If you’re a music teacher, and these are your students, you
should know that the place of classical music in our culture’s
future is largely dependent on what you teach – and don’t teach
– your students. I recently had an interesting chat with the
violinist Barry Shiffman – who runs the Young Artist Performance
Academy, and also the Glenn Gould School, at Toronto’s Royal
Conservatory of Music – about music education. And in our
conversation he emphasized the effectiveness of musical training
in a studio environment. I have no doubt he’s right: while music
history, theory, ear-training and some other subjects can be
taught in a classroom, nothing beats the private lesson for
developing a student’s performing skills. But more than just
skills are taught in the private studios. One-on-one instruction
also has a powerful influence over a student’s musical values.
More than anywhere else, it’s in this environment that students
are often taught respect (perhaps too much respect) for the
printed page, and to value p