Re: Re: I ACTUALLY attended Curtis


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Posted by Anthony on June 27, 2001 at 12:45:22:

In Reply to: Re: I ACTUALLY attended Curtis posted by anon on June 27, 2001 at 06:16:52:

" (I am not interested in any teacher who cannot play his horn). "

I have two former teachers, one a bass trombonist, one a hornist. The bass trombonist suffers from Lou Gehrigs disease, and was only slightly more mobile than Stephen Hawking. I never heard him play a note in all the time I took lessons from him(but I DID hear recordings of him playing with some top orchestras, including Florida Phil, Orquesta Sinfonica di Galicia, Milwaukee, and others, as well as in a quintet setting with Roger Bobo on tuba). What's my point? Well, not having ever heard him play a note in a lesson, and sometimes not even having played a note myself, he was able to teach me things that no one else could. I was probably younger than you are, at that time. His death a couple of years ago was a great loss to the music community as a whole, and at his funeral there were HUNDREDS of former students in attendance, several of which had never heard him play a note in person.

The other person I speak of is a horn player, who, because of a lip injury, can no longer play his horn. I can't speak of his private teaching, because I only had him as a theory teacher, but I think it's probably safe to say that he has more former students sitting in Orchestras worldwide than anyone I've ever met. His studio is decorated with Concert Programs autographed by former students of his... this is someone who hasn't played in about 20 years, but still heads a horn studio at a well known American University.

I know this doesn't cover your overall point, I just felt that many of your smaller points were so skewed that they needed to be addressed. You're young, and with a lot of living ahead of you. It's good to receive advise, but much better to gain experience; what you learn from experience is infinitely more valuable than what anyone will ever tell you.

Paul K posts on this BBS. You owe it to yourself to look him up, and schedule a lesson, then form YOUR OWN opinion.

for what it's worth.


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