The Value of Departmental Workshops

The week of departmental workshops has arrived. Half of those who are participating say "awsome!" The other half "why?" Here's why.

There are many reasons for our twice yearly departmental workshops. The first few that come to mind are:

Students get the opportunity to work with faculty members other than their teachers and teachers get to meet and work with all of the students in their department.

A mid-semester break from weekly individual instruction to interact with other students who play your instrument is a very good thing.

Workshops are often a great opportunity to get feedback on a piece you are working on outside of giving an actual public performance - feedback from teachers and peers.

It is the perfect opportunity for a teacher to present a topic they specialize in to all of the students, such as Chris Weisman's Blues Worshop this week.

Students are often inspired by the performances of their peers and teachers. In departmental workshops, students can hear others play (including teachers) and then immediately discuss the performance.

The instructors work hard to make every workshop a powerful educational experience for the students. One of the primary goals of the workshops is to help students build communication skills. Musicians (of ALL ages) need to be able to talk about the music they listen to, play, and write. Great discussions have formed during Departmental Workshops, discussions that go deep into the inner workings of the music being discussed. The importance of these discussions cannot be discounted.

One concern of parents is often the discrepencies between students' ages and ability levels. We address this in several ways. With piano, we do offer a workshop specifically for 5 to 7 year olds that is shorter (only one hour) and geared toward their stage of development. For students with more experience, we offer specialized workshops (such as the Blues Workshop mentioned above) to challenge them in specific areas of study. The topics for specialized workshops will change and be taught by different instructors each semester. But even with these offerings, most workshops will have a wide range of students. I view this as an opportunity for all involved. An opportunity for younger students to be motivated by the skills of the more experienced students. And an opportunity for the more experienced students to develop leadership skills and provide insight and advice to students who are new to their instrument.

We do realize, however, that it is difficult to hit a home run every time with every student. But that does not change my opinion that these workshops are critical to providing PMAC's students with a balanced and comprehensive education. Rest assured that the goal of each workshop is to leave each and every student with a better understanding of their craft.

The bottom line is that the entire PMAC faculty believes in the importance of these workshops. We've worked together to make them a meaningful experience for all and hope that each student brings an open mind and positive attitude to their workshop.