[CAUT] The Well-Educated Pianist

[Dennis Johnson]

Thanks.....   and agreed- the essential reason why we all work here comes
down to education.

d.
_____

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 1:43 PM, <reggaepass at aol.com> wrote:

> I'm not quite sure which 'title' you are referring to, the subject line of
> my post (a play on the title of Ed McMorrow's book, "The Well-Educated
> Piano"), or the actual title of the workshop, "Ten Things Every Pianist
> Should Know About Pianos."  Nobody had any issue whatsoever with the later.
>  In fact, I did this workshop at the request of the principal piano
> instructor, who enthusiastically advocated to make this happen and
> personally attended for the second or third time, gleefully declaring to her
> students that more of these details stick every time she hears them.  I do
> start out by stating that pianists as a group are more ignorant about their
> instrument than players of any other instrument.  This is not to degrade but
> to help answer the question I pose to the students at the get-go, "Why
> bother learning about your instrument?"  Here at CalArts, the notion that we
> are breaking with (and thereby correcting, in this case) a bad tradition is
> looked upon very favorably.
>  What measure of your take on your own situation is paranoia and what
> portion is real?  Hard to say.  Hey, my children don't like it when I "make"
> them do things that they didn't used to have to do, or that their friends
> don't have to do.  So what?  I know that it is for their own good, so I do
> it anyway (lovingly, of course!).
>
>  Alan Eder
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dennis Johnson <johnsond at stolaf.edu>
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Sent: Tue, Oct 6, 2009 9:02 am
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] The Well-Educated Pianist
>
>  Hi-
>
> I would be interested to know if you felt any awkwardness from the facutly
> regarding this title.  I suggested such a class borrowing the exact same
> title, and immediately got a cool reception when we had already agreed on
> the merits of doing something.  My read was that the somehow the title made
> faculty feel uncomfortable.  Personally, I think it's spot on.  I don't
> think I was reading too much into it, but maybe.
> Glad to hear it went well and thanks for keeping us posted.
>
> cheers,
>
> Dennis Johnson
>
> __________
>
> On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 10:35 AM, <reggaepass at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Greetings List,
>>  Last night I was the "entertainment" for the weekly piano colloquium
>> here at CalArts.  I did a super-condensed version of "Ten Things Every
>> Pianist Should Know About Pianos" (which is really EVERYTHING pianists
>> should know, presented shotgun style and organized under ten very broad
>> sub-headings).  I've posted about his before.  What I want to share with you
>> now is that there was only one student who knew anything about the subject
>> at all, and he learned it is a class required for piano majors, even
>> undergrads, at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.  Kudos to Eric
>> for the excellent job he is doing with that class.  In fact, the pianist
>> from CCM happened to win the door prize, but deferred it to another student
>> because he already had a copy of Larry Fine's "The Piano Book," purchased as
>> a text for our esteemed colleague's class.  Well done, sir!
>>
>>  Alan Eder
>>
>
>
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