Sunday, November 1, 2009

Juilliard/Carnegie Hall National Music Achievement Program--interesting

I looked on Google Reader today and found a posting about a survey that Juilliard/Carnegie Hall is sending out. The survey asks music teachers about the plausibility of creating a National Music Achievement Program. I took the survey and I was interested in what the program might offer to my private students. I often wonder about how other private horn teachers tackle the issues that I face while teaching. This forum might offer insight to me about approaches I could use to better convey ideas and concepts.

The program would include the following characteristics:
• Students would be evaluated by regional, reputable adjudicators using a pre-defined syllabus and repertoire list
• Evaluations would be available several times per year in each area
• Evaluations would be based on instrument performance
• The evaluation would consist of 8 different performance levels, from beginner to advanced students
• Students would receive a numeric score at the end of the evaluation
• Students would be able to access their ranking in relation to other students across the country

The achievement program aims to benefit students and teachers in several ways, including:
• Motivate students to continue studying music by offering clear development goals
• Enable students to understand their skill level on a national scale and gain recognition for passing each grade level
• Help teachers track the development of their students
• Offer teachers materials to support their instruction

As a private teacher, sometimes it is difficult to find out about every opportunity for my students. I have the internet, yes, but I end up finding out about most everything from other private teachers. This program might really have merit. You can take the survey here:

2 comments:

  1. I think that it is important that institutions like Juilliard/Carnegie Hall become more involved with students not at the conservatory level. Pro-athletes often are seen as inspirations for young athletes, perhaps we need to begin to do more of that with music. Creating this type of program can be a success, if we can recruit professionals to be involved.

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  2. Christina, I agree. I was thinking about music as a language the other day and the parallels that that sort of mindset affords. In learning English, we aren't taught in a structured fashion, we're just exposed and allowed to jam- with professionals every day! I think that if we were allowed to do somewhat the same thing with music, we'd be at a proficient (if not excellent) level within about four years of starting to play. Getting higher-level education experts involved earlier cannot be a bad thing.

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