Papers Please... (or: Just What Are Your Credentials ?)

Recently, I was in conversation with a person I had just been introduced to. The person happened to bring up the topic of music. About 2 seconds after I had mentioned that I teach trumpet, this person basically asked me: "what qualifies you to do that?" I have to admit it caught me off guard. I explained to the person a little about my background, education, and experience. This seemed to satisfy the person and we continued our conversation. It felt kind of strange having to justify my credentials to someone I didn't even know.

The impertinence of the question stuck with me for a couple days and got me to thinking, and I realized two things:

1) The person was not being rude, they were just genuinely curious.

2) Yes, I am qualified to teach the trumpet.

To start with, I have been around trumpet players all my life. I have been friends and acquaintances with some really great and some really terrible trumpet players. I have been able to observe habits and methods that work well and not so well.

I have a bachelors degree in music. Now this by no means confers guru status on me. It does however provide me a basis of knowledge in music and theory. Renowned jazz drummer Art Blakey, during his speech at the commencement ceremony at Berklee  College offered some thoughts to those of us obtaining our degrees that day. One of the central themes of his address: a degree is just a license to learn.

I have had some successes, (and some calamities!) playing trumpet professionally. I know what it is like to be dead tired, sick, or struggling to play on abused chops, but still having to go out and do the best job possible.

I have studied with some great trumpet players. Some were lousy teachers, some were great teachers, but I learned something from all of them. Surprisingly, the least heralded player among those I have studied with turned out to be the best teacher.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: my experiences, struggles, and successes as a trumpet player qualifies me to guide others who are setting out on the same path. My hope is that I will be able to effectively draw on my experience to the benefit and enlightenment of my students.