Two college students visited me the other week as part of their end-of-class observations. During our discussions they remarked that they were impressed with what they saw in my class. I mentioned that I believed strongly in focusing student attention and effort on foundational skills rather than mere student self-expression. I explained that in no other so-called legitimate class do students get to express themselves without having learned the tedium that often goes along with the foundational principles of the subject.

Think about it. In English class, you do not label yourself a novelist or poet. In music, you do not start off declaring yourself a composer or concert pianist (insert your instrument of choice here). I can’t think of any subject where this isn’t the case.

Every person, at some point in their educational journey, starts at the beginning: learning to spell, practicing scales/chords, memorizing Periodic Table of Elements, adding/subtracting, etc.

If this is normative practice for other disciplines then why not for the arts?