About their Teacher (2)

Probably there have been very few distinguished composers who spent so much time in their career teaching, and with such passionate dedication to this task, as Schönberg did. One of the principle reasons for this strong passion along the tradition lay in the belief that teaching constituted an indespensable means of passing along the tradition that he believed in so fervently and of which he considered himself to be a part. Schönberg was never reluctant to pay homage to those composers who had influenced him: his primary ‘teachers’ Bach and Mozart, and secondarily Beethoven, Brahms, and Wagner. Schönberg always liked to describe his method of working in class as ‘proceeding systematically.’ In his classes he provided numerous examples illustrating all aspects of counterpoint, from the simplest treatment of the species to chorale prelude and fugue. Some of the examples were prepared specifically in advance of the class meetings, but many more, in accordance with Schönberg’s usual pedagogical custom, were improvised on the spot in the classroom to illustrate special points as they occurred. Schönberg’s procedure did not have as its goal the production of one or two perfect examples according to certain aesthetic or stylistic considerations, but has the more practical aim of encouraging the student to discover for him every possible solution or consideration of a given problem within ever-widening limits. The ultimative result of his method is the acquisition of a discipline which enables the student to analyse thoroughly all problems that might arise, and gain possession of a sure technique which will make it possible for him to find solutions for most of these problems.

Leonard Stein

1 Comments:
At Terça-feira, 09 Agosto, 2005, pb said... Sim, eu sei, já publiquei uma boa parte deste texto num outro post - Arnold Schoenberg (professor e compositor)... Mas aqui está o texto todo de Leonard Stein que se adapta bem à temática do post.