Posted by llrrrpp on September 7, 2006, at 21:01:45
In reply to Re: My third guitar lesson..., posted by finelinebob on September 7, 2006, at 19:56:54
I remember the first time I went over to my vln teacher's house for a lesson. Usually we had lessons in his studio at school, but this was the summertime. First of all, a nice little suburban enclave, but around his backyard was a high fence, and he had a security door, security bars, and a prominent security firm's logo on every window, door, and side of his yard.
Hmm. A bit of a nutcase, perhaps?
I asked why, he said, "insurance" Oh. and then I started playing scales for him.
Later on, I found out that he had a sponsor who invested in stringed instruments. His sponsor allowed him to use and perform on a very rare old italian fiddle that was last appraised at well over one MEEEEElion dollars. He had a bow too. His bow is worth more than my parent's and my grandparents' house combined.
He could play it, that's for sure. Very very cool. I could go to a lesson and just hear him play. He never did that though. He'd only play a measure and then stop. Absolutely maddening.
One thing I liked so much about him, though, was that he never ever criticized my violin or my bow. He would suggest pieces that I could play, and steer me away from big romantic concertos, because my sound would simply not project over an orchestra that size.
He never criticized the way I came to him. Having played since I was five, I had teachers of various quality, and sometimes no lessons at all. He never said anything mean like: whoever told you to do it this way was a moron/idiot. He suggested an alternative, and asked me to try it, and see if it worked better. He treated me like an adult, and asked my opinion about what would work best for me. He let me choose my path, and my level of committment. He's one of the best mentors I've ever had in my life.
The one thing I will always remember is the day he told me that I could play this one piece better than he would ever be able to play it. I nearly burst out laughing, but he was ernest, and kind of sad. He said that the notes were not so hard, that the structure of the music was not so complicated. He said that I had a natural sweet tone, a clarity that comes from pulling the sound out, and that a piece that requires that kind of delicacy of expression would never be within his grasp. Even when you play on my violin? No, he said thoughtfully.
Man, I'm getting little wet eye drippies just thinking about it... sniffle sniffle...
:')
ll
flb, I'm so happy that you have the right teacher for you. It's a wonderful thing. Never take it for granted, even when some weeks it seems like a waste of time, 'cause you weren't prepared, or you felt "off" -- for me, those were the lessons when my teacher probably felt like there was nothing to lose, and we would do a lot of exploration of the music, or whip something new out of the bag and take the risk of asking me to play a phrase 10 different ways, or I would learn some cool exercise for something that had been totally blocking my progress.
AuntieMel- that's going to be a very very nice guitar. I can tell by the wear on the neck that someone has loved it in the past. I'm so happy that it's getting some TLC again. (((((old instruments)))))
poster:llrrrpp
thread:680419
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/esteem/20060827/msgs/684093.html