Instrument teaching method

I was very pleased to read Gus Kairupan's article about Christiane Hutcap's master classes (The Jakarta Post, April 7, 2000). The article is very well-written and pleasant to read. As I am personally involved and concerned about musical life in Indonesia, I very much would like to react to the article, as a positive contribution and certainly not as a criticism.

It strikes me that instrument teaching in Indonesia generally does not allow for physical analysis of the coordination of movements. This is not only valid for violin teaching, but also for other instruments. However, there are exceptions to this general statement, and Grace Sudargo is certainly one of these. Grace spent three months with Christiane Hutcap in Germany, and has certainly been influenced by this teaching method. But even before spending time with Hutcap in Germany, Grace, as a member of the Yehudi Menuhin European Violin Teachers Organization, was also influenced by the physical analysis of the violin playing, as so well described by the master who passed away last year. I think it is just rendering justice to Grace's teaching method to point this out.

Further, I like to wish all the best to all violin teachers throughout Indonesia, and would hope that in the future, the organization of such high level Master classes will find more participants. The concert tours and workshops outside Jakarta and Java are certainly a very good move toward this aim.

Finally, it should be recalled that master classes in instrument teaching are very important, but still they are only the first step to master classes in musical interpretation. Mastering the instrument is a must in mastering the music. The final aim, however, is not to master the instrument but to understand and interpret the music.

D. GAZELLE

Composer

Jakarta