Originally Posted by
TruthHertz
That's very true. Unfortunate that there was never enough thought to the detrimental effects of not restructuring curriculum considerations in this process. It's not the place for this discussion on this thread but taking an already substantial curriculum that had its origins in small classrooms, then adding a full load of "requirement skills" courses and larger classroom sizes (despite studies that have shown this to reduce effectiveness) in order to create a broader admissions base, begs the question: How does poorly planned accreditation "gridding" impact the effectiveness of the process of learning an art like music?
Any way, the school is in transition. Mick is witness to and a part of many changes and we'll see. It is a small aside that at some point a few years ago, he'd considered having a class that would be modeled on a regular Master Class format. Students would meet regularly, and play things that they'd prepared for critique. Then Mick would give a detailed set of observations, suggestions and anecdotal situations that could shed further insight on the performance. All members of the class would be witness to and a part of this weekly process.
But he never got the approval for this idea, so it never flew.
I think I got the most from him from all the things he offered after hours. A regular thing he called "study hall" wherein students could just show up at his office after hours, play with each other through a hub that allowed quiet duos or play with others, drawing and playing and discussion of any creative ideas. This was all after hours and just word of mouth.
I recently asked him if he'd like to start that up again. He seemed tired of the whole business and said no. Maybe there's just so long you can get ideas shot down by administration. Who knows.
David
Is the Bud 6 Really That Good?
Today, 02:33 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos