No, I'm not a masochist, and I'm hard enough on myself in general, that I don't need to pay anyone to make things more painful.
I'm talking about my flute teacher, who is holding me to the highest of standards, even though we both know I'll never reach them.
Actually, my ceramics teacher is equally demanding, but in a warm and cordial way. She believes in encouraging her students with great enthusiasm for what they do, but she also won't let us be satisfied with a pot that's too thick or poorly trimmed.
My flute teacher is also encouraging, but not as much fun (in general men aren't as much fun as women). Sometimes I get pissed off at him (though I don't express it) for being so hard on my playing. But that's an immature reaction. What's the point of paying a teacher to tell me that everything is fine?
My progress in flute has been much slower than I expected, considering that I've been playing wind instruments all my life. Partly I lay it to my advanced age. A fairly talented kid who has been playing flute as long as I have would be way ahead of me, I think. But partly it's because my teacher won't let me be satisfied with less than the best I can do now, knowing that it's not good enough! Next week I must have a better best!
I still have no goal for my flute playing beyond flute playing. There are a million flautists around, and if I want to play in another orchestra, I'm in more demand as a baritone sax player than I would be as a flautist.
It's a bit analogous to what my teacher says about communication. He has told me more times than I can count (which doesn't mean that I've internalized the message) that vibrato is the key to expressive playing on the flute. Expressive of what? Not of anything specific: I feel sad because X. Music communicates itself, and whatever resonates in the musician when she plays and the listener when she hears is not communicated by the music but aroused by it.
I'm talking about my flute teacher, who is holding me to the highest of standards, even though we both know I'll never reach them.
Actually, my ceramics teacher is equally demanding, but in a warm and cordial way. She believes in encouraging her students with great enthusiasm for what they do, but she also won't let us be satisfied with a pot that's too thick or poorly trimmed.
My flute teacher is also encouraging, but not as much fun (in general men aren't as much fun as women). Sometimes I get pissed off at him (though I don't express it) for being so hard on my playing. But that's an immature reaction. What's the point of paying a teacher to tell me that everything is fine?
My progress in flute has been much slower than I expected, considering that I've been playing wind instruments all my life. Partly I lay it to my advanced age. A fairly talented kid who has been playing flute as long as I have would be way ahead of me, I think. But partly it's because my teacher won't let me be satisfied with less than the best I can do now, knowing that it's not good enough! Next week I must have a better best!
I still have no goal for my flute playing beyond flute playing. There are a million flautists around, and if I want to play in another orchestra, I'm in more demand as a baritone sax player than I would be as a flautist.
It's a bit analogous to what my teacher says about communication. He has told me more times than I can count (which doesn't mean that I've internalized the message) that vibrato is the key to expressive playing on the flute. Expressive of what? Not of anything specific: I feel sad because X. Music communicates itself, and whatever resonates in the musician when she plays and the listener when she hears is not communicated by the music but aroused by it.
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