| Re: Who's your most important teacher?
Great topic, Andrew!
I was lucky enough to study with Charlie Schleuter for 3 years at NEC. Studying with Charlie was very different than any other teacher I have ever studied with, before or since. For the first two years, my lessons consisted primarily of etude work. We went through most of the Charlier book, as well as Top Tones and a few others. I was never assigned anything. Ever. Every lesson, I would go in and put my books on the stand. Charlie would look through and pick an etude. I would "learn" it in the lesson. Charlie teaches an approach more than he teaches individual pieces. Going through the process of applying a systematic approach to a new piece of music every week resulted in me becoming a better sight reader, and more importantly becoming a much quicker learner. In a lot of ways, Charlie taught me to teach myself in every lesson I ever had.
-Jimi |