I Learned About A Lot More Than Music - And I Teach That Way!
Aug 24 '00 (Updated Dec 30 '01)
The Bottom Line I had a number of inspiring music teachers and learned a great deal from them - about music and about life.
I've had three major private teachers on my instruments. Each was a profoundly beneficial relationship, and I learned about a lot more than music from each, although for two of the teachers, I realized the lessons after I stopped studying with them.
My first teacher, DVO, gave me a good fundamental start on clarinet and alto saxophone. He didn't really get into much about HOW to develop, but he did give me a steady stream of books and exercises that led to it. He also selected my first professional-quality instrument for me, and referred me to the store where I bought my second professional-quality instrument. I stopped studying with him when I auditioned for the stage band (the school's highest jazz band) after my sophomore year and didn't make it. I was FURIOUS! I believed that I was a better player than the ones selected and I let everybody know it. The lesson I should have learned at the time was:
When it's time to perform, you have to do it. If you don't perform, shooting off your mouth isn't going to make up for it.
This lesson has served me well throughout my business career as well as my musical career. It also gets to the issue of team play and responding to circumstances. Nobody likes a malcontent and it took me a while to figure that out.
I also thought that DVO should have stuck up for me with the band director, so I stopped with him and said some things I shouldn't have said. I did end up with some closure, though. At 40, after I recorded my tape, I learned from a friend that he had retired to Florida. So I sent him a letter saying that I was sorry for being a jerk in high school and that I had learned a lot from him. I also sent one of my tapes. He sent the nicest letter back, saying that he had forgot about what went on between us and that he liked the tape.
I selected my next teacher, Tommy, because I had met some of his other students at a music camp and they all were GREAT players. At the time, I felt like the Salieri character in the Movie Amadeus - in other words, I was working hard and REALLY wanted to succeed but there were these other players with blinding talent. Why not me?
I wanted Tommy to work with me on speed and technique. Naturally, he did what was best, which was not what I wanted. He worked on my sound and had me playing ballads. He told me, "John, it doesn't matter how fast you play if you don't SWING". I didn't really appreciate it at the time, but I could see that I was playing better, so I stuck with him through my last 2 years in high school and the summers when I was home from college. He also told me about his gigs and about self-expression. He particularly enjoyed playing with Peggy Lee. I also had closure with Tommy. When I took up my horns again (see below) I located him, called him as asked if I could have a few lessons. At that point, he was in ill health, so we had a very pleasant conversation, where he encouraged me, but said he wasn't teaching anymore. I later sent him the tape and he told me that he liked it.
The lesson I should have learned at the time was:
Music isn't something you do, it's something you are. Develop your unique voice.
I played in a couple of rehearsal bands after that, dropping the instruments as my business career progressed and I started in graduate school. About 10 years later, I got one of my instruments appraised, at a much higher amount that I expected, and I decided to keep it and play it. I joined a community college jazz band and bought an inexpensive tenor to play. I had always been intrigued by the tenor, but had played alto before them. I started with the tenor, felt good with it, and began to play it regularly. Then came a jazz festival, where Mark was a judge.
At the time, I was still looking at myself as semi-talented and amateur in skills. Here was a name player (among the best sax players in Chicago), saying that there was a lot of potential there. I made the all-festival band, and there were a few players already playing professionally in the band. I walked up to him afterwards and asked to study with him. I knew that it would be convenient as he is on faculty at DePaul U. and the job I had at the time was located across the street from DePaul. So, the lesson I DID learn at the time was
When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
This is a truth that frequently shows up in the self-development and spiritual works I've read. It has to do with flexibility and receptivity in dealing with the circumstances of life, and it has been a powerful lesson for me.
Mark was much more analytical that the other teachers, but also very intuitive in his assignments. He had a methodology on ear training, which is largely what I do with my students. (I WILL do that Ear Training, part II epinion in a week or so). The idea with him was focus on the music - don't focus on things other than the music, like age (I was in my late 30s at the time), job, skills of other players or anything other than developing a means to express myself. I studied with him for 5 years. He was VERY empowering and really helped with techniques to develop some of the skills that needed it. I saw myself as having capabilities because he refused to put any limits on self-expression. What he said to me was that music is inside and you have to find ways to help you let it out. I stopped because I switched jobs, but I still talk with him occasionally. I plan to take a few lessons with him as I build up for a recording I hope to make about a year from now.
I try to provide more than exercises to my students. I listen to them respectfully and acknowledge their attempts. I focus on self-expression, on the feeling inside. Even beginning students can start to hear notes in their head and can start to feel the beat inside of them. Even though there are vastly different levels of talent among individual students, I try to encourage and empower them without placing limits. However, I am very honest with them, when I think that they need to take ownership for more practice or to practice different things than they are doing. I always try to make them feel capable, whatever the circumstances.
In conclusion, I had (and have, with Mark) wonderful, beneficial relationships with these teachers and that is what I strive for with my students.
I'll look forward to your comments.
Thanks for reading. God Bless!
If you like mainstream and fusion jazz, check out my web site, www.jazzobsession.com. You’ll find information on my newly-released CD, The Power of Two by John Temmerman's Jazz Obsession Quartet. It is available through Amazon.com and www.cdbaby.com. I have a special discount available on sales through my web site. Come on by!
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