Discovering Good Teaching at Juilliard
By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.

There may be no more reliable assessment of a teacher than the observation of a teacher by another who becomes a student. This past spring I, a longtime college teacher of English, took an evening music course at The Juilliard School with Peiwen Chao, and I was able to recognize and admire her methods.

When I started the sight reading for voice class, I really didn’t understand what I was getting into. Sight reading, I found out, has little to do with voice and a lot to do with arithmetic and music theory. Two thirds of the registrants dropped out by the third week—the homework was hard, the class recitations a bit unnerving, and the teacher was demanding.

The good Professor Peiwen Chao was nothing if not a poseur, playing the part of Demanding Teacher, declaring her intention to extract hard work from her innocent charges. But, those who stayed, even those somewhat overwhelmed by the growing complexity of each week’s activities (“you have to do the homework, you cannot miss a lesson”), had praise for Peiwen’s ability and willingness to explain. At turns calculating playful and patient (though not infinitely so), she was always encouraging. Though she was quick with “good,” “perfect,” “beautiful,” when answers or recitations were correct, she never confused self-esteem with learning, and she knew the difference between an accidental right answer and a wrong one that nevertheless evidenced reflection. Wrong answers were met with high dudgeon and an insistent invitation to get it right. A less experienced teacher would have probably backed off. Peiwen persevered, often probing with mock disbelief.

She had a bit of the school marm about her: Memorizing, for example, was important, she insisted, as she took us through the paces of what we’d better know by heart by the next session. Significant conductors such as Nello Santi memorized whole scores, which allowed them to sing along quietly with the other instruments. Luciano Pavarotti had to memorize because he could not read music.

Peiwen’s analogies were outrageous as they were legion. Comparisons are critical to learning, drawing on what is known and extending the mind to embrace, in part, a like condition. The best of her analogies were woolly and wild, often downright hilarious, imaginative stretches more readily associated with abstract visual arts than with the world of do-re-mi.. She would not let go until the fog had lifted. Then, artfully, she would zoom back around a minute later and call on the person who had been confused, usually with another clarifying comparison thrown in.

From the start, she laid out the semester’s work and called on individuals by name. By the second session it was clear that she also had memorized our voice ranges. Her invitations to perform—offers we dared not refuse—were met by immediate transpositions on the piano. Albeit our class was small, her method no doubt extended to all her classes, regardless of size. Beginners, particularly, need to feel grounded and welcome. Peiwen was prepared and focused, knowing that some basics could be explained, others had to betaken on faith, until their home truths could be acknowledged. She had thought carefully about how to start each class and how to end it; yet, there was nothing lockstep in her manner. Interruptions were fine if they helped instill or maintain confidence. But then, just when you thought it was safe to go back into measures full of ties and rests, she would introduce a “surprise.” Suddenly the voice teacher would become a dance teacher, relating the disciplines. Indeed, the word “chorus” comes from the Greek word for “choreographer.” There were other unexpected delights as well, such as the discovery that a certain group of notes we were sight singing were actually from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

So what is distinctive about teachers such as Peiwen Chao? They are evidence of the fact that memorable teachers are made and remade. Confident about their own talent, they take pleasure in engaging those at the first step to explore theirs. It is, alas, too rare in education that those starting out to learn a skill or subject matter have their way paved by experienced and dedicated professionals for whom teaching as well as performing is an art.

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