[TPIN] What is Competence?

[wrg94 at aol.com]

I have enjoyed reading the various postings to the list relating to the  
issue of "competence" relative to trumpet teachers.  As usual, the  opinions 
expressed have varied almost to the extreme.  Several have  alluded to the issue of 
those incompetent to evaluate competence  (students)providing the 
definitions, the possession of degrees, or resumes full  of first class playing gigs, and 
so on.  Competence in many areas of  endeavor, is tied to academic 
achievement (degrees) or possession of a license  (teaching, medicine, law, dentistry, 
engineering etc.),  Unfortunately, the  estimation of competence in the arts 
(music, theatre, graphic arts etc.) is  somewhat less straightforward, and may, 
emphasis on "may", be less dependent  upon formal training and certification 
than upon native ability.    Moreover, in the arts it seems to me that 
competence, not unlike beauty, is in  the eye, or ear of the beholder, and competence 
is at times evaluated in terms  of sold out concerts performed, albums sold or 
movie credits or whether you can  get triple C and blow the roof off the 
auditorium in the  process.   
 
One thing that no one has yet addressed directly is the fact that an  
individual may be a first rate performer or even a virtuoso, and be a complete  
failure as a teacher of trumpet players.  I know some really talented  performers 
whom I would not allow within hailing distance of a child of mine who  was 
interested in playing trumpet, because the student would inevitably come  away 
from their experience discouraged.  Conversely, I know some others  whose musical 
training is much less pristine, and whose technical and performing  skills 
are commensurately lower, but who understand how students learn, how to  
motivate them to strive for continual improvement, and how to enjoy their  successes 
when they come. 
 
At the end of the day, competence has to be evaluated at least in part on  
the basis of the product. A performer is competent if he or she possesses the  
requisite skills to perform the repertoire consistently well enough for the  
venue in which the performance is taking place.  A teacher is competent if  the 
students he or she produces reflect these same qualities and are successful  
in pursuit of their musical lives whether professionally or otherwise.  
 
Bruce Wright



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