north bay trumpet
studio
Problems with the
"normal" pedagogy of brass (trumpet) teaching
There are several difficulties
with the usual method of brass (trumpet) teaching. Some of these
difficulties include:
- a reference to isolated parts of the
individual (embouchure, tongue, and lungs) without
reference to how these parts work in coordination as a
whole
- a treatment of difficulties through
isolated means (exercises that are imagined to address
specific parts)
- a lack of clear means for actually
practicing the material suggested without the obstruction
of one's own dis-coordination
- a lack of understanding as to how to
change habitual behavior ("mentally" and
"physically" as a whole "self")
- a concern with a musical
"end" without considering the "means
whereby" that "end" may come about
- a suggestion to practice exercises
(passed down by previous generations of teachers) without
consideration of why the exercises should be used or were
created in the first place
- attempting to provide pedagogical
solutions where musical ones are needed
- Most teachers have learned to solve
some of the difficulties of their own dis-coordination
and tend to teach from this perspective. Unfortunately,
the student is not simply a "clone" of that
person. Any aid offered has no reference to the students
individuality. Such reference is impossible since the
average brass (trumpet) teacher lacks training and
knowledge about the most fundamental level of
"use" (movement).
A descriptive illustration from
F. M Alexander's book "The Use of Self":
...He <the teacher> can not be
expected to look out for something when he is not even aware of
its existence.
I asked him <the student> to perform
some of his remedial exercises for me and watched him doing them,
it was obvious to me that his wrong manner of use, which was
present in him, had been exaggerated by his practice of these
exercises...he was employing an undue amount of tension in the
simplest acts...
How could this passage apply to
the trumpet student?