courage and a willingness to risk. You can't cheat in the arts. You can't send someone
else to play your recital.
Arts students are able to use failure to learn. A pianist must make mistakes if she is
to improve. Error is an indication of where the work is. Going too fast in a passage
means "slow down," not "you are a failure." Schools have often not looked at failure as a
teaching tool, yet it is the most powerful corrective in life if it is used as a part of
learning, not as a punishment. These students also have to be critical thinkers and
judges of their performance. Ongoing assessment, by the student as well as the teacher,
is a part of learning in the arts.
Arts training develops in students an understanding that learning is an ongoing
process, and therefore, unlike the Thanksgiving turkey, one is never "done." The goal
is not to find the right answer; rather it is to ask the next, best question. Students often
speak of having "had" history after a course. The study of the violin does not end at
graduation.
Arts students have high ideals and strive for excellence, admiring and wishing to
emulate their teachers. They have the gift of heroes and role models such as Yo Yo Ma
and Meryl Streep, while Madonna consistently tops the charts of people most admired
by teenagers. Such positive and respectful engagement with adults is something all
adolescents long for and need, no matter how many studs they may have in their noses
and ears. This faith in accomplished adults helps young people be eager to grow and join
the adult world.
Passion is a concept that is very real to young artists. They are deeply focused and
intense about what they do and what they believe. They are sometimes skeptical, but
seldom cynical. They believe that their lives and work matter and that caring deeply
about your work is essential.
The capacity to persist over time in order to reach a goal is developed in intensive
arts training. Training in ballet, for example, begins as early as five years old. A young
dancer knows she has to work for years to develop enough skill and technique to support
her own artistry. Success is not a matter of a lucky break or a quick fix as the media
would have young people believe. Respect for hard work and a self-motivated capacity to
stick to the task are qualities needed in the working world.
Young artists have the gift of a positive sense of identity based on what they do, not
who their family is or what clique they hang out with. The young dancer is a dancer, and
she belongs to the world of dancers, one that includes her, Suzanne Farrell and
Barishnykov. Arts training develops in students an understanding that her work is taken
seriously by herself and her teachers, something that seldom happens to adolescents
these days. Her self-esteem and self-confidence comes from accomplishment.
Young artists are big thinkers. They work with their whole selves, and they are able to
see the whole of a piece, a concept, a piece of work, as well as the details.