Teaching life – learning how to live
It quickly becomes clear that for Margit-Anna Süß teaching is something completely different from following a timetabled routine limited each week to an hour and a half of instruction on the most efficient manual techniques and forms of expression. Her lessons are not over when the door closes: her protégées - just eleven at present at Graz – are far from being two-dimensional, transient phenomena or embellishments in the teacher’s CV: rather her students are living individuals with all the strengths and weaknesses, worries, hopes and ambitions which go to make up an idiosyncratic personality structure.
Thus the ends of lessons, weeks or terms do not present an impenetrable barrier to teaching. Any teacher who sees in front of them the “complete person” in the student will always find ways and means to achieve the goal despite the limitations of time and place. This happens, for instance, in the intensive teaching phases that take place with Margit-Anna Süß und Hansjörg Schellenberger in the their home in the Bavarian village of Sachrang or in the Case Carli in Liguria.
Thus the ends of lessons, weeks or terms do not present an impenetrable barrier to teaching. Any teacher who sees in front of them the “complete person” in the student will always find ways and means to achieve the goal despite the limitations of time and place. This happens, for instance, in the intensive teaching phases that take place with Margit-Anna Süß und Hansjörg Schellenberger in the their home in the Bavarian village of Sachrang or in the Case Carli in Liguria.
“We have arranged our houses to have several bedrooms so that every student has a room to him or herself. Then there is also a music room in which the teaching takes place. When last year (2021) Hitomi Ishimaru prepared for the Japanese competition she stayed with us in Liguria for a week, and every other day I organised a recital for her in the village. Final result: she won.”
Nor is the social interaction of the students neglected. “I try to bring them together as a group so that they will not only perfect their harp playing but will also learn to interact with each other socially, help each other mutually, and not - as I have so often been able to observe - compete with each other. We do not tolerate Schadenfreude if anyone makes a mistake during a recital.”
Nor is the social interaction of the students neglected. “I try to bring them together as a group so that they will not only perfect their harp playing but will also learn to interact with each other socially, help each other mutually, and not - as I have so often been able to observe - compete with each other. We do not tolerate Schadenfreude if anyone makes a mistake during a recital.”
Finally attention is given to the teaching of “harmony” in the broadest sense - though obsessive training is frowned upon. “It’s not enough just to practise the chosen instrument exclusively. Thus choral singing, training in listening, harmonic analysis are also, together with an interest in all areas of art and culture, just as essential for the education of the complete person. Equally important is the inclusion of particular relaxation exercises to prevent people from becoming cramped or fixated during their journey through life – for instance with the help of yoga and the Alexander technique, which can achieve amazing results, particularly in musicians. And the earlier this all-embracing education begins, the more self-sufficient the musician’s life can be, because it just doesn’t end at the limitations of the self.”
