[Peapeuddedbaw]

Hi Guys - good points being raised - I do very much agree with V.O.R. in that command over the instrument has to be the ever elusive goal of any and all instrumentalist, inclusive of vocalists of course. I'll purposely stay away from drawing examples and comparisons as we have learned all too well that this serves to grey over any point being made and clearly that is an area of well considered individual tastes.
Generally speaking, I've encountered two kinds of students. The first being the type that has a relatively healthy amount of preconcieved improvisational idea's - who is also the type that learns methodically about how to put what they're hearing onto the horn and gets more proficiant at this over time and practice. This student feels as though they're fighting with many concepts of playing the horn though most of the time, so the challenge there is to try and eliminate the mystery and to get that student as at home with that instrument as possible as if it was as natural as using their voice to express idea's. Most of the time it comes down to editting and simplifying their approach. This is what I consider to be the ideal student to work with from a teachers perspective.

Then there's the other type, albeit a bit more rare, who learns things quite instantly but has little or no preconcieved idea's of their own. Often this student doesn't really listen in an open way to jazz, but approaches what they hear in analitical fashion, leaving one to wonder if they really enjoy it or not. This student generally has a formidible command over the instrument and can mimic quite handily, finding the art of transcription for instance, to be something they can do with relative ease - and the more they do of it the faster they get so they focus on that because basically it's instant gratification and they've tended to have gotten very good at it. They also tend to also do quite well in their other requirements too. They're able to play you back anything you present to them, yet when asked to create something of their own - they're at a loss to do so. This is the challenging student, for me anyways and I seem to be seeing more of them now.

Now please - remember I'm generalizing of course, there's lots of other kinds but these two examples make up most of what I see these days.

My fear - and I'm getting back into the topic of post secondary jazz education now, my fear is that we're seeing more of example #2.
I never was a believer in finding music in technical challenges, yet I think we have to be careful that some distinction gets addressed concerning this otherwise you will indeed start finding a lot of people coming out of Colleges and Universities sounding by and large the same. How do we get around this? I think exposure to differing points of view and perspectives is crucial.

I don't care what instrument a person plays, but if they're going on years with studying for example, with the same person, I don't see how you can end up with a well rounded perspective on how to play your instrument. When I was in College, I saved to take private lessons as well, with some of those guys in this city that I was incredibly nervous to even so much as phone.

In the end though, in retrospect - it was the best thing I ever did in those years, and I learned on top of everything else, how important it was to make that contact, and what life in music and the real respect of those important players, was all about.

Cam.