Pedagogue or Preacher?: The Vocation of the Choral Music Educator.
Wednesday, April 5.
Anton Armstrong, Music.
Baylor University recently named Anton Armstrong the recipient of the 2006 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching < http://www.baylor.edu/cherry_awards/ > -- the single largest award given in the United States to an individual for great teaching. In this CILA lunch, Anton will discuss the relationship of conducting to teaching, and how the one enterprise can inform the other.
In a recent interview, talking about the "pastoral" element of teaching, Anton said,
When I first began conducting and teaching, I had a take-charge attitude, the notion that the young people in front of me were there to do my bidding. I see myself as a catalyst now, someone who helps bring out the best in them, as musicians and as individuals.
"In rehearsal last night, for instance, the choir was singing very beautifully, very accurately, but the music was soulless. "You're singing like a well-oiled choral machine," I told them. "I want human beings."
In another interview:
"I ask my students the question of how does learning in the classroom shape them as human beings," Armstrong continues. "I tell them that in 20 years they may be doing something very different. I try to say in my teaching that yes -- you want to master this material, but how will it make a difference in how you live and how you carry out your life?" he says. "The music that I make with these young people is a dynamic means of grace."
