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What a "great" teacher! (venting)

#21
Lostgallifreyan said:
There is also the phrase 'never look a gift horse in the mouth'. And never mind schools of thought. There are lots of real schools that can't afford instruments at all. The last thing any teacher should be doing is turning their nose up at an instrument given by anyone who cares about the instrument in principle, and made an effort to set it up properly. If people don't make the best of what they have, or can get at need, or by luck, do they warrant getting anything better?

I understand that a working bike beats a box of bits to learn from, and it should be acceptable as a basic standard, and by the same logic the origin and price of an instrument should not automatically exclude it. I remember when all the descant recorders were cheap and made of plastic in primary school, they worked well enough to learn from.

I originally rejected the Westone Thunder 1-A bass as a consideration because it was made in Japan and sold in Britain via mail order catalogs that were very easy to be snobbish about. I assumed I could easily do better. Fortunately it didn't take me long to rethink that thought and get a used one when a Status Graphite wasn't getting me what I wanted from it. There will always be 'better' instruments, but if I'd learned on the Westone instead of my first Status Graphite, I'd be better at playing them than I am now. It turns out that the Westones are very good basses, not just 'good for the money'. Less easy to play than the Status, but more rewarding of the effort.
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It was a sub...
 
#29
As a teacher (primarily middle school), I find the sub's behavior abhorrent. He's not there to render opinions, which is not the same thing as teaching. It was, for him, an opportunity to display authority, sadly misplaced. How did this sit with the students? Any Indonesian or Indonesian-adjacent student in the class who had to suffer through expression of misinformation?

There is a great opportunity, even at the primary level, to use this as a lesson/project/case study in geography, economics (and marketing), history, and how things are made and show up for purchase. On the other side of that is simply how to get things done with what is at hand. Beautiful music can be made on the bass in question, and I am sure the OP provided it well-set-up.

In addition, I would spend a couple of weeks with the class making sounds with ordinary objects, finding sounds they like (percussion, melodic), and designing/making instruments from those objects, and make music. Maybe even have a little concert.

Apologies... got carried away. Also, I think the people making the Affinity instruments want to, and do, their best.
 
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#36
That is unfortunate.
For some reason, the loaner bass at my jr high was an early 60's stacked knob Jazz bass. Not sure of the year but it buzzed and I was frequently shocked when we were required to play out on the damp lawn. I hope the owner got it back.
There were several nice upright basses stolen from that school while I was attending.
 
#38
A well set up Squier is perfectly fine as a starter instrument, to say the least. Perfectly fine for most uses, imo. I have a couple Chinese cheapies that I like more than what I've encountered at the GC here.

Snobbery is snobbery, and way out of line there. Yeesh, some people. I think his insecurities were showing, the old lift yourself up (in your own mind, anyway) by putting someone or something else down.
 
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#39
Discount Bassy said:
I'm from the US, but from a quick search, Quebec and the states both share the same requirements for substitute teachers, namely: there are none.
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Not entirely true. In my state (Maryland) the district picks the requirements. In my county, the district requires Bachelors degrees of the subs. Next county up, they require an Associates. Not that any of this helps with subs, though. I've met good ones, I've met warm bodies that can only just manage to keep the kids alive long enough to put them on the bus. :confused:
 
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