Oooh it gets funnier by the minute.

As Bagpuss knows, yesterday I went in and took some pieces in (Bagpuss had suggested the telemann fantasias). Apparently these are not challenging enough!!

What's frustrating me more is that apart from improving timbre I don't know what else I'm supposed to be working on. Also she's not giving me any guidance. She wanted me to play syrinx because she thinks it's a nice piece. Yes it might be a nice piece when played well but I can't see me achieving much with my timbre from it because the main problem with my timbre is my confidence and I know that the longer it goes on the more stressed I get and the more I lack confidence.

This woman is nearly as mad as my daughter's school music teacher!!!! Sadly Kat with people like this you can't win because whatever you do will be wrong. Ignore everything she suggests, concentrate on getting your confidence back and give her this message

The sad thing with people like this they don't even know they are doing it so it's impossible to make them see it's wrong.

She just winds me up completely. I've just been looking through my module guide and realised we've got an assignment due in two weeks time which she hasn't told us what it is. From what she's hinting at I think it's going to be writing a song. Now I'm not the greatest composer in the world and I know there is no way that I can write a song in a week (which it will be if she decides to give us this assignment next wednesday).

I'm just so fed up with uni completely and it's mainly because of her. I've got enough problems at home at the moment (which yesterday she replied were not her problem - not that I suggested they were) and I don't need the extra stress.

Poor Kat

As I indicated in my PM yesterday if this person has issues with your timbre she seems totally oblivious that in order to develop/improve it you need to be playing something you feel CONFIDENT playing.

Honestly, words fail me.

Bag is only ever a PM away, Kat.

Hang in there,

B x

Your tutor is daft and doesn't actually realise that she doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. Can you not take her the syllabi from both the AB and Trinity Guildhall and show her the standard of the pieces you are wanting to do compared with the syrinx?

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I really would recommend getting some proper flute lessons even though they are expensive. You seem to be stuck in a bit of a spiral at the moment and getting some input from a teacher who does know what they are talking about would hopefully help you to break out of this. It might be worth looking into whether you could get some hardship money to help fund this (it's an 'unexpected' cost which has occurred during your study but which is essential for your progress, so you might be able to wangle it).


Whatever the tutor might say, the university does have responsibilities for your welfare. I'll send you a pm with some more info if I can work out how to send one.

The quickest way is to click on the name "kat the cobbler" and then when the profile comes up click on "Send a PM".

Thanks flossie.

She's still going on about Syrinx. She wants me to bring it in next week so we can look at it together!! Great because that will make me feel sooooo much better.

BAH

If I were there, Kat, I'd give this person a piece of my mind and quite possibly the contents of my litter-tray!!!!!!!!!!! I am ANGRY. And we Bags don't usually do angry...

Keep us posted, hon.

B x

Haha!! You tell her. I mean you've seen my videos. Do you honestly think that I could cope with syrinx at the moment because I don't!!

Your tutor seems to be totally obsessed with the Syrinx - it's probably the only flute piece she knows

There does sometimes seem to be a strange tendency for people to judge us flute players on either whether we can play the Syrinx or on whether we can play the Poulenc sonata (dependent on which piece the person has heard before). Gets a bit anoying sometimes because there's lots of really lovely flute music around that people seem to just ignore.

Like Bagpuss, I am starting to get quite annoyed with your tutor - she shouldn't be making you the scapegoat for her own inadequacies. You're being shown a very good example of how NOT to teach. At university level a teacher should be able to admit when they don't know something and be able to point the student towards more appropriate support or towards somewhere where they can find it out for themselves. Perhaps she's scared that you could end up being better than her! Grrrr....

Re the assignment she's not yet set - does your uni have a policy on the amount of notice you have to be given for assessed work? We have to give our students at least a week's notice of any work they have to do for tutorials or seminars and have to give at them at least 2 weeks for assessed work.

I don't know. I can't find anything but i'll keep digging. The last two years while I was doing my HND we had a rough idea of what all our assignments would be at the start of the year. Then about 3 weeks before it was due it would be set properly, we would have a draft deadline two weeks before it was due and then the final deadline. All the other modules we know what we've got to do and for when but she has a habit of giving it us a week before it's due.

I really empathise with your situation, the tutor in question sounds so much like daughter's GCSE Music teacher. Two weeks ater the decision to allow her to take the exam early, with none of the listening paper work covered, she was told about a mock GCSE exam with less than a weeks notice (tough on a 13 year old). It was also implied that she would have to do a mock practical at the same time, so in the middle of preparing for a G6 and G7 she had to sort a suitable piece for GCSE. The practical didn't happen, it still hasn't.

It's not affected emsoboe's attitude to her practical work as all her teachers are very supportive. It has made her totally sick of school music. If this was her only music exposure she would have been out of it like a bolt of lightening. I've done everything I can to resolve it with school management to no avail and have all but given up. It's reached the point where my advice to her is to forget GCSE and move on to Composition or higher theory levels. I see much of her attitude in you, trying to please and realising that she never will.

I'm telling you the background before i make a suggestion on what you could do. I think the only recourse you have is to raise a formal complaint against this member of staff. Get a record together of all her inappropriate actions and follow the colleges grievance proceedure. Persumably there will be enough people in a similar situation that once the ball is rolling there will be support.

I've battled with school for over a year and got nowhere. I have thought about going a step further and taking it up with the governors and probably will do this either when daughter pulls out of the exam or after she's taken it (that will depend on whether she can get help with the listening paper). The only reason that I haven't taken it further yet is due to the fact that I suspect she will argue that the GCSE is outside of the normal timeframe and therefore isn't really part of her job. Your tutor doesn't have that luxury.

GCSE isn't nearly as important as your degree. I've no doubt given her practical exam situation there won't be a problem for her to move to A level. This is your future and the tutor doesn't have a right to behave in the way she is towards you. Try and get it resolved one and for all.

Good luck!

I would put in a formal complaint, however I found out yesterday that a lad in the year below has done that to the same tutor and she's given him disciplinaries since so I'm thinking it's not worth the hassle.

I've phoned the framework office this morning to find out whether there should be longer notice of what our assignment actually is. I'm convinced that it will be a composition assignment as we've been working on the analysis of songs and what makes a memorable song plus I'm sure she mentioned something about if she told us we'd be writing a song then we'd just go off and do it. Well I'm sorry but my weakness is composition. I know that I cannot write a song in a week so if that's the case I will be very very very annoyed!!! Hopefully the framework office will get back to me and let me know.

I agree that you need to tread carefully here. As I indicated in the PM I sent yesterday, you may eventually need to put in a formal complaint or an academic appeal, but this needs to be a last resort (as you identify above it can create a lot of extra problems, and it probably wouldn't be taken that seriously unless you can demonstrate that you have explored all other options). Gather your evidence for now - both in respect to what the tutor is doing and also how it's affecting you - get support from uni welfare office, GP (stress etc) and so on, so that you can get written evidence later if needed. Check out your unis bullying/harrassment policy look at the way(s) in which she is in breach of this and, however you decide to deal with the situation, make sure that she can't claim you are bullying or harrassing her (I know you aren't, but it's worth covering your own back as you go along because she sounds like the kind of person who could potentially try to make counter-claims). Get advice from the students union and uni welfare office before you make any decisions.

Another option might be to put in a complaint as a group. This can sometimes be more effective - my Master's cohort put in a complaint about the treatment we received from a lecturer in another department who convened an interdisciplinary module we had to take, and this lead to some substantial changes for the following year (but this was of no benefit to us - we did it for the benefit of future students, and we waited until we had finished the module concerned by which point we also had eveidence of flaws in the assessment process which contravened university regulations). Two things to consider with a group complaint: 1) it may be more likely to help fututre students than yourselves 2) would it undermine your individual case for an appeal by masking the very real impact the situation is having on you as an individual? Not sure what the answer is to these two questions - you'll have to judge for yourself.

Good luck

That's called discrimination and is a definate no no. Two unrelated people making the same allegations has got to be an eye opener for management.

Just read Flossies reply and respect she knows more about the workings of Uni than I do and all her suggestions are valid.

What I do think is that for your own welfare and future you need to do something. What's the point in having a clean record if by the time you finish the course you are totally fed up with music? you have a right to appeal any diciplinary placed on you, Uni's can't be so far different from other organisations on this.

At the end of the day all this distraction is taking you away form your goal of getting a degree and improving your flute playing which is presumably why you went ot Uni in the first place. Get support, gather evidence and consider making a move.

That's what I wanted to do but the other two on the module don't want to get involved.

What makes me laugh about all this is my "sort of" other half (don't ask - very complicated) was taught by her 10 years ago and she was exactly the same then!! It's very worrying really that she's still there.

Makes a note to disuade daughter from applying to that college when her time comes.

If she just wants to do the HND and then go somewhere else for the 3rd year do it. The HND (which is run at the university although it's run by them if that makes sense) is excellent. I absolutely loved my two years on that course. But I would definately persuade anyone that does that to go elsewhere for their third year.

Useful to know, although I suspect if she still wants to do music RNCM may be in the frame (she's familiar wiht it from various day events).

Much sympathy kat.

Keep the end goal in mind. It's sometimes useful to write down what you need to do to achieve it, and what not to do as well.

Don't get distracted from it!

Best wishes x

I'll get there. The university phoned me back to say that they couldn't get in touch with the tutor about the assignments. Well that will be because she doesn't work on a friday duh!!! You'd think that they'd be able to say whether we should be given more than a weeks notice though.

.

Maybe you should call your tutor straightly yourself. Well thats how we appoint our tutors at my uni. By the way... actually I have the almost same problem with you, well I mean the situation. I've go for my clarinet classes and I found out that my basics are so bad, my embrochure, air speed, air support all are not good, and my tutor says that I should practice on these basics. and the worst is I can't control my new embrochure nicely and I'm playing in the uni orchestra! But it doesn't matters, I'm sure that practicing and believing myself will get me better. and hope tht applies on yourself too~ good luck!

OMG she was almost human today!!

She's still insisting on me playing Syrinx so I'm not sure I'm going to get out of that one. She looked through the pieces I took in today and she has chosen Lament by Mike Mower. I do like this piece so that's a start.

Oooo. Sounds like progress (maybe)!

Wonder whether someone said something to her, or if she's changed tack of her own accord

I think she's changed tack of her own accord. The thing that annoys me though is that she's insisting now on unaccompanied pieces. She also said no baraque pieces. She even looked at the grade syllabus yesterday for both associated board and trinity and still won't accept that the reason that I don't want to play syrinx is because it's a higher standard than i'm personally aiming for at the moment.

Well I've spent a week practising Syrinx and I can't for the life of me play it!! She's a nut job.

I may as well give up now because I will fail the assignment!!

Would you usually expect to make much progress on a piece of that level in a week?
It takes me a few weeks to learn things or even months on piano.

I wouldn't expect to make that much progress on a piece of that level in a term which is what my tutor is expecting. She thinks it's an easy piece to play

I have never been brave enough to try learning Syrinx, but if it'll encourage you, I will go and dig out my copy, and start work. We could make it a mutual challenge and compare our progress (or lack of it!). Hopefully having a better reason to play it than "because this irritating lecturer is making me" might help a bit. And it'd make me dig out my flute and play every day, which is something I haven't done since last summer.

In my experience, for a difficult piece of music it takes a couple of weeks for the notes to fall into place, and then another week for any shape to emerge at all.

Try not to get too discouraged. *hugs*



P.S. Can anyone suggest an on internet recording of Syrinx so I can find out what I might be getting myself in for. Despite owning a copy of the music, and its fame, I have no idea how it goes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ZSSkMzS5E

Apologies for it being a YouTube video! (Er, is "video" the right term? )

Good luck with it.

How did it go this morning Cat? Is she still being reasonable?

Don't give up on passing your assignment. I think you will be good enough to play the syrinx, especially if you still have a term to work on it.

I've never learnt the syrinx properly, but I dug it out a couple of days ago to see what your tutor was actually asking of you. It looks like the notes themselves aren't too bad once you get your fingers around the chromatic and semi-chromatic stuff (highest note = top Eb, I think - haven't brought the music with me to work so not 100% sure). The rythym looks tricky to me, but this really isn't my strong point (so you may fare better here...). I supsect that once you've got your fingers around the notes and your brain around the rythym you'll be okay, as the shape of the piece will probably then start to fall into place. As you've said before, your tone will improve once you're more confident with what you're playing.

As Tamsin says, a week isn't very long for getting to grips with a piece like this. Try breaking it into sections so that it's less daunting.

Can I join you and Tamsin on the syrinx challenge? Will have to keep it quiet from my teacher as I've entered for grade 7 (want to do 8, but don't think it would be good as a 1st exam) and I need to focus on the music for this for my lessons - although I'm starting to get bored with the pieces and orchestral bits, so could do with a bit of a challenge.

I think that's one of the things that's putting me off. I'm working on grade 7 pieces on my own because I want to do my grade 7 and knowing that it's a grade 8 piece doesn't help. Especially as she keeps saying it's easy.

She's going to go through it with me tomorrow apparently.

I think the standard blurs a bit between grades 7 and 8 in terms of the technical difficulty of the pieces, so don't be put off by it being a grade 8 piece. Some grade 8 pieces are easier technically, but a higher level of performance is expected for grade 8 - and there is even one piece which is on the TG grade 7 list but the AB grade 8 one! One of the pieces I'm doing for my grade 7 is more difficult from a technical point of view than some of the things I've previously learnt that are on the grade 8 syllabus.

From what I saw of the syrinx when I triend it on Monday, I don't think it's really any harder than the Debussy I'm doing as an orchestral extract for grade 7 (Prelude de l'apres midi de un faune) - the main difference is that the syrinx is longer.

Don't psyche yourself out - you can do it.
(and Tamsin and I will do it with you!)

Ooh I forgot about the orchestral extract book. mmm..... I might go armed with that tomorrow as well.

Careful - she might have you doing both bits of Debussy!

I doubt it. She'll probably see it as a study (I'm not allowed to do studies apparently!!)

Oh tarnation! What have I done! I might actually have to blow the dust off my flute and start damaging the neighbours hearing again.



[And Kat, I think my copy of Syrinx is in a book of studies... want to borrow it? Might put her off the idea! ]

Much as I adore Syrinx - hearing it inspired me to take up the flute in the first place - getting the notes alone just isn't enough. It requires a huge musical imagination as well as technical assurance and outstanding quality of sound...

I wish your tutor could recognise that you just aren't ready for it yet...

Bagussy x

Agreed.

However, as the tutor is so set on this piece, we have to hope that because she knows so little about flutes she'll just hear that the notes are right and will be oblivious to everything else - or else hope that she'll come round to our way of thinking quicky.

Kat - Tamsin may be along the right lines with her study book. Does your tutor know that both AB and TG set it as a study (list C option) on the syllabus?

Well I managed to bash (and I mean bash) through the first two bars of it today. Apparently I don't have to play it perfectly (thank god) or even the whole thing (what's the point in that). She just wants me to work at something that will give me a challenge (and a nervous breakdown I think). She's said that I can have completely free reign on the other piece I play as long as I can justify it in my presentation.

How bizzare! You have a very strange tutor.

I think we've already established that.

At least you now have free reign on what other piece you do.

Yep! Not sure what piece to do though yet but she's now said it can be accompanied with a CD backing so that gives me more to play with.

What are your favourite pieces - i.e. the ones you really enoying playing? (Shortlist of 10 max - and if she's still banning baroque then you need to omit these from your shortlist)

Not sure. Accompanied (especially when I have a free reign) I'd struggle to get it down to 10!! I really like Cantus - Song of the Plains and Cantus - Song of Aeolus by Karl Jenkins at the moment so I may do one of those. Song of Aeolus has lots of time signature changes so it great fun!!