As an actor I dislike the custom of listing the places where I trained whenever I am in a play.You see this is programmes when the actors are professional. My particular chagrin is that it is listed prominantly as though it has superiorty over your other achievements or credits the actor is proud of. And, the question of education leads to this:
Baker Street, made famous by the Gerry Rafferty song & preceding that Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull's pleasures of living in the vicinity as recounted in his Baker Street Mews from the Minstrel in the Gallery album; one of the compulsory cultural requirements before university admission. It should be, along with The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.
Baker Street is part of the music shops that are gathered around the Royal College of Music. I go there a couple of times a year to get my rosins & strings for violins & cellos, until I discovered one next to Westminster University which had a pulchritudinous Italian young woman, reeds for my oboe & clarinet, the world & early music shops to get my wish list of purchases, and the brass shop for my valve oil for my trumpet & now string for my french horn.
I took up the trumpet aged 10 as it was one of two instrument tuition offered at my school. The other, the guitar, I still regarded as an inferior instrument in those ancient days. For over a year I had 'formal classical training' on the trumpet, practicing most lesson s from the Tune A Day books 1 & 2, and found the whole thing interminably dull, resulting in my discontinuation of the trumpet. Preceding that the trumpet was thrown down in frustration while struggling with some low notes.
A few years later my trumpet was 'repaired' ie 2 of the 3 valves were transferred to a more high quality instrument at a very cheap price at the Baker Street brass shop & I rediscovered an enthusiasm by following my own tutorial methods.
My trumpet teacher was skilled, patient and experienced, but what he was teaching due to the Tune A Day books, killed off any interest. When I began teaching myself I discovered some invaluable techniques through my own efforts. Barbara Cartland had reprinted a book from an aristocratic lady circa 1920 which described an invaluable mouth exercise which was perfect for brass players. I learnt from a book a breathing technique used by flute players which is more important for brass. To produce notes on a trumpet, the lips can be moved upwards for high notes, lower for the low ones and pull away from the lower lip slightly for the lowest possible register. None of this I was ever taught, but discovered by any my own perseverance.
The most important lesson in playing the trumpet I discovered was to ignore the cardinal lesson in trumpet playing. 'Suck your cheeks in' is the mantra from brass teachers and probably Oscar Wilde when he was 'supping with panthers'. This lesson should be retained, with the exception of Dizzy Gillespie's bullfrog impression, but that's to do with circular breathing. The variation to introduce is that on lower notes to allow a small expansion in the cheeks which increases the size of the mouth cavity with the consequence that the lower notes are far more alacritous.
Teachers provide invaluable knowledge and skills, but certainly in the arts, the adding of an existential component & if need be disowning the formal methods is significant. Pioneers such as Stanislavski did exactly that, overthrew standard methods. I only use the first 5 minutes of my formal classical training, my playing has improved as a result
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