Where is the love?
Ironically enough my readings this past week at Kent State, a Facebook discussion thread, and Valentine’s Day collided at spawned this post. Pushing students to achieve levels of tonal and rhythmic accuracy is important – it is all part of getting them to a point where they have the technical proficiency they need to execute the big fundamental structure of a piece of music. Tone quality and intonation awareness are two other dimensions that if mastered, start to create degrees of separation in the quality of the ensembles we hear. When we can educate the individual musician (the musician inside their head) they can use the instrument as a vehicle of communication to as they display phrasing, dynamic contrast, and stylistic interpretation. These are all worthwhile and important goals of instrumental music education – but if a trophy on the wall is more important than guiding students towards a meaningful life-long relationship with music…
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