Three Traits for the Music Educator

 

                In considering skills and traits that a music teacher should have, we should consider the fact that even in general music instruction, not to mention ensemble instruction, the teacher will be guiding students in making music.  Battisti notes that Leonard Bernstein believed that teaching was “. . . the essence of (his) function as a conductor.”  With this relationship between teaching and conducting in mind, I believe three important traits that music teachers should have include a high level of musicianship, in-depth knowledge about the music being taught, as well as strong leadership skills.

                Musicianship includes “sight-reading and inner hearing skills, superior rhythmic skills, acute external listening skills . . . , knowledge and understanding of music theory, harmony, and compositional practices, [and] highly developed analytical skills.” (Battisti, p 3).  Musicianship allows the teacher to create an inner aural image of the music they wish to portray, without which it would be impossible to convey musical understanding to students.  Musicianship is the vehicle through which a music teacher expresses the grammar and vocabulary of the musical language.  While this ability assists in score study and other modes of preparation, it also helps the educator-conductor during rehearsal in that the aural image provides a means of comparison to student performance, thus allowing the conductor to suggest possibilities for student improvement.

                In-depth knowledge of the music being taught allows the educator to provide musical context to the students.  In order to gain such a context the conductor should have “Contact and interaction with other arts, other cultures, and nature . . . Reading books by great authors, poets, and philosophers, visiting museums, going to plays/theatre productions . . . all provide stimulation for the artist’s mind and imagination.” (Battisti, p 5).  Battisti goes on to say “Zoltan Kodaly, one of the twentieth century’s important composer-music educators, stated that ‘Children should be taught with only the most musically valuable materials . . . For the young only the best is good enough.  They should be led to masterpieces by means of masterpieces.’ The musical values and appreciation students develop are directly linked to the quality of the music they study, create, recreate, and consume.” (p 142).  Thus an educator’s choice of repertoire to teach, as well as the depth of his knowledge of that music and its context, translates directly to the student’s level of appreciation for fine art.

                Finally leadership shows our ability to use our musical skill and knowledge as a vehicle to inspire students to learn.  How to do this?  Peter Boonshaft suggests: “A sentiment from Socrates says it best: Excite me and I will learn anything, make me curious and I will learn even more.  Our enthusiasm must excite our students to be curious, to want to learn, to explore, to try, to follow, and to learn that learning itself is amazing.”  (Boonshaft, p 49).  In the end our passion for music and how we convey that passion is the fuel students need in order to grow as musicians themselves.