Master Teacher Program: Fill & Download for Free

I don’t actually think the bottleneck here is age, I think it’s money, though the two are inextricably linked.There’s something we don’t talk about so much in classical music, but it’s very real in our career structure: where does the funding come from? People are very quick to quote the 10,000 hour rule (which I think is a great starting point) without acknowledging what that means for how we create world class artists.The 10,000 hour rule, contrary to popular understanding, requires that these hours be deliberate practice under the tutelage of a master teacher. An hour with a master teacher can vary dramatically in cost, but let’s say that in the US that’s going to be a total monetary investment of between $500,000 and $2,000,000.On some level, that doesn’t seem like so much money to become truly world class at something (it costs much more to train a world class physicist, for example), but given the failure rate in classical music, this investment is staggering. Next to nobody can afford to pay this out of pocket, and it’s not really rational to do so, even if you can.So in practice, what happens (much as when training physicists) is that people compete for funding sources. At first, everyone pays for their own lessons out of pocket, but surprisingly early (in precollege programs and precollege summer music festivals, for example), a merit scholarship model becomes prevalent. Over the course of a relatively early year in training, a gifted young student can get 1000 hours or more subsidized or free. This gap between the top and bottom is significant, and results in an advantage that grows over time: these same students tend to get full rides to conservatory, etc.So what ends up happening is that different instruments develop different funding cycles. As a singer, for instance, I didn’t start until 22, which is late but not way off the charts. Despite starting late, I was able to do one grad degree on a big scholarship, one grad degree that was free with a stipend, several major summer apprenticeships for which I was paid, and two years in the Lindemann Program at the Met, which is a huge advantage on many levels.If I had started as a 22 year old pianist, though, there’s no way I would have had access to anything close to that level of resources, because by age 22 the funding sources for pianists are already drying up; you’re supposed to be having a career by then.An interesting example is the viola, which a LOT of pros didn’t start until high school or even college, but almost all of those late starters came from violin, which is very similar. Generally they switch for exactly this reason: they’re towards the top of the funding curve as violinists, usually getting good scholarships to things, but they’re not at the very highest echelon, and they realize that switching to viola can make this all much easier.In a way, all music training can sort of look like this. Almost everyone plays piano or violin first. Gradually because of interest level or skill level, they move to other instruments, usually ones with a funding curve that’s shifted later. Which is to say that depending on the instrument, you could have to start by 7–8 years old latest (piano and violin) or by 25–30 (voice, arguably composition). The key is that some musical skills are built up as early as possible, not necessarily that they’re in the instrument of (final) choice.

When I was doing Student Teaching (the program you go through to become a teacher) I met a master teacher who told me a story. One time he’d had a student who was doing poorly. He gave the student a few opportunities to improve the work, but the kid’s work didn’t relly improve. Eventually, he contacted the parents.Long story short, the kid’s father beat the living hell out of the kid.The master teacher felt awful. I mean seriously guilty and terrible. He said after that, he never again contacted a parent without first meeting with a student and having a discussion about that kid’s home situation.My point is this: teachers are (usually) aware that there are tensions at home. They can respect that. So if you have a legitimate reason for not wanting them to contact your father, they will likely be open to hearing from you.Ask to talk to the teacher privately. Give them your reasons. Be honest. It may not work—your teacher may have specific reasons of their own for sending your grades to both parents; it may even be a school rule—but my guess is the two of you will be able to work it out.Good luck.

Let me tell you a story. I am a computer and history teacher. I like to teach history, I love to teach intro to computers. My job at one school closed, and I was sent to another school as a “Must Place” teacher. That means they had to accept me, the had no choice. The only opening at that school was as a History Teacher, so history it was. They watched me closely because teachers moved in as a “must place” are often teacher who got in trouble at their old school. They quickly saw I was a good teacher, and they left me alone. I integrated myself into the new school’s culture and became one of the staff. About half way through the 3rd year at this school (my 20th as a teacher), they called me into the office and asked if I would like to move to a computer class starting in 2 weeks. They told me it was likely to be my only chance to be a computer teacher at that school. I would be teaching AP computers one period, intro to computers 2 periods, advanced computers 1 period and History 1 period. I agreed, even though I was a bit hesitant to teach AP computers. AP computers was Java Programming. For the AP test, the students would have to write programs on paper that would work when the examiners put them into the computer. My problem, I knew nothing about programming Java. I knew nothing about Object Oriented Programming. I knew NOTHING about NOTHING, and I would be teaching these kids who were the best and brightest.The old teacher could come in once a week to teach a new concept, but it was MY job to get them from that to where they needed to be the next week, and where they needed to be for the AP test. I asked the master teacher to give me a list of topics he would cover each week. I looked online and found all of the questions from the last 5 years of AP tests. When I was with the students, I would give them questions from the test, and ask them to hand write an answer. They then had to come to me and explain what their program would do. Sounded like gibberish to me, but they did it. They then had to enter the program into the computer and report to me if it worked or not. I had them explain their thinking process if it worked, and explain the problem and how it could be avoided if they were wrong… More gibberish. The practice had them THINKING about how to take the test. 21 of the 22 students passed the test that I could not even score 1 point on.A good teacher not only roots for his students to surpass him (or her), but helps them do it.