Opinion: The Business in Teaching

To say the least, my path as a violinist has been unconventional. After watching my friends who participated district’s general orchestra program for years, I decided it was time I tackle the violin for myself. I wanted to be just like my peers who routinely made district honor orchestra, all-state orchestra, local youth orchestras, junior chamber music: the programs which exuded a frighteningly convincing facade of prestige on unassuming students and parents. Around my freshman year of high school, I eagerly began looking for a private teacher. I tried 3 teachers, each of whom looked promising. They wielded degrees from the nation’s top music schools and had students participating in all those reputable orchestra programs I mindlessly venerated. So when I wasn’t making even an inch of progress under three teachers, I blamed myself. I was too ignorant to know that they weren’t allowing me to work on Bruch, Mozart, solo Bach, and Mendelssohn after receiving NO BASICS because I was ”talented” enough to play them... but because they just didn’t care. They knew that I could never catch up enough to particpate in every program my peers who started at 7 did, so they just didn’t bother to teach me anything.

I see the same sad epidemic in many local college music programs. Too many paid college students have to reach out to my own private instructors because their teachers failed to invest in them. University music departments hire these professors for their credentials yet let in students who really ought to be studying with the local Suzuki pedagogue. They were never trained to teach twinkles, but that’s what their students need. Without fundamental technique, students simply cannot apply the higher musical concepts these professors actually CAN teach. 

At first, I was very angry about this widespread flaw in the teaching system. Unless you started violin at a certain time, unless you are already on what is seen as the path to “success,” then most teachers simply will not bother with you. I thought that only bad teachers only take students who are already there so that they can take credit for another teacher’s dirty work. They’re not going to alter what they are used to doing just to train a student they don’t think will go anywhere. And they’re not necessarily bad teachers... they are simply in it for the business. The only way they can attract more students is if they can advertise their current/past students’ achievements. To families who don’t know anything about the teacher, or to families who specifically look for a teacher who can allow their kids to be in a certain music program, the most assuring evidence that a teacher is “good” are other success stories. To most people, raising well-rounded students who get joy from playing their instruments, having college graduates go on to become local music teachers, simply doesn‘t look good enough on paper. When your livelihood is on the line, you cannot afford to put your heart and soul into a student who won’t make you any money. 

Now, I sincerely hope there are private teachers out there in other communities who are willing to teach anyone who wants to learn. My heart goes out to the people who are in competitive music communities, or who want to audition for music university with only a few years of lessons under their belts. The teachers who do it because they love teaching, who don’t entirely rely on their teaching income to survive, are hard to come by. I was fortunate enough to be referred to the best teacher in my community by word of mouth - perhaps the only one who wanted anything to do with me - and am now being referred to brilliant, kindhearted souls who will teach an 18 year old who just started Bruch. But not everyone is that lucky. For example, late-starting cellist Emily Davidson (per her YouTube video) was tossed around like a hot potato by her undergraduate institution because no one there wanted to bother with someone who started lessons at age 15. She was willing to work, but no one had the means to work for her. Students like us have the right to advocate for themselves, to reach out to as many people as possible. 9 times out of 10 we’ll get a “no,” but that one “yes” will be priceless.

I fear for my future as a teacher. I want to teach every student I come across, regardless of level, regardless whether or not they can make me money. Given what other teachers have had to do, it seems that my utopian vision is not that realistic if I want to put food on the table. But the minute I begin to reject people with my very same story, rendering my purpose to prepare children for meaningless school programs that undermine the entire point of music… I will have betrayed both myself and the miraculous music I live for.