The Beginning is The HARD Part!

The Beginning is the HARD part!

Last winter I attended my Son’s first band concert. He was 12, in 6th grade, and had never picked up a trumpet before he began in his school’s band program 3 months before. At the concert the band leader did a masterful job introducing to the audience the process of learning to play music for the first time. He had students demonstrate specific skills to the audience, and the band played simple pieces that highlighted each step along the way.

At the very least my son has a small music background. He learned some basics in elementary school, and took piano lessons for somewhere shy of 2 years. He understood the basics of reading music, and knew the difference between a whole and a quarter note, for example. Many of the other kids started at zero.

Think about it. The beginning is the HARD part. You look at a sheet of music with lines and dots and it means literally nothing. You pick up a piece of metal, with levers and slides and buttons and have no idea even how to make a sound.

The progress this band made in 3 short months, from zero to Jingle Bells, where each section played a different piece, is ENORMOUS. Much less impressive to me was the delightful music the most advanced band played, where musicians with years of practice and skill created a harmonious and enjoyable medley of Charlie Brown Christmas tunes.

So what, you say? Well, the “what” is the respect for the beginner. When was the last time YOU took up something new? Do you remember that first day on a new job where you couldn’t even figure out the phone? Or a first tennis lesson where learning how to hold the racquet and position your body to the net was all you could accomplish? I remember my son’s first day on the ski slopes, where he couldn’t stop or turn, and we spent half a day learning those skills...and the 2nd half of the day on progressively more difficult runs until he was whipping around like he’d done it all his life. But the beginning was the hard part, and until he mastered the basics the advanced skills were completely unavailable to him.

In most forms of education, the basics get no respect. When was the last time a Kindergarten teacher was highlighted for their accomplishments? A beginning soccer coach? The college kid who taught my son to swim was ridiculously fantastic at what he did. Was he rewarded for his expertise? Nope.

Look at University professors, and the pay gap between them and the Elementary school teachers. If those university students hadn’t been taught to read and write, think critically, and do basic math, University professors would have nobody to teach. But Elementary school teachers earn a fraction of the pay for doing the more essential and difficult task.

There’s no “Street Cred” in teaching beginners, or in my profession, starting young horses or beginner riders. And yet, if we do our job wrong, the next teacher has a much, much harder task. Where’s the respect? I’ve watched people look down their noses and refer to beginner programs with elite disdain, then get on a horse and fail to demonstrate the very most basic skills that keep people safe. Where is the opportunity to highlight beginner instructors in industry? It seems most publications only have room for show results. Do you remember the person who taught you the basics? Have you ever thanked them?

I know I’m on a bit of a rant, but time and time again horses and humans enter my program without fundamental skills and understanding, and I believe that if we paid more respect to those teaching the basics, we’d see those basic skills valued and taught with more reliability. Who doesn’t think that’s a good idea?