Maestro - He Was the Worst Possible Teacher for Me
‘He was the worst possible teacher for me.’ Do you agree?
Teachers are an essential elements of any society, and although their actions and intention are often positive there are nevertheless scenarios in which they fail at their task. Within ‘Maestro’, Peter Goldsworthy portrays how a teacher can have both positive and negative effects on their pupil, how they can succeed in one element and wane in another. In some respects, Paul Crabbe’s teacher, Eduard Keller, has a devastating effect on his pupil’s life. Due to the maestri’s terrible and tragic past he forces Paul to concentrate on technique and because of his almost fatherly expectations of Paul judges him critically. Although in this case, he can be viewed as the ‘worst possible teacher’ it is also the arrogance of Paul, himself, that culminates in his failures to become a concert pianist. Keller attempts to teach Paul about life where other teachers may simply have swelled Paul’s already arrogant personality and failed to diminish his selfish and egotism: two factors which lead Paul down a patch to his own personalised and ‘dissatisfied’ life.
Keller’s own arrogance and insensitivity while in Vienna and the resulting death of his family, forces him to immerse himself in the technical side of music to rid himself of troubling and unresolved emotion. This has terrible effect on Paul who becomes ‘obsessed by technique in a way that… (Keller) would never have approved’. This obsession is not only caused by focusing on technique but also because of consistent, critical judgements of his playing by the maestro, who admits that ‘perhaps I have been too hard on you… a father’s hardness’. The results of these expectations and Keller’s aversion to the Romantics result in Paul being unable to enjoy music; smothered in a ‘fog of envy;’ when listening to concert pianists abroad, and unable even to enjoy his own music without ‘self-criticism’ destroying any enjoyment of the task. Accidently, Keller destroys music for
Teachers are an essential elements of any society, and although their actions and intention are often positive there are nevertheless scenarios in which they fail at their task. Within ‘Maestro’, Peter Goldsworthy portrays how a teacher can have both positive and negative effects on their pupil, how they can succeed in one element and wane in another. In some respects, Paul Crabbe’s teacher, Eduard Keller, has a devastating effect on his pupil’s life. Due to the maestri’s terrible and tragic past he forces Paul to concentrate on technique and because of his almost fatherly expectations of Paul judges him critically. Although in this case, he can be viewed as the ‘worst possible teacher’ it is also the arrogance of Paul, himself, that culminates in his failures to become a concert pianist. Keller attempts to teach Paul about life where other teachers may simply have swelled Paul’s already arrogant personality and failed to diminish his selfish and egotism: two factors which lead Paul down a patch to his own personalised and ‘dissatisfied’ life.
Keller’s own arrogance and insensitivity while in Vienna and the resulting death of his family, forces him to immerse himself in the technical side of music to rid himself of troubling and unresolved emotion. This has terrible effect on Paul who becomes ‘obsessed by technique in a way that… (Keller) would never have approved’. This obsession is not only caused by focusing on technique but also because of consistent, critical judgements of his playing by the maestro, who admits that ‘perhaps I have been too hard on you… a father’s hardness’. The results of these expectations and Keller’s aversion to the Romantics result in Paul being unable to enjoy music; smothered in a ‘fog of envy;’ when listening to concert pianists abroad, and unable even to enjoy his own music without ‘self-criticism’ destroying any enjoyment of the task. Accidently, Keller destroys music for