Student/Teacher

From Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind*

While Jacobs has earned a reputation as a world-class performer, equally significant are his teachings. In more than sixty years of teaching, he has been called the “Brass teacher’s brass teacher” and a modern Aeolus, the Greek God of Wind.

There are those who have studied with Jacobs who have interpreted the way that he taught them as The Arnold Jacobs Method, and attempt to imitate Jacobs’ style with their own students. Jacobs taught them as individuals and the methodology would therefore change with the next student. There is no set Arnold Jacobs method of teaching all students. Jacobs individualizes the methodology to the individual student. He is the master with his vast knowledge and decades of experience.

 

 

The student absorbs information. The teacher imparts information and guides the student through his development. According to Jacobs, “The ability to learn is greater than the ability to teach.  If one is going to be a teacher, one needs to have the ability to impart knowledge. A professional teacher must have a good sense of message, and the ability to deliver and influence a young person’s mind. A teacher should be able to communicate as well with an instrument, because we are dealing with sound in this art form.”

An important consideration in Jacobs’ philosophy of teaching is that all students are different, as every person has his own way of thinking. One person may be highly developed in visual stimuli, such as shades of color that are valuable in art. Another person may have developed in the sense of hearing and pitch recall that is beneficial in music. There are those who think with logical thought and others who think emotionally—it all depends on the individual. Students also have different physical needs, strengths, weaknesses, experiences, desires, and other variables.

Jacobs is not teaching a player of a particular instrument, but, rather, teaching an artist who plays a particular instrument. All students, from the beginner on up, are performers, although their levels vary from elementary to highly advanced. While technique is important, they should put the study of music first and the methodology [technique] second.

Unlike many teachers, Jacobs works with the student’s strengths—what he is doing correctly being dominant over what he is doing wrong. For example, many students come to him with an unorthodox, but functional embouchure. While many teachers would work with a student to change it to perfection, Jacobs may leave it alone, as it is perfectly functional, and concentrate on other problems.

Jacobs relies on a multi-sensory approach to teaching. Students learn through their senses and Jacobs uses tactual, visual and aural clues. He rapidly imparts the strongest message for the particular student using the various senses. With the aid of external devices he motivates students with different senses. Away from the instrument, he may have a student blow a ball to the top of a tube. During this time, he is making the student aware of the feeling of the physical activity. Finally, he will have the student play on their instrument and tells them to forget the external device and return to the art form of music.

Jacobs usually reserves a student’s first lesson to evaluate the student’s strengths and weaknesses. This allows him to set a course of study for the student. The largest number of problems with students are with improper respiration [not using enough air] and the tongue.

*Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind, Copyright 1996 Windsong Press, Ltd., All rights reserved.