On teaching and saying ‘no’

I wrote this response to Michael’s original post but didn’t send it, probably because it seemed obvious and perhaps a bit old fashioned! John’s post  was I felt a little blunt in assuming experience to equate with knowledge of how best to teach. Good teachers usually have some experience, bad teachers sometimes have a lot!

The benefits of saying ‘no’ to a pupil in my experience depends on many things, not least the trust that is built up over time, the stage at which a pupil has arrived, the concept they have of themselves, how delusive that may be (often handed down by a parent) the measure of the students’ ambition and what they hope to achieve. This in turn is tempered by the pupils’ age and emotional capacity.

Each pupil is different of course and whilst there are certain important principles involved in being effective- lets say broadly that your pupils’ progress is a function of  their (and your) ‘use’- it remains clear to me that a teacher is only as good as the quality of  the  pupils’ perception.

What seems important in general terms is to respect your pupil, to give plenty of praise – there is always much to praise, every lesson, to listen intently and to be present with your pupil- call it inhibition if you like-then correction will be respected because it is honest. The discipline involved and the satisfaction gained in playing well and progressing is a function of frustration. It’s a tension that has to be maintained by the teacher up to a point – because of his/her experience in the past.

When I was at college some years ago (I am a violinist) studying with a ‘celebrated’ teacher myself I often despaired at the seeming lack of praise (not getting what I wanted) holding me back I thought, perhaps concentrating on ‘just a few notes’ for one reason and another. When the praise came though I knew that it was meant and that rather than relying on my natural talent I was going someway to the actualisation of it; and so, in the end, lots of ‘NO’ was a good means- whereby for me. It’s possible (although by no means certain!) that my teacher knew that I could take it and that I needed to do more than rely on my feelings of ability in myself-my ‘delusive’ self appraisal.

Where and when correction of detail-notes, intonation, rhythm etc takes place, is not
important- it needs to be in the right place. Lots of ideas applied or copied or even inspired, say from another teacher- Casals perhaps- or maybe someone elses method, will not be properly effective because they are not authentic- your pupil will sense  this and communication will suffer. Casals was able to teach effectively as he did – saying NO sometimes, with ‘expansion,’ because he had ‘done’ his time; his whole person would have spoken to his pupils as a background against which they could assess whether or not he had their best interests at heart. When there is trust then many different approaches can work well.

Accordingly, I am mindful to relate to my students as people who differ from me only in organisational ways, – but in terms of basic ‘drives’ are somewhat similar and are sometimes clearer about what’s really going on – if I teach in the ‘now’ and am not too concerned with my own worries etc and see my ‘authority’ only as a mirror (tarnished as it is) for my student-then my pupils show me how to teach them. Then saying ‘no’ even a lot can be fun- because it is right. If I say ‘no’ and its not right and I’m not giving any constructive help then I’m setting a student up for failure and its a drag for my pupil and for me  – something else is at work- ‘pulling down’ will tell you. Of course though, that’s how we can learn to be better teachers next lesson and so on.

With more advanced students, ‘correction’ (being associated with the development of   skill) is less important than ensuring that your pupil has something to say that is honest, purposeful and from the heart. Talent cannot be taught as such, but if it is present it can be uncovered; then demand for detail and ‘no’ as an admonition can be tolerated. Being a skilful musician is not the same as being a ‘creative’ one i.e. not being too worried about getting what you had yesterday! Skill though, needs a certain repetition and ‘no’ used correctively as a standard of rightness can be useful to help a student develop critical listening.

Saying ‘no’ too often to a pupil as a kind of authoritarian habit by the teacher is definitely not what is wanted though and it needs to be realised that ‘forced’, bullying and repetitive verbal correction–as in Michael’s example is obviously counterproductive.

Pedagogy that survives by means of this stick- wielding modus operandi proves that experience can sometimes be the worst teacher even if the teacher is a fine player and ‘produces good students. Survival in musicians is dependent on a thick skin to a certain extent and such ‘survivors’ are often the exceptions that prove the rule.

It is certainly the case that a teacher’s reputation is built up by way of the results s/he gets with pupils in certain identifiable areas that are commonly regarded as such. It is by no means certain to me that teaching (to cite the opposite approach) that gets such results by constant positive reinforcement is always good. It too, is often mechanistic and narrow despite the avoidance of the word ‘no’.

To sum up, good teaching seems to result from the teacher having gone through the process themselves first. This takes a long time in terms of years. Then, for the student it takes a  long time to learn a difficult instrument. There seems to be no substitute for this process – not even the avoidance of the ‘no’ word. I think we can get into a muddle as teachers because there are just so many ideas that are head-based and  that  precede or are outside our personal experience. When experience has been properly gained however – eg Casals, and when you want to teach for good reason then the question of whether ‘no’ as a corrective or whether to let someone play despite literal mistakes  as a means of achieving a purpose via this route or that doesn’t  really need to be asked. There are times to be strict and times just to let someone play.

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