Most of the teachers I know have spent two weeks recovering
from a frenzy of concerts and are now facing the start of the festival
season. Interspersed among the
performance activities and high-stakes tests are state Music Educators
Association conferences, and for string teachers the granddaddy of them all,
the national convention of the American String Teachers Association.
I have always been struck by how isolated we can feel in our
work. Most music teachers work in an
environment where, literally, no one else speaks their language. Teachers and administrators who are
well-educated and highly trained as teachers freely admit they know nothing
about music. So much for those who are
supposed to be the mentors and the improvers of teaching processes. Schools focus their inservice offerings on
the generalities of teaching (some of which can be quite helpful) and on basic
subject areas such as math, reading and science. This situation can leave a striving string
teacher feeling frustrated and alone.
The obvious answer would seem to be closer contact with
other music teachers. You think?? But
the problem is how to achieve that. I
believe that all of us need to make an extra effort toward professional
accomplishment. I truly believe that
every string teacher knows something that can be useful to other string
teachers. The problem is that most of us
seem to operate in a vacuum. We go to
work each day, interact (for better or worse) with our students, don’t interact
much with other teachers due to the peripatetic nature of our work, leave late
every day after all the extra rehearsals or whatever, and go home to have a
life outside of teaching music (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”) This has always been the way our jobs work.
In my younger days, when there were fewer schools and fewer
things to do in our free time, we used to go to each others’ concerts, which
were usually followed by some friendly libations. These events were always
learning experiences and we always left with a new idea or two. It seems like
this kind of comraderie doesn’t happen much any more. This makes participation in your music teacher
organizations and attendance at your professional conferences all the more
important. Imagine how helpful and uplifting it can be to spend two or three
days in the company of a thousand or more other people who speak the same
language you do. Imagine being able to
choose from a multitude of presentations and gain new skills, knowledge, ideas
and materials from people who are recognized leaders in our profession. Imagine
being inspired by performances from the finest musical organizations, led by
people who may be a lot like you. Imagine having the opportunity to get
involved in the advancement of our profession.
Imagine gaining the skills and experience to guide others down the path
to success.
Every time I say these things, someone comes back with how
it’s so expensive, it’s so far away, it comes at a bad time, it eats my only
three-day skiing weekend, yadayada. The
truth is, none of us can afford NOT to attend these conferences. We NEED that
information. We NEED that inspiration so
we can face the challenges of our teaching situations. We NEED to support each other, professionally
and personally. We NEED that professional association which is our collective
voice to the powers that be. So we need
to pay those association dues, read those journals, attend and learn at the
conferences those dues help provide, and contribute time, money, talent and
effort to help make our work better in some small way. You may find that you
want to be a leader. That’s great. But good followers are needed, too.
So sacrifice a few lattes and make your plans to go to those
conferences. Go to a friend’s concert.
Be part of an adult orchestra of some kind and encourage your students
to come hear you. Take part in a summer workshop. It’s our professional responsibility to be
more than someone who goes to work every day and grinds it out. We all have a
responsibility to give to our profession as well as to take from it. If you live and teach in Washington, I hope I’ll
see you in Yakima in February. And if
you really want an experience, I’ll see you in Atlanta in March. Then there’s Birch Bay in August, when a whole bunch of
positive-feeling folks get cranked up to do their best for another year. This is really a wonderful thing we do, teaching
kids to play strings as we open up their world.
Take part!