Archived under: Teaching | Stories, Things horn teachers say
Passing of Abe Torchinsky and Giving Students Complexes
Over at TubaHead I noted an article on the recent passing of tubist Abe Torchinsky at age 89. My first contact with him was as a listener of this classic recording, of Gabrieli 
performed by members of the brass sections of the Phildelphia, Cleveleand, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. Besides being a long time member of the Philadelphia Orchestra he also served on the faculty at Aspen and was the coach of a brass quintet I played in there in 1982. He told a lot of stories in the coachings and I often repeat one story he told to my students.
Basically the story involves our power to give complexes to our students. He was working on some excerpt with one of his teachers. He did not name who, and it is not important to the story. He got to the excerpt and the teacher told him how much he hated that excerpt, that he hated playing it and it was very difficult or some such thing as this. From that day forward, Torchinsky always was worried about that excerpt. And he knew it was kind of irrational, that the excerpt was not that hard and he could play it well, but still he worried about it. The teacher had in fact given him a complex.
I am sure basically everyone could think of some situation such as the one Torchinsky described in their own lives. Especially, if you are a teacher, as much as possible we all need to try to not give complexes to our students.
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