It’s difficult to write about school music programs without making blanket statements. I’m sure that there are some teachers that have different (hopefully better) philosophies than the average high-school music teacher on how to teach their students, but I’m also fairly sure that these exceptions are few and far between. I know that a lot of students also really enjoy music classes, but I’m sad to say that, despite my seemingly unending passion for music, I wasn’t one of these students. Perhaps I’m just a bit jaded from having dealt with these classes for all of my schooling, but regardless, these are my experiences.
I’ve had four different music teachers throughout my orchestra/ band experience in school. My main instrument was the violin, but I also played clarinet for a few years. I never really ended up being good at these instruments and while on one hand it may be due to a lack of practice, I do think that my teachers played a part in me not learning the instrument. The reason for this is that school music teachers don’t pay enough (or any) attention to individual students.
I’m normally a pretty good self-teacher, but there are times when there are obstacles that need assistance to be overcome, and in a classroom setting it’s very difficult for the obstacles to be addressed. Raising your hand and saying “I’m having trouble with this, how do I do it?” just isn’t something that EVER happened in my classes. There really isn’t time for personal issues like this to be addressed. Teachers, knowing that many of their students’ only source of practice is what they’re playing in school (Despite writing “3 hours” on their graded practice log).
Teachers often try to make up for this lack of individual attention by introducing playing tests. This consists of students going around and individually playing sections of a song and then being not only graded for it, but also being judged by their peers. While this does pressure students into practicing in order to avoid the humiliation of not being able to play the section, it doesn’t actually address any technical problems they are having with the piece. Maybe, in the case of a violin, they aren’t sure how to be bowing one part, or just can’t get their fingers to move fast enough. You’d think that asking the teacher outside of class would be an option, and while it is, it isn’t a very good one. With 5 minutes between class, there’s no time to sit down and have them actually show you what do to and run through it a couple times while offering constructive criticism. If you want this kind of experience, a private teacher is necessary, but some students don’t have the time or money for this.
The whole experience, to me, felt sort of like a contradiction because I took the class to learn the instrument, yet received absolutely no instruction on any personal problems I was having. Granted, I didn’t have problems very often but I’m 100% sure that there were things I was doing wrong that I didn’t actually know I was doing wrong because teachers never took the time to evaluate this kind of thing outside of playing tests, and even then, I’d often receive no feedback but instead just a letter grade. I also felt uninspired by the fact that I had no say in the music I was playing, and as a result I was ultimately left to feel like I would have been better off just taking a different class and learning the instrument on my own if I actually wanted to become any good.
I suppose that this little rant has ended up being directed and younger students wondering whether to take part in their school’s music programs, and to this I would say that it depends where your priorities lie. I’m not going to say that music programs aren’t a good experience. They are; I thoroughly enjoyed playing songs with my peers, something I didn’t get to do outside of school, and the feeling you get when you can hear and feel that everyone in the group is playing perfectly and interacting with and listening to each other is unlike any other. But you must take into consideration the above information. You are going to be just another student in the class and you’re going to be taught in this way. Any technical information you’re given is simply going to be handed to you and the rest of the group, and how you end up applying it to your instrument may or may not be correct. If you don’t mind this and are looking for a group experience, then go ahead. But if you choose to partake in such an environment you must also commit to learning outside of the classroom. I learned this the hard way.