# of Students Taught: 8
Ages: 2 frosh, 1 soph, 4 juniors, 1 senior
Instrument: 7 trombones, 1 bass trombone
Materials: scales, tunes, & ear training; jazz reading & improv, contest pieces, duets
Fundamentals covered: clean articulation of phrases, tuning with drones, sight-reading
Memorable moment: Never let it be said that I think I’m a flawless teacher. Today I realized in the moment that I was giving a student misguided advice and had to point out the error and help him get back on the right track (which he was on fine before I meddled). We were playing a jazz etude with some scoops in the middle of the phrase and every so often the amount of scoop he was giving it was putting him behind on the next part, so I said ‘start that scoop closer to the slide position you’re going to’, which is fine, I guess, if you haven’t just spent 5 minutes speeding up the whole phrase and are still at the slow tempo you started at. But introducing a new idea, particularly a technical change, at a faster tempo, goofs up your brain. He had trouble with the notes again and was frustrated.
Takeaways: I immediately apologized and explained where I went wrong. We went backward a few metronome speeds and tried again, this time listening for the correct timing with scoop so his technical delivery could match the music he wanted to make.
I’ve been kicking myself all day though! I should know better by now. Bloop.
Lauren Husting, trombone 