| Author |
Subject |
Betsy
C 
Registered User
(2/7/01 2:19:43 pm)
Reply |
Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
I loved Bobbie's post and all the
responses. It got me to thinking, why does my cello teacher enjoy
having me as a student? I can only speculate, but we do have a
really good time! He comes here to visit on this board occasionally,
so I'll have to see if my instincts are on track. What do YOU think
makes you a student worth having? I'll get the ball rolling:
1. I
really, really, really, love the cello, and in spite of my
shortcomings, he knows the only way I'll ever give up is if I am
unable physically to play, or if he stops teaching. Horrible
thought.
2. I am sensitive and a perfectionist, which is
typically an odious combination, but we are compatible enough and
similar in enough ways that we understand each other very
well.
3. I can be a lot of fun in a really offbeat way. When I am
trying too hard or just doing not so well, I am liable to give him a
silly look or do something completely unexpected to lighten things
up. It gets crazy sometimes!
4. I try.
5. I respect his
abilities, advice and teaching but we have a really good give and
take. He's the cello expert in the room, but we are both adults and
peers and have a great respect for each other.
It's your
turn!
|
Paul
Tseng ICS Staff 
Administrator
(2/7/01 5:32:06 pm)
Reply
 |
Re: Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
#1 reason my cello teachers like
me....
In an hour, I'm gone!
But seriously, I think
the one aspect I had that I wish all my students had was that I was
like a sponge in terms of wanting to learn!
Some students
just do what their teachers tell them to do because they are
expected to do so. But the nexct lesson, you can tell it hasn't
really absorbed. Either they don't really care, or they don't really
understand.
I wouldn't leave unless I was sure I understood
what I was being taught. I constantly had questions about the cello.
How do I do this bow stroke? How do I....everything!
I wish
my students would show that they get it (or want to get it) and
really want to play better. I wish they'd take more initiative to
ask my more about what they don't understand so I know that they
care about what they are learning.
Paul Tseng
My Website
MP3!
|
Bobbie
Registered
User
(2/7/01 5:34:52 pm)
Reply |
Re: Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
I practice!
That's definitely
number one.
I listen and don't argue. If I don't understand,
I ask questions.
I pay attention when she demonstrates
something or talks to me.
I'm an adult, and after teaching
kids all week it must be nice to talk to someone close to her own
age.
|
RemRem
Registered User
(2/7/01 6:28:04 pm)
Reply |
Re: Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
Well, actually she liked my cello...
(RemRem - back from a trip to Berlin...cello concert, our
hero still in the audience 
)
|
endlessetudes
Registered User
(2/7/01 8:52:48 pm)
Reply |
Re: Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
I think my cello teacher likes me
because my enthusiasm for the cello has recharged her love for it.
We live in a small town and there are few string players, and I am
the only other cellist in town. Since we hooked up she has a
"cello-daughter" and I have a "cello-mama" LOL!
|
DWThomas
Registered User
(2/7/01 10:32:05 pm)
Reply |
Re: Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
I practice. Not as much as I should
or as I would like, but I am usually able to demonstrate progress
since the previous lesson -- occasionally only microscopic progress,
but progress.
I am relatively cheerful about adapting to
schedule changes which are necessitated by her "real job."
I
can usually inject some humor into the process.
I demonstrate
some obvious interest. Among other things, I brought her info about
WCC last year. She wasn't able to go to any of it, so I brought her
a program booklet and some handouts I thought she might like. I
managed to get to one of her recitals last year (her only student
who did).
And how many teachers get a whole grain hearth loaf
of bread with an incised treble clef surrounded by poppy seeds as a
Christmas present?  Along with
cut and decorated cookies? And a Roel Dieltiens CD?
Enh, she
still makes me do exercises...
Dave
|
JanJan2
Registered User
(2/8/01 8:56:00 am)
Reply |
Re: Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
Another cool question, although
perhaps not as easily answered. Well, here go:
1. Passion! I
love the cello! It really is the best of all instruments!
2.
Perseverance! My cello journey has had some starts, stops, twists,
and turns---but all along I've hung in there.
3. Practice! I
do . . . not nearly enough, though. But I almost always come to my
lesson prepared.
4. Performance! I seek out performance
opportunities: at church, chamber groups, ensembles, etc. I'm
willing to take chances and really like playing for
people.
5. Extracurricular activities! I'm always making
observations about something I read, a CD I listened to, a concert I
attended, and relating it to my lessons or music in general.
6. Inquisitiveness! I ask questions. I'm sort of like that
sponge Paul was talking about.
7. Fearlessness! I'm brave
(when it comes to cello). I like trying new things, whether it's a
piece of music, a fingering, a performance opportunity. When I'd
been studying just 2 years, my former teacher was amazed that I
agreed to play (as a student-of-a-student) at a Neikrug masterclass
. . . I had a blast!
8. Enthusiasm and energy! My teacher
likes that I'm involved with music in other ways---specifically with
my work with New England String Ensemble. It gives me an upfront and
personal glimpse of the work that goes into each and every concert.
She appreciates my dedication to NESE.
9. Sense of humor! Our
lessons are hard work, but there's always time for a laugh or
two.
A couple weeks ago at a NESE board of directors meeting,
music director Susan Davenny Wyner pulled me aside. She'd had
occasion to speak with my teacher a few days prior, and they got
around to talking about me. My teacher said how much she enjoys my
lessons, and called me "inspirational"!! Wow, how cool is that?!
But, isn't it true that we usually only see our side of the
relationship, and often don't consider the impact we have on others?
Janet
|
jekerry
Registered User
(2/8/01 2:44:16 pm)
Reply |
I
practice
teaching kids that don't practice
much if at all, she always comments on the fact that I obviously do.
:->
Jane
|
Dorie
Straus 
Moderator
(2/8/01 7:42:45 pm)
Reply |
Re: Why
does your cello teacher like YOU?
I had to think about this one
because it's been so long since I had regular lessons. The one
teacher I saw for about a year & a 1/2 liked me for lots of
reasons. I was the first adult she had, I could read music, I
practiced - all the stuff she struggled with as a teacher of
instrumental music in a public school system. We had a lot in
common. We were about the same age, both teachers - she, music/me,
art but I was in an inner city and she was in an afluent suburb.
That comparision conversation was a favorite one.
The
trouble with the friendship we had was how much time we spent
sitting there with our cellos and talking about everything else.
Perhaps it's harder, as adults, to keep that line in the
sand.
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