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roachboy · 06-27-2008, 02:54 PM

actually i dont see it as a limitation...depending on the teacher, it can be a great thing to do. but the key is which teacher. and knowing why you are doing it.

i was prompted by the exchange between you and martian, and in alot of ways i agree with martian in that there is no necessary route into the instrument. and if someone explores the instrument on their own, for whatever reason, it is not necessarily the case that where they'll end up is any better or worse than would be the case for someone who went about it differently.

i have about a decade of training. my teacher wanted me to be one of those mid-nineteenth century style players--but i wanted to learn to play stride.
so he taught me stride and i learned a bunch of classical pieces--and we fashioned a nice relationship after a while, even though he was a little afraid of me at times.
if i could go back, i'd have studied with someone who could have trained me in serial and post-serial forms--for where i am now, that would have been far more useful and would have saved me *a lot* of time. but it wasn't that way, and i've managed to go pretty far on the bases that i have.

and it's only now that i am thinking it'd be cool to learn some bach again.
and i'll do that.

unless you are starting out at a very early age driven along by parents who are persuaded of your prodigy status in playing the existing repertoire in a given style, and so unless your goal is to win a clyburn competition or some such and embark on a classical concert career, you have time and options.
so explore them all.

19th century european classical composers made many lovely things--but they have no monopoly on lovely things--and the culture that grew up around training performers to repeat standard pieces in a standard manner had nothing to do with the space that composers or improvisors worked in.

but like i said, the space you move through is simply a function of what you want to do.
i like listening to pollini play schoenberg, for example.
he does it so well that i can't imagine wanting to do it myself.
so i play other things.

06-27-2008, 02:54 PM	#24 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	actually i dont see it as a limitation...depending on the teacher, it can be a great thing to do. but the key is which teacher. and knowing why you are doing it. i was prompted by the exchange between you and martian, and in alot of ways i agree with martian in that there is no necessary route into the instrument. and if someone explores the instrument on their own, for whatever reason, it is not necessarily the case that where they'll end up is any better or worse than would be the case for someone who went about it differently. i have about a decade of training. my teacher wanted me to be one of those mid-nineteenth century style players--but i wanted to learn to play stride. so he taught me stride and i learned a bunch of classical pieces--and we fashioned a nice relationship after a while, even though he was a little afraid of me at times. if i could go back, i'd have studied with someone who could have trained me in serial and post-serial forms--for where i am now, that would have been far more useful and would have saved me a lot of time. but it wasn't that way, and i've managed to go pretty far on the bases that i have. and it's only now that i am thinking it'd be cool to learn some bach again. and i'll do that. unless you are starting out at a very early age driven along by parents who are persuaded of your prodigy status in playing the existing repertoire in a given style, and so unless your goal is to win a clyburn competition or some such and embark on a classical concert career, you have time and options. so explore them all. 19th century european classical composers made many lovely things--but they have no monopoly on lovely things--and the culture that grew up around training performers to repeat standard pieces in a standard manner had nothing to do with the space that composers or improvisors worked in. but like i said, the space you move through is simply a function of what you want to do. i like listening to pollini play schoenberg, for example. he does it so well that i can't imagine wanting to do it myself. so i play other things. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 06-27-2008 at 02:58 PM..