Inertia

February 9, 2008 at 4:39 AM

AGH!

I feel musically stuck.

To be honest, I've felt this way for about the past year — I just haven't noticed it as consciously until recently. I just don't feel like I've really learned much in the past year or so. Part of it it is probably that with starting my first semester of college, my practicing has become slightly more sporadic (despite the fact that I'm a performance major). My rate of progress is pretty much directly proportional to the amount of consistent, creative practicing I do.

But I think the underlying reason is . . . my teacher. She's very encouraging, enthusiastic, and organized. But to be perfectly honest, I really don't learn very much in my lessons. I'll show up, play my scales, maybe an etude, and one or two of my pieces. Sure, she'll help me with bowings and fingerings, which is always nice. She'll have suggestions for the specific mood of each piece. She'll give me technical advice now and then on a few spots. But besides maybe a couple bow issues, I can't recall a single significant, important thing from the past year and a half that she's taught me. We never work on technique as much as I'd like. Last lesson I had to stop and ask questions to get any kind of meaningful help. It seems like I'm teaching myself more in my lessons than she is. Musically, my teacher is a little more helpful. In a way. She'll have nice suggestions, but . . . her musical ideas just feel so shallow to me sometimes. I'm working on the Brahms G Major Sonata right now, one of the most deep, sublime pieces ever written for violin. And yet, the extent of her imagery for this piece is comments like: "oh, this opening is just a sunny day, a walk in the countryside." Or, "the development has to sound like a storm; I want to hear the rain beating down." Nice ideas, but there is so much more to this music. So, so much more . . . this is music that is supposed to tug at your very soul.

On Wednesday, we had our school's first snow day in six years. It was fabulous. And you know why I enjoyed it so much, I realized? I didn't have a lesson because classes were cancelled, and instead was able to stay home and practice for like 5 hours. And you know what? In that 5 hours of practicing, I learned more on my own than I have in about the past month of lessons. It just made me realize how frustrating my situation has become.

And then yesterday, this feeling was confirmed. In orchestra, we had a string sectional taught by my school's viola professor. It was really great, and very productive. The sad thing? I probably learned more, musically and technically, from that sectional than from most of my private lessons. The viola professor borrowed my violin occasionally to demonstrate points. His playing didn't sound too great on the violin, but the things he taught were all great points. I hate to admit it, but seriously, it makes me want to take lessons from him. Yes, you heard me right: I want to take violin lessons from a viola teacher.

Am I crazy? I'm really seriously considering taking lessons from him. I was thinking maybe twice a month or something like that. Enough to get help, but not so much that it gets to be too much extra time/money commitment. So I guess my question is, how awkward could this be? How would I go about telling my violin teacher about this? I think I could explain it by saying that I'm learning a lot of new music right now (which is true) and saying that we can never get through enough of it in just one lesson a week. I can give essentially the same reason to the viola professor. Can this work? I just don't have any better ideas. I'm sick of going to my lesson week after week and coming away afterwards with the same two thoughts every time: "wait, what did I learn today?" and "gee, I just really need to practice."

From Tommy Atkinson
Posted on February 9, 2008 at 5:26 AM

Hi Ruth,

That's a touchy situation that you're in. On the one hand, if you're not satisfied with your teacher at a college level, that's a BIG problem. On the other hand, I wonder if your admitted lack of effort has a bit to do with it. As students, we can sometimes (and I'm not saying this is necessarily what you're doing! I'm just offering something to mull over) blame our lack of progress on our teachers, when the fault is not entirely theirs to bear.

Lessons with the viola teacher probably are not such a great idea. You would potentially be stepping on the toes of your violin teacher, and possibly putting the viola teacher in an awkward situation. Admittedly, I don't know the relationship between the two of them, so you would have to judge that for yourself. I think a better way to get in with the viola teacher is by taking CHAMBER MUSIC with him. Get a quartet together and request him as your coach. When I did undergrad, I got a taste of all the strings faculty by doing just that. I took chamber music with all the faculty. Alternatively, get a violist friend to play a Mozart duo or something with you, and take it to the viola teacher together!

Also, you might consider going to as many studio classes as you possibly can squeeze in. Most teachers are totally fine with other students sitting in on their weekly studio classes, as long as you ask them first. You'd be amazed at what you can learn from teachers who don't teach your instrument.

The last thing I would like to ask is this: is your musical development being hindered by your environment? Are you happy with where you are going to school now? Are you feeling challenged by your classes, inspired by your professors, and (healthily!) competitive with your peers? I find the last part of that one of the most important in being productive in a scholastic environment. Healthy (emphasis on the healthy!!!!) competition is actually very good for young players like us. It makes us work hard and learn things extremely fast. If you feel like you don't have to work your hardest in order to succeed, then chances are that you won't (at least, I know that I certainly don't!).

Anyway, good luck in rekindling that musical spark. We all experience a feeling of being musically muddled, so don't despair too much.

-Tommy

PS - if you have facebook, facebook me! violinists unite!

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on February 9, 2008 at 12:02 PM

Tommy has some good points, but to me it sounds like it may be time for you to get a new teacher. Not the viola teacher, necessarily, but another violin teacher. How long have you been studying with this one? I had the experience of outgrowing a teacher when I was teen and in retrospect I wish I had been able to listen to that inner voice and switch sooner.

What's the procedure for finding teachers at your school? Is there a neutral party who is familiar with your playing who you could talk to and bounce ideas off of who could be counted on to keep your concerns confidential?

From Ruth Kuefler
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 12:31 AM

Thank you, Tommy and Karen, for the wonderful advice. That helps a lot. I called my sister today, who got her undergrad from the same school as me, and she agrees that lessons with the viola teacher isn't such a great idea. It would be kind of awkward, and also, she didn't have the highest opinion of him.

To answer your question about the environment: well, it's mixed. On the one hand, I like the school itself, and I love the city and the general atmosphere. I am somewhat challenged, but there isn't much competition. I'm only a freshmen, yet I'm concertmaster of my college orchestra. I don't think I'm necessarily the best violinist here, but I don't have a whole lot of competition or inspiration.

I think the solution to my problem will involve several different things. As much as I'm reluctant to leave the comfort of a full scholarship and living in a nice city near my family, I'm seriously starting to consider transferring by my junior year. That would give me enough time to look at options, apply, and save up. Meanwhile, I'm going to do my best to practice as much as possible and learn all I can with what I have. Hopefully this fall I can take chamber music from both the viola and cello professor at my school. I may also try looking for a another violin teacher nearby. There is only one at my school, so I'm looking elsewhere. But I do have options. Also, I applied to Aspen, and if I can get in and the money works out, I really want to go there this summer. I can get more exposure to good teachers and make up my mind about all this.

Thanks again for the advice. I'll keep you posted. :)

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 5:34 AM

You said, "he's very encouraging, enthusiastic, organized, and thorough. ...in my lessons. I'll show up, play my scales, maybe an etude, and one or two of my pieces. Sure, she'll help me with bowings and fingerings, which is always nice. She'll have suggestions for the specific mood of each piece." That sounds like a good teacher to me. If you're truly dissatisfied, you should look for a teacher you feel better about. Just remember the many traits you discussed, and see whether your potential new teacher scores well on them.

From Megan Chapelas
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 7:57 AM

Hi Ruth,

I was going to suggest transferring to you. It's good to be a big fish, but you learn more, in my opinion, when the level in your class and around you is really high. I transferred after my sophomore year because of a teacher and a chamber music program, and I'm really glad I did. If you choose your courses carefully, you can be sure that everything you take will transfer, and you may (especially when changing from a university to a conservatory) end up with less to do than you expected.

The other thing you might want to do is talk to your teacher about this. There are a few possibilities: maybe she thinks you are motivated enough, so you don't need help or to be pushed. Maybe she really doesn't have much more to say to you. Maybe she wants to see that you are independently motivated - and will give as much in the lessons as you bring to them. Sometimes it does help to say 'this is what I think I need. Can you give it to me?'

Good luck - it's a tough dilemma!

From Ruth Kuefler
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 3:15 PM

Pauline — my teacher is great in the personality and practicality sides of being a teacher. But musically and technically, not so much. Like I said, her musical ideas feel shallow to me, and on technical issues, I usually have to prod her to get any suggestions whatsoever. What I most need is help on HOW to practice, which I really can't get from her. It's not that she doesn't challenge me — right now I'm working on Mozart 4, Introduction and Tarantella, and Brahms G Major Sonata. I think bottom line, now that I think of it, is my teacher doesn't really PLAY the repertoire for me. Maybe little snippets here and there, but never substantial pieces. Even if she has learned it all before, it's not fresh in her playing, so she can't demonstrate anything to me.

I think transferring may be my best option. BLAH! It's going to take a lot of research and work, but it's better than wasting my time when I'm still young.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 6:47 PM

It's never good to waste time . . . in fact, you'll probably come to resent time wasters even more as you get older and there are more demands on your time (at least that's been my experience). If there's only one option for a teacher where you are now, and the fit isn't good that teacher, it sounds like transferring is a good idea.

But if you're going to go through all that, maybe it would also be good to start thinking about articulating career/life goals in the process. Maybe you have done that already, and just haven't blogged about it. But I think it would make a difference for where you are going to have an idea whether you want to be a soloist, a teacher, a professor, an orchestral violinist, or other.

From Karin Lin
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 7:39 PM

Hi Ruth,

Your experiences with your current teacher sound almost exactly like what I was going through with my former teacher. She was WONDERFUL as a first teacher for me after not playing for over a decade; she corrected some very serious problems I had and was very gentle in her criticism. But after a while, she started to feel much more like a coach than a teacher; she'd answer any specific questions, but she'd pretty much let me play and do whatever I wanted. I felt more like I was teaching myself, with her as a consultant. My practice sessions felt unproductive because I didn't really know what I should be working on.

I came here for advice and I definitely got responses that suggested I was blaming my teacher too much, that I had to be responsible for my own education, etc. but it was Buri who convinced me that I could and should expect more. I finally switched teachers about a year ago and my progress rate has at least doubled.

You'll get a huge variety of responses here because teachers, professionals, serious students, amateur students will all have a different perspective. But you seem like a smart, dedicated, articulate person to me, and if your gut is telling you that you need a different teacher, I'd suggest acting on that. Good luck!

From Lawrence Price
Posted on February 10, 2008 at 8:16 PM

If you want to know more about how to practice, purchase the Musician's Practice Log and Practicing for Artistic Success by Burton Kaplan. He also conducts Practice Marathon Retreats in upstate NY that would give you a jump start on practice techniques. He is on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music as well as NYU.

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Inertia

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