
Student B, who sits by Student A, accuses the teacher of accusing ‘the same people’ when “we didn’t do anything-->
Teacher tells everyone to put down the instruments for a debate-->
A big fiery debate which will end when Student A raises her hand to say, “Why is this happening in orchestra? We’re here to make music… why can’t we just do that?”

Past issues discussed in these debates have included orchestra rules, the culprits of excessive talking, and, unbelievably, abortion. Today the debate was a lot more interesting than usual because I was the indirect cause of it.

My teacher has these “playing tests” every few weeks where he listens to each person playing ‘orchestra excerpts’ and checks to make sure the fingerings are written on the music (aka abridged arrangements of popular tunes, like the can-can or 1812). These playing tests are counted as tests and make up x% of the report card grade. Today, he was reminding everyone to show him their marked music when he made the mistake of saying, “…unless you play like Linda.”

Student A then raised her hand to ask, “well, excuse me… but what exactly do you mean by play like Linda? Why do you always have to use her as an example all the time?” This led a huge discussion on what “play like Linda” meant and how one "played like Linda", in which half the orchestra stated their opinions. Meanwhile, I was relaxing in my chair, half-smiling and rather enjoying the action. It felt (horribly) wonderful to hear the majority of people come to my defense. Haha, it was just one of those moments where I thought, "This can't seriously be happening."

I have to say that it was the first time I caused chaos without trying to, which proves just how evil I truly am. ;) So any overnight tips on how to play like Oistrakh? xD

From Patricia Baser
Posted on November 2, 2007 at 11:02 PM

OK, here is a teacher's perspective. Teachers already know that students know how to push buttons. However, teachers are human beings who have feelings and are also usually quite stressed/overloaded. So your teacher may easily succumb to the repeat of your student A-student B show. Your teacher likely spends many hours outside of class preparing materials for his students and doing his best to address the needs of a wide range of abilities. Normal teenage behavior or not, as a teacher, I know when I have expended all that effort and get grief in return, it can be very devaluing. Honestly, what value does your class get out of that?

From Linda L
Posted on November 3, 2007 at 1:14 AM

I'm sure that the teacher spends a lot of his time preparing materials for class. You can really tell that he is trying his best. This was aimed more at showing how obnoxious a class can be rather than showing a teacher's weaknesses. I do feel, however, that the pointless discussions we have in class (aka the one today) or the ones that are of no relevance to the class don't need to occur. Obviously the students aren't going to let that happen, so it's then up to the teacher to set stricter standards or actually do the disciplinary action he's been warning us about for the past three months (giving assigned seats). Mr. Nice-guy just doesn't always work in HS.

P.S. I have respect for anyone who is a teacher. I would never be able to keep the kids in control and mantain my sanity at the same time. :) Kudos to you!

From E. Smith
Posted on November 3, 2007 at 2:01 AM

Linda, I really enjoy your writing!

From Sydney Menees
Posted on November 4, 2007 at 4:13 PM

Hehehehe. That's so awesome.

From Eileen Geriak
Posted on November 4, 2007 at 8:38 PM

Now I understand why my son quit band in his Jr year of High School......

From Natasha Marsalli
Posted on November 5, 2007 at 7:31 PM

So, Linda. How do I play like you? :)

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