To learn and grow you need to be humble

Someone wrote to me recently asking if I thought my workshops would be suitable for them. They had struggled at a recent community workshop because the teaching wasn’t based on reading music or understanding music theory. I suggested that my workshop would be perfect because I teach everything by ear, and it would be good ear training for them. They would be focusing on listening rather than having their head buried in sheet music. But it turned out that they didn’t think they had a problem with ear training. The problem with the community workshop was that it was too easy. I’ve fallen into this trap myself. I heard about a workshop for choir leaders. I wasn’t sure whether this was for people who wanted to become choir leaders, or for those who already had some experience. So I contacted the organisers and was told it was for anyone who thought of themselves as a choir leader, regardless of experience. When I arrived at the workshop there were whispers as people realised who I was.…