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Performers as teachers: exploring the teaching approaches of instrumental teachers in conservatoires

This article was motivated by a staff development session when the brass faculty of a conservatoire were invited to share and discuss their approaches to teaching. It presents the results of interviews with six well known woodwind or brass players who have also taught at one or more conservatoires in London for periods of between one and 40 years. All are male. The six instruments represented are: trumpet, horn, trombone, flute, clarinet and bassoon. While there were commonalities in the approach of teachers, marked differences also emerged. Although some of these may reflect the particular demands of the instrument on which a teacher specialises, and the ease with which accomplished students of that instrument may be recruited to conservatoires, there also appear to be substantial differences in the individual approach of teachers. The findings raise the issue of whether it may be appropriate to provide some training for instrumental teachers at conservatoire level; surely one way of making the pool of accumulated wisdom more readily available, to prospective teachers and to the research community.