[Rhodes22-list] The Professor

[Steve Alm]

Sorry, but I just can't help but jump on this "Professor thing."  Here's a
true story:

As many of you know, I'm a musician and a music teacher.  When I was in
graduate school, I was taking a course in music ed. taught by a woman who
not only held a PhD in music but was also the president of the MMEA (MN
Music Educators Assoc.)  I suppose that makes her the top music teacher in
the state.

In her class, she got to her unit on folk and blues played on the guitar.
She started talking about something called the "twelve bar blues" and failed
miserably trying to play/show us what that was.

Here's a little background folks:  The twelve bar blues song form is easily
the single most played, most recognized, most recorded form of music in the
Western world for the last 75 years or so.  Also, the guitar is the
instrument mostly associated with this form.  So here's the big "professor"
lecturing us on the most basic form of music that there is and totally
blowing it.

Biting a hole in my tongue, I quietly raised my hand and politely asked If I
may demonstrate this.  I picked up the guitar and using only the index
finger of my left hand, performed a simple example for the class.  Nothing
fancy--I kept it simple, but enough to play literally thousands of songs.

Although the class gave me a little "golf clap" they were all pretty much
stumped and asked if I would show them again.  Oh sure, everybody there knew
their sharps and flats, their Mozart, their music history and so on but none
of them could get a handle (Handel?) on a simple twelve bar blues!

I can only conclude that academia is just that and has little to do with the
real world.  These people are now out there teaching your children about
music.

Steve Alm
MA, University of MN / The Peabody Conservatory of Music