i would make a distinction between those who quit out of loss of
interest and those who quit out of frustration. on those who lose interest,
there's nothing you can do about them. best of luck to them in the next
thing they'll give up (that was nicer than 'screw 'em', my original thought).
those who are frustrated are those who still want to sing. their
expectations, obviously, are not being met. if their expectations are
unreasonable, they'll never be happy. so, their expectations need to be
changed or, they need to quit. they need to be shown what they are most
likely to do best and how to get there (a bass who really wants to sing tenor
is more likely headed for frustration than success, for example). unless
what these people can do for real is ultimately as good or better than what
they initially wish to do, and they would be the judge of that, they will not
be happy ('be the best short, fat and bald guy you can be and don't worry,
some people like the smell of garbage' is not likely to be a big comfort to
someone who wants to be tall, dark and handsome, no odor).
those who have reasonable goals that are not being met are either being
instructed incorrectly, too impatient or are working the wrong way to get
where they wish. obviously, someone who wants to sing like britney spears
but is being taught to sing like renata tebaldi, is not being instructed
properly. in this example, the teacher could be quite good and may well
have a better goal in mind for that student than the student does with regard
to vocal health but, this is that teacher's agenda which is very different
from the student's agenda. and of course this says nothing about the
teacher who doesn't have the ability to help a student towards their goal.
achieving a goal requires a specific effort. if the effort made is
wrong, the results will be wrong too (thank you, maestro berra). if the
amount of effort is too little, the results will fall short and if the
efforts are too much, the results will also be wrong. (these notions seem
very obvious to me but, i often see people exhibiting a tremendous lack in
this understanding. instead of changing the wrong thing that they are
doing, they'll just keep doing the same thing, harder. does not wrong +
more effort = wronger? no wonder lazy people learn faster!) someone with
the right answer and no interest will be closer to someone with the wrong
answer and plenty of interest, more often. occasionally, someone with so
much enthusiasm and desire will have the vision to stumble on to something
great (bob dylan, seve ballesteros, the guy who invented the pet rock, etc.)
but, this is not the rule.
mike
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