Author: Kwamé Ryan

One of the unique qualities of the faculty of the Academy for the Performing Arts is that most of its members are industry-active professionals, locally, regionally, internationally or all the above.  This allows them to instruct and mentor our students not only via theoretical means but also by example and inspiration, giving them a valuable edge as trainees.  To maintain their full profile therefore, many APA performance instructors go abroad to perform with international peers and to appear on the radar of the industry as cultural ambassadors for UTT and for Trinidad and Tobago.

What can I learn from the […] pedagogical
environments I've experienced?

While nine times out of ten, when I accept international engagements, they involve professionals, I make a point of also working with universities and conservatoires.  I find it fascinating to spend a few weeks of the year teaching or conducting music students from different backgrounds, and I find that when I come back to APA, my head is filled with such useful questions as: What qualities of student experience are common across the board?  What specific pedagogical environment produces a certain type of student?  What can I learn from the different pedagogical environments I experience and how can I apply it to the benefit of my students at APA?

During these recent projects, the key observation I made pertained to the constitution of a fertile pedagogical environment for the performing arts. 

…the defining quality seemed to reside not only in
the sheer talent of each student, but in the mix of humanity…

At the Peabody Institute, candidates for the conducting programme survive stiff competition for places. Those that succeed then find themselves in a talented but highly diverse group of students.  At National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, thousands of the best young instrumentalists from across the UK apply every year for about 120 coveted places.  The selection process is based not purely on talent and ability, but in response to all kinds of other criteria such as diversity of background, range of personality, leadership potential, team-player qualities etc.

At both institutions, the defining quality of the student communities I experienced during my workshops and rehearsals seemed to reside not only in the sheer talent of each student, but in the mix of humanity that contributed to the environment.

For me, these experiences were an encouragement to maintain and further develop APA's current early-exposure and recruitment strategies which operate along similar lines.  Early school-exposure to APA offerings improves the quality of each applicant and raises the level of competition for places.  At the same time, we audition holistically, striking a balance between fostering talent and developing a community.  By maintaining this focus, APA aims to graduate creative students who are not only well-trained artists and theatrical technicians, but also valued contributors to any enterprise in which they invest their energies.