[Dixielandjazz] Little Thomas Wiggins / needs Trombone mentor

[Graham Martin]

Hi Tom,

I only know one jazz trombone player in Germany - Hamburg actually. He is
Jerry Tilitz and I correspond with him from time to time. It might be
worthwhile getting in touch with Jerry but I honestly do not know if he
teaches. He may be too busy and he may also be one that Tom's mother has
already approached, since he is pretty well known.

http://jerrytilitz.com/

http://jerrytilitz.com/?page_id=126

http://www.myspace.com/jerrytilitz

As far as the UK is concerned, why don't you take out a membership on the
Trombone Forum, which is international, and post your enquiry there. As you
know there is already one of your posts about young Tom, which I put there:

http://tromboneforum.org/

Also send a PM to Christine Woodcock (RedHotMama) who is the Forum
Administrator: User Relations and lives in Luton in the UK. Or send her an
email at:

christine.woodcock at gmail.com

I am sure she can point you in the right direction for a good trombone
mentor in England.  Tell her I sent you.

Best,

Grah

Graham Martin
REDLAND BAY, Qld.
AUSTRALIA

-----Original Message-----
From: Dixiejazzdata [mailto:dixiejazzdata at aol.com] 
Sent: Sunday, 17 June 2012 4:30 AM
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Little Thomas Wiggins / needs Trombone mentor

Steve just posted Why Teach Music.

Last week I posted some youtube links of a kid named Thomas Wiggins, who is
already playing Jazz trombone far beyond his 8 years of age capability.
His mother has approached several Excellent Trombonist in Germany and the UK
and they refuse to take him for private lessons simply because he does not
read notes very well yet.

Now that I find to be totally atrocious and certainly an elitist attitude if
I have ever seen one.  He will eventually get better at reading, but to hold
him back at this age with his natural talent and love for Jazz is just
sinful.     

How many of our Legendary Jazz  heros did not read music ????

I have siad it many times before and gotten flack from some on this list
about the Academic Musicians and our Schools of music.    Those who Can Play
do and those who can't Teach others how to do what they can't or never did.
This kids own father is a Music Teacher, but he does not play jazz and does
not understand how to teach the kid probably because he was brainwashed into
just playing the charts in front of him his entire life as a musician and
can't swing, and has no Feeling for Jazz.

One of those youtubes shows the kid to be a very quick learner as he learns
and improvises a song live on stage with Trombone Shorty in New Orleans,
and he played well with another group at the Mint as well.

There are alternative ways to learning to play an instrument and many of the
most successful ones in Jazz and other genres of music have proven so.

This kid currently live in Germany but goes back to London frequently where
his grandparents Live, Any of you Trombone players living in Europe that
would be interested in helping coach this kid let me know and I will pass it
on to his mum.   I say he should not be forced to read at this age but
coached slowly into developing it as he already has other skills that many
sight reading players will never have.

Thanks,

Tom Wiggins
Who was also self taught and wishes somebody would have taken the time to
help me learn to read music.  It has never stopped me from making a good
living and traveling around the world to play the same Jazz Festivals
successfully with the biggest names in Jazz, many with PHDs in Music.