Do you wonder about the meaning of "master" in the discussion of "master violin class"? Does not that word signify some kind of power relationship? After all, if you stop a dozen people on the street, instructing, "Tell me the first world that comes to mind when I say 'master,'" will not at least eleven of the twelve say "slave"? And if you demand a second association with the word would you not predict the same eleven willing participants in your poll would respond "domination"? Even when your intellect acknowledges that the word comes into the violin's specialized lexicon from the traditions of craftsmen's guilds, when apprentices served masters until they perfected their craft, all the rationalism cannot quite obscure the apprentice's abject dependence on the old expert not only for
nstruction but also for shelter and sustenance. Even the most kindly one still wields all the power. So, as you enroll in a "master violin class," do not you feel just a little wary about submitting to the master's tutelage?
The basic objective of this type of violin class may not console you. Stripped of all the fancy educational and musical jargon, every one of these types of violin classes drives toward the same goal by the same process. You study with an expert in order to become a fine player in your own right. More precisely, the objective ought to declare you study "under" an expert until you become one. With in-depth study you develop skills and knowledge which propel you up the ziggurat toward the apex of violin success. Still, even as he instructs you, the teacher keeps the gate to the pyramid's next level; and no one ever confides that, even when you imagine you have reached the top, you will find you still have further to travel before you reach the limits of your talents and gifts.
Human nature dominates your master violin class more powerfully than the instructor himself. For the sake of ensemble play, your classmates want you to do well; for the sake of their own advancement up the deadly ziggurat, however, they secretly hope you tank. You probably reciprocate their feelings. If, though, you really "get it," you will see that even your classmates' bullying and belittling power your progress, because you will keep playing and practicing until you perform your part so brilliantly they can say only "wow."
Even as you wonder about submitting to the teacher and joining your peers in a master violin class, you must understand that the instrument's and music's demands make the rules. Your teacher did not arbitrarily determine the standards for good, better, and best; those standards inhere in the violin and sheet music. You play well, or you play poorly. When you play well, the instructor grants permission to advance. When you play not-so-well, the instructor stays with you until you get it. His loyalty to the music and craft dictate that he must remain loyal to you and your progress.
The longer you stay with your master violin class and remain loyal to your teacher, the more clearly the paradox at the relationship's heart will become clear. You ultimately will see and feel the irony. Your tutor, vested with power derived from his own exquisite command of the violin and his own privileged standing in the community of accomplished violinists, actually sets his power in service of your own progress. He uses his power to build yours; he uses his authority to build your authority over the notes on the page and the strings on the twangy box you cradle in your arms.
Hailey Alton is a violin performer, music lover and teacher. For more great tips on Master Violin Class please visit http://learntheviolinfast.com
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