A Course Assignment for Kathleen Chastain's Flute Pedagogy Class Evolves into National Publication for Three Students Story and student photo by Claire Chase Chastain photo by Ramon Owens
			Conservatory flute performance majors Eric Lamb ('00) and Sarah Wass ('99) Three Conservatory flute performance majors from the studio of Michel Debost and Kathleen Chastain - Eric Lamb ('00), Sandra Sutak ('01) and Sarah Wass ('99) - have written articles recently selected for publication in Flute Talk, one of the country's leading flute magazines. Flute Talk is a monthly publication for professional flutists, amateurs, teachers, and students at all levels. The magazine publishes interviews with professionals in flute-related fields, guides to the interpretation of standard repertoire, and articles on flute pedagogy, performance and scholarship. Flute Talk also features a popular monthly column by Oberlin professor of flute Michel Debost. Lamb, Sutak and Wass wrote the articles last spring as an assignment for a Flute Pedagogy course created by Kathleen Chastain, teacher of flute and chamber music. As a culmination to the intensive semester-long course which examines teaching techniques for all age levels, Chastain asked her students to write a 1500-word essay on pedagogical topics of their choosing. Delighted with the high quality and creativity of the three students' assignments, she decided to submit the articles to Flute Talk editor Kathleen Goll-Wilson for possible publication. Goll-Wilson was immediately impressed. "These three young flutists presented very interesting and articulate viewpoints about their developing teaching ideas," says Goll Wilson. "I chose to publish all three of them because they wrote from the viewpoint of a student embarking on his career, not from the viewpoint of a professional teacher. These three students are clearly ready to present their ideas professionally, and we're delighted to be a part of this endeavor." Eric Lamb, a senior flutist and modern dancer who hails from Detroit, Michigan, chose to discuss in his article the relationship between movement and music in the context of flute pedagogy. "I dealt with the notion that being aware of your body--regarding placement, stability and energy efficiency - is just as important for a flutist as it is for a dancer to live Flute Talk, November 1999 by," explains Lamb. "In my article I talked about flutists using the mirror in the same way as dancers - as a tool for confronting who they are, why they are self-conscious about certain things, how they can overcome these obstacles and continue to grow. I also touched on the idea of self-image, stressing that we are who we are on our best days, not on our worst days, and that we must continue to search for physical and mental balance in our practicing and performing. These are issues that dancers deal with daily, and that instrumentalists often avoid." Sandra Sutak, a junior flutist from Burlington, Connecticut, wrote about efficient practice and the misconceptions that often accompany a conservatory mentality of productivity. "If music majors get so busy that they squeeze practice time in at the end of the day when they are physically and emotionally drained, there is a tendency to develop bad habits. It would be far more productive if they practiced for several shorter sessions than to wander aimlessly through five hours of unfocused efforts. Flutists have widely varied and inconsistent musical needs. Taking time to organize practice sessions helps you develop musical skills and improve your playing. Above all, I think mindless practice is useless; it's much more effective to enhance concentration by diversifying practice sessions." Senior Sarah Wass from West Seneca, NY, "explored the similarities between playing the flute and singing, from concrete aspects, such as what you do with your lungs and breathing apparatus to more idiomatic aspects, such as phrasing 'like a singer.' I chose this topic because I was a singer before I was a flute player, and my sister is a voice student, so the connection between flute and voice is natural for me. I think they chose to print it because it draws on something outside of the flute world - no one is just a flute player anymore. I would like flutists to become more aware of the musical universe outside of this flute world, and I would like them to understand that drawing from different areas of music and different disciplines can make a point clearer to a student," remarks Wass. "Writing the articles was a wonderful experience for the students," concludes Chastain. "They had to think of what they really believe about flute playing and teaching. Ideas always become clearer when they are written down. In U.S. universities, there is a saying "publish or perish." My goal is to prepare these students for their future. Most of them will become teachers. If they have practiced and reflected on how they wish to convey their ideas, they will be able to find jobs in the most prestigious schools in the world." ABOUT CHASTAIN'S PEDAGOGY COURSE Flute Pedagogy 200 was initiated in February 1999, and will be offered for the second time in February 2000. The course explores a variety of pedagogical questions through discussion forums, reading assignments and "hands-on" teaching experience. Pedagogy students teach monthly videotaped private lessons in front of the class, and receive evaluative feedback from their colleagues about developments in their teaching throughout the semester . "My general philosophy is not to teach the students how to teach, but to give them the tools to discover how they want to teach. It is obvious that they need to know how to organize a flute studio, to know which methods are appropriate and to identify repertoire that will most benefit their students. Outside of these obvious details is an entire world of discovering the personality of their students, inter-reactions, the parents, how to ask for money after a lesson, etc.," describes Chastain. "This is a great course, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in becoming a better teacher," Eric Lamb says. "It forces you to evaluate yourself as a teacher, as a player and as a person, because all of these things are connected in good teaching and in a good teacher-student relationship. Although she allowed us to discover much on our own, Chastain stressed the importance of honesty and humility in our teaching. She made us all realize the incredible importance of listening: to ourselves, our colleagues and most importantly to our students."
			Back to the Backstage Pass