uatrmpt

We're just splitting hair with the term "master"; and, frankly, it's just a waste of time to do so.

The professors of trumpet on here might disagree with me, but I think that there are certain things that need to be covered in a logically developed sequence throughout a student's collegiate career:
Air (I got a lot of this, but not with my current teacher)
Tonguing (not much from either teacher. My lesson on double tonguing consisted of my saying "TaKa TaKa TaKa" and then being told to go practice it)
Fingers
Range (none at all from either teacher)
Transposition (some from my first teacher, not much from my current one)
Jazz Techniques
And probably a whole lot more that I can't think of.

IMO, there shouldn't be much of a difference between lessons for a performance major and lessons for an ed major. Both need to be held to a high standard.

My teacher is the product of an eastern conservatory and has always studied with other orchestral players. One of his teachers was more of a coach - a guy that didn't even play trumpet anymore when my teacher had him. I can't tell you how many times I went into a lesson and heard "Whatcha got for me this week?" To me, that shows a total lack of planning. I'll even admit to leaving out a few assignments at various times that I hadn't prepared. However, it's a shame that I paid good money and am coming out of college have never even covered basic techniques. It's one thing if they were covered and I didn't practice them; but, for me, they were never covered.

Sometimes you don't have a choice of where to go and who to take from. You've gotta make do with who's around, and sometimes there's just not much around!

__________________
--Matt--