Who are you, Alexandra K Trenfor?

“The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see.”

I came across this wonderful quote recently, posted by a Facebook friend. Isn’t it perfect?

It’s by Alexandra K Trenfor. And I discover it’s all over the internet, always attributed to her.

But who on earth is she? And if she said (or wrote) this one, how come there aren’t lots more wise thoughts where that one came from?

Declare yourself, Alexandra!

 

Lineages

I love it when a sense of lineage emerges in any field. I know how much I owe to my own teachers – and theirs.

The pianist Adelina de Lara, who was still playing in her 80s in the 1950s, was a pupil of Robert Schumann’s wife, Clara. This is how she recalled one lesson in the 1880s:

"I had just finished playing part of Brahms's Scherzo in E flat minor, op 4, when the door opened and in walked a short stout man. He wore a beard and his hair was long, swept back from a magnificent brow...

"The unusual intrusion into one of my teacher's lessons caused me to glance at her. Would she be annoyed? But to my surprise she was smiling at the intruder, a smile I had rarely seen before. Without greeting him she told me to repeat what I had already played. By then the visitor was standing behind me and I began to play.

"Then, as I finished the opening phrase I heard his voice: 'No, no, it is too fast - you must draw it out like this.' His hands were already on the keyboard, and Clara Schumann was saying, 'Let Dr Brahms show you, Adelina’."

Here she is playing Schumann’s Kinderszenen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWutTfXvuW8

Learning by shouting out

You may have seen that a recent study of primary school children by Durham University shows clearly that pupils who shout out in class do better, academically, learning faster than those who seem better-behaved.

And yet so many teachers (and parents) still regard this sort of behaviour as disruptive and rude, censuring pupils accordingly.

My belief is that a major side-effect of the repressive way teachers react is that children start to suppress their own creativity.

On the subject of enthusiasm, the great American choreographer, Martha Graham, hit the nail on the head: “Great dancers are not great because of their technique. They are great because of their passion.”

The real question is: how to encourage and support impulsiveness in children and re-awaken it in adults?