You are a new teacher at Greenfield High School. Your predecessor, Mr. Smith, was very well liked and, after twelve successful years, built-up quite a following. After three months in your new position, you felt like giving up. No matter what you did, it was met with, "Mr. Smith always did it this way." After pointing out the way you wanted a phrase to be sung in the choir's traditional Christmas song, Joey, a senior, yelled out, "Mr. Smith never did it that way.”
Would you say . . .
[A] "I don't care how he did it, try my way!"?
[B] "One of the biggest challenges in learning is being flexible enough to try new ideas. Mr. Smith taught you many things and taught them well. I am pleased and impressed with how good you are. By doing things differently, I am not saying he was wrong, I am only stating the obvious –I am not Mr. Smith and thus my ideas are different from those of Mr. Smith. I would do both you and me a disfavor if I tried to be someone I'm not — you would learn less and I'd be a phony. It is rough for you to adjust to new ideas, and, frankly, it's rough on me to be asked to be someone else. Try looking at it this way: both interpretations are possible. Since you have already sung it one way, now try it the new way. After the concert think about it — what did you like about each interpretation? If you were directing, what would you do"?
[C] Just give a dirty look
(from the Choral Journal article "Sensitivity to Choral Music Students in Rehearsal Situations,” by Mary Alice Stollak and Gary E. Stollak)
R. Daniel Earl says