Late last year I was challenged to think about the topic of mission statements, and specifically a mission statement for my teaching.
At first I was resistant to the idea, as for some teachers the mission seems to be to break you! Show you just how little you know. I actually not long ago saw a video of a teacher using that style. It was kind of frightening and painful to watch, brought back bad memories, yet I knew in that case that the teacher really only meant it to challenge the student.
For many teachers the idea is either to teach in much the way their best teachers taught them or to teach in a way that is as opposite as possible from that of their worst teachers. Neither plan is a good one.
I am not aware of a horn studio with a formal mission statement, although the motto used by the Rice Horn Crew comes close to being one: “The hottest, hungriest, most happening horn players south of the North Pole, north of the South Pole, and everywhere in between.”
This all led to some thought as I was revising my syllabus over break. Keeping it real simple, in my opinion the best horn teachers are able to do three things in roughly equal proportions:
- Challenge
- Encourage
- Inspire
Not all teachers are equal in respect to those things, and over time one challenge as a teacher is to take stock and see where you fit in that spectrum. Those that consciously try to inspire always come across to me as a bit fake and contrived. The most inspirational people just are naturally inspirational. The other two points though you can pretty directly influence in your teaching. This led me to the creation of the following short statement:
MISSION STATEMENT. Our mission at the ASU horn studio is to strive for excellence in performance and to encourage and challenge each other in a supportive atmosphere.
That basic mission statement is now posted on the studio website. In the syllabus itself it is further divided between goals for students (!) and for faculty (myself and the TA, in this case).
Students in this course should strive for excellence. This includes developing a primary objective of working on problems, to face those realities and overcome them with the objective of progressing toward horn performance goals. Students should also encourage and challenge their colleagues and teachers in a musically supportive atmosphere.
Faculty in this course have the primary objectives of challenging and encouraging students through honest feedback. Faculty will demonstrate high standards, guide study in the studio, and support students as they progress toward achieving excellence in their larger personal and performance goals.
The above all owes a bit of a hat tip to Douglas Yeo, who I have been in recent contact with and will be joining the ASU brass faculty in the fall of 2012. Back several years ago, in a “quote of the week” feature, I highlighted two extended quotes from his great trombone website which further spell out the challenges to students and to teachers.
In the same spirit, Horn Matters now has a mission as well. These past two years we have actually followed this basic plan, it is no real change, but to put it in words was still a good exercise. As it now states on our “about” page,
The missions of Horn Matters are to encourage, inspire, inform, and challenge horn players and to promote the best instrument ever, the French horn.
Start your year with a mission!
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