----- Original Message ----- From: "Erica Zweig" <ezweig@e...> To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com> Sent: 04 July 2002 16:33 Subject: Re: [vocalist] Richard Miller
> > > > Randy has all it takes...To do what he expects, people would have to read > > Miller, UNDERSTAND his books, AND... read other books, do research, etc, etc. > > IF other participants in Miller workshops which Randy attended WERE better > prepared, more wide-read, better versed, more knowledgeable overall, does Randy > think he, himself, would have gotten more out of the workshop?
Yes I believe he would, although maybe not for the reasons you think. I recognise the feeling that Randy alluded to in his first response to this thread. It's not that he didn't get anything out of the workshop (although maybe he didn't) but mainly the disappointment that his peers seemed so unprepared, so negligent in following up outside of the studio that which should make a good all round teacher. Many attendees obviously hadn't prepared well by reading up on Miller beforehand and so applauded wildly when given knowledge that has been around and easily accessible for five years. If everyone had bothered to prepare, and then been obviously less impressed it may spur on someone like Miller to keep pressing further in his research to find something newer. I've seen something similar in my own field. Whilst studying for my doctorate, a new form of carbon was discovered. I was lucky to attend a lecture by one of the discoverers. 5 years later he was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry. I then attended another lecture, only to hear him reel off the same lecture, but also to see people swoon around him, because he is a Nobel laureate. Whilst recognising his achievements, I felt that this behaviour will tend to make him rest on his laurels (almost a pun there), and he is now almost a worse scientist than he was before his discovery.
If teachers expect more of Miller, then they will probably get it. Whether or not you advocate his methods, Miller has achieved a lot. So here's an idea. The next time you get a chance to go to a Miller workshop, read everything of his you can find before you go. Then, if there's nothing new in the workshop say "OK, that was good, but what's new. I've seen this before". If this presses him to go and research harder, then maybe by the time the next workshop comes around, he'll have something to say that will make even Randy sit up and take notice!
Colin Reed, tenor Newark, UK
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