The True Teacher

I am writing about something for which I feel the utmost passion. If I could get across one message, and for some reason wasn't allowed to say anything else, that message would be what I consider the True Teacher to be, and what I believe teaching truly is.

The reason this message is so important, is because a widespread understanding of it would lead to a radical change in the experience and development of the aspiring guitarist. It would lead to a radical change in the experience of how so many of us are "taught". If for some reason you disagree with me at the end of this article, and that is certainly your right, you won't be able to invalidate my conviction that my own experience and development as a guitarist and musician would have benefited immensely from having these things understood and practiced by the many people who have served as my teachers. I want to make clear that when these principles were practiced by some of my teachers, I benefited and grew as a musician. For this I will be eternally grateful. However, some of my teachers did not practice these principles, and my playing was damaged.

Empowerment

The True Goal of a Teacher should be empowerment of the student.

The True Teacher's utmost desire is to aid, guide, and do whatever it takes to bring the student to their place of happiness and fulfillment as a musician and guitarist. The student may not have a clear idea of what that is, and certainly not how to attain it. The teacher may not know either, but he knows more than the student. He must help the student feel their way, if necessary. The True Teacher knows that if this person is destined to be a musician, (which is another way of saying if they really want it bad enough), then their place of happiness and fulfillment does exist and can be found. And the True Teacher resolves to do whatever it takes to make that become a reality.

For the guitar student, empowerment means that they have confidence in you, the teacher, to have the understanding and knowledge for fulfilling any desires you have now or will have later, in playing the guitar. For me, it meant knowing that I could do anything I want on the guitar. If I couldn't do something, then I found out how to do whatever I wanted by practicing correctly.

As I began to have confidence and empowerment, I felt liberated. For a long time, I didn't have this feeling. I needed to play the classical guitar, and it was necessary for me to feel equal to the challenges. Classical guitar is one of the more difficult styles of guitar playing.

It is necessary for students to be "empowered", to "get it", every step of the way. That is the hallmark of the True Teacher. The need to see results, progress, happiness, and fulfillment on the part of the student makes this type of teacher willing to try one way, then another, then another, no matter how long it takes or how creative or unorthodox he or she must become. Results are all that matters.

Teaching the Way You Were Taught

I contend most teachers begin by teaching the way they were taught. They begin using some approach that perhaps worked for them. Often it only worked partially, and there are still a lot of gaps in the teachers own understanding and knowledge. (The True Teacher is also a good student, and is always learning, expanding, and stays open to change). But guess what! Once you start teaching lots of people, that one approach is NOT going to work for all of your students.

When I was 17, I had been playing for three or four years, and had studied classical guitar for only one year. The place where I took lessons thought I was good enough to start teaching there. It was a little community music school that had a lot of fine teachers, and I was extremely grateful that I had found a "real" classical guitarist there, who corrected many of the harmful things I had done in trying to teach myself classical guitar. (I had no choice, since it was very difficult to even find a classical teacher back then). He equipped me (that is to say, empowered me) the best he could, however, we both knew when he had reached his limits. Had I stayed on with him, I would have only continued to make horizontal growth, rather than vertical growth.

So in this circumstance, I started to teach. Believe me, in that little fish pond, everybody thought I was a pretty big fish. The average person thought I played pretty well-impressively, in fact. The average person is generally impressed if you can play anything that sounds "classical". Thank God, I knew better than to be satisfied with the approval of these few!

When I started teaching, I couldn't get results from most people. Later on, I would understand why. I later understood that I had a fair amount of what is called "natural talent" and I practiced all the time. I learned very fast. I quickly learned how to make a decent showing with some rather complicated pieces in the classical repertoire, but many of my students were struggling with the simplest things. I couldn't get them to "get it," to play at least somewhat like I could. In my ignorance, I was often giving students pieces that were far beyond their reach. This would do them harm because they would be acquiring many bad habits in trying to cope with the technical demands of these pieces. I would begin to see later on that this was and is a common occurrence.

It was so frustrating, I felt like a thief taking their money. I quit my teaching gig. ( I don't recommend this. I'd often wished later I didn't, but I tend to be impulsive at times). When I went back to teaching a few years later, it was with a renewed sense of commitment to always searching for the answer for every student I encountered. I would always figure out what it was that this person wanted, and what they needed to get it. It was because of this constant orientation that I developed "The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar". These fundamentals of playing and practicing are always true, no matter what style or what level of player you are. These are the things good players are doing, whether they know it or not. And most of these things are what they are doing when they practice, not when they play.

Perhaps I digressed, but I thought it would be helpful to describe myself in the position of being The Bad Teacher, the really The Ignorant Teacher. If I would have let it continue I would have become "The Lazy Teacher". I have met some of those. The kind that think, "I don't care THAT much because after all, I can play, and if you can't, it must be your fault. Besides, I'm getting paid, either way".

I was once talking to a fellow educator and he said, "God forbid, I should be judged by my students". I thought, "God forbid anyone who really wants to play and is willing to work should ever be your student". I mean, how else SHOULD a teacher be judged? By how well THEY play? No. That's how we should judge them, as players. Teaching is a whole different thing.

Understanding

You can be a great player and a lousy teacher. Often, great players are lousy teachers. Segovia is an example. Just listen to John Williams or many other of his "students" describe his teaching. It was how Chopin taught. " Do it like this, like I do". If your were supremely talented, you could come up with something acceptable. If not, you got the boot! Guess which one happened most often. Great players often don't know why they're great. Always try to find one that does, or is interested in finding out, and communicate it to you. And then notice whether they ARE communicating it to you. Are you making Vertical or Horizontal Growth?

I have a rule in teaching:

If the student is not learning, it's my fault.

Assuming the student has desire, and is doing what I am telling them, if they are not making real progress, then I'm not telling them the right thing to do. Or I'm not telling them anything to do! So I need to pay attention, and keep trying new things, or put it in a different order, or whatever, until something WORKS for them. This is called, Aggressive Teaching. I guess that is why I'm writing this now, because if you are not being taught this way, you are being short changed in your training to DO Aggressive Practicing.

Also understand, no teacher is perfect. Being a True Teacher is not a place you attain, it is a PROCESS you engage in. A good student helps the teacher to BE true, by letting them know when they don't "get" something. Always keep asking questions when you don't understand something, unless your teacher wisely lets you know you cannot have full understanding of something, but rather have enough to use it, which allows your understanding to grow. It is often this way. But you must never feel like you are totally CONFUSED, that is, feel CLUELESS. You must feel like you have some kind of handle on it. Keep asking questions until you do.

Students should beware of teachers who get irritated when students don't understand something. That is a warning sign. The teacher is making them feel inadequate. They want to put the blame on the student! (Unless the student is not paying attention and trying their hardest, in which case, the student should be blamed).They don't want to examine their approach.

Have you ever seen a situation when someone is trying to talk to someone else, and then discovers that that person doesn't understand English, or whatever language they are speaking? The first thing they do is start talking louder, even shouting at them. As if that would make any difference! How many times did I have a teacher who wasn't paying enough attention to notice I had no idea what they were talking about! I used to have a voice teacher shout at me all the time "Space, give me space." I was clueless. My head is on backwards when it comes to singing. I need it broken down to the molecular level. I think I made him mad. I'm sure what he said worked with lots of people. Not me.

The True Teacher is always concerned with what the student is hearing, not what they, the teacher, are saying. Often, for whatever reason, even though the student is listening, he or she isn't 'hearing" anything.

True Teaching is Love

For guitarists, it is intense love of the guitar and intense desire to share that love with someone who also desires it. And what is Love? It's simple, to love means to "be with". That's all. The True Teacher loves the student, and loves the desire in the student that is the same as his own desire. The True Teacher is always trying to be "with" the student, knowing what they are thinking, feeling, and how they are experiencing this process of "learning the guitar".

I have to Teach, it's the only way I can learn!

And for teachers, here is the most important and wonderful fact. When you engage in the process of True Teaching, and are truly "with" the student, your own insight and growth will be accelerated! You will have new awarenesses and begin to understand your own areas of confusion. You will be shown the light by your own honest attempts to show it to someone else. And again, I have found this to be true as a teacher of guitar, and as a parent, which is another name for "Teacher".

In the movie The Crow, (starring the son of the great Master Bruce Lee) the main character says something I have always remembered. He is talking to a drug addict mother who is abusing her child. He says "Mother is the name of God on the lips of children". He is trying to make her see her real responsibility and position. To the child, the Parent IS God. The parent can, and will, create either a wonderfully, empowered being, or a partially, even completely crippled person. I know this from personal experience as both a parent and a child.

I am a student and a teacher. When it comes to music, "Teacher is the name of God on the lips of the student". The teacher has the power to create either a wonderfully, empowered being, or a partially, even completely crippled person, especially in the beginning of instruction.

The True Teachers' job is to strive in transferring that power to the student. The True Teachers' fondest desire should be that the deserving student takes everything they know, uses it, and surpasses the teacher. May we all be the best we can be.