Musical instruction: scales, arpeggios and values

With a new school year approaching, music critic and author Colin Eatock wants us to think about the musical instruction that young musicians will be receiving from their instructors. In a blog post entitled “Teach Legato, Rubato and Values” Eatock looks at what, besides scales and arpeggios, students are learning from their instructors.

An instructor’s choices of what they teach not only has a direct influence on a student’s repertoire but also on how they value music. More specifically Eatock asks how and if instructors teach students to value contemporary works.

Do they allow their students to explore contemporary works and encourage this exploration? Or do they choose to ignore contemporary works, treating them as if it does not exist, therefore passing on the the belief that they are unimportant to their students.

“..do you implicitly teach them that the history of classical music is “over”? And if you’re conveying the idea that contemporary composers don’t matter, how does that benefit your students, or strengthen classical music’s place in the present and future?”

You can answer Mr. Eatock’s questions on his blog, colineatock.com

photo | Kevin Mullet