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At a composition master class, Mr. Norton told the student that her composition is so complicated and dense that it "collapses under its own weight."

That sounds like a good description to me. It brings to mind Joni Mitchell tunes with her scrambling to get all the words in. The comment wouldn't have hurt my feelings.

Did you see the comment as too blunt?

Yes, that's a bully master class comment that to me is the opposite of helpful and fostering public teaching. Christopher Norton seems to delight in an authority role; fortunately he is not a teacher except in this buy-my-books sense.

Oh well. I suppose that the more talented the composer, the more patience is required to teach others. Looks like composers are not necessarily the best composition teachers. Very different skills.

Still, I'm a Norton admirer. And maybe it's best to admire from a distance.

Just thought I'd add this to the thread: Chris is an unbelievably lovely, thoughtful and generous man.

He has lived in the UK for more than 30 years, and there are some crucial cultural differences between the UK and the US (or Australia, for that matter) in the way students are taught and are expected to react. I understand the feeling that comments of such a direct nature as the line quoted above are bullying, but I suspect Chris would be horrified to think anyone had felt in the slightest bit bullied.

And as regards social skills: I think musicians as a breed are somewhat challenged in this department. Many of the wonderful people I've worked with, who have insights that we value and who are dedicated to making the world a better place, are not as gifted with people skills as they are with music. It's more a brain-wiring thing than it is a charaacter flaw, to my way of thinking.

One little anecdote that touches on these things: last November I was touring Australia with Paul Harris, a very well-respected music educator from the UK who has created a plethora of truly excellent resources for teaching sight reading, scales, aural skills and so forth, and whose mission in life is to help teachers take a more holistic approach to the study of music and the instrument they teach.

In his presentation he had a line about not asking students what they thought of their own performance in the lesson "because students will always say, 'I was rubbish'". The first time Paul said this I made a note to chat with him about it after the session, but I forgot, and in our second presentation he of course relayed this same line. I had to interrupt him and explain that in Australia if you ask a student how they thought they played they will almost certainly say "I think that was pretty good". Australian kids just seem to think they are doing an OK job (irrespective of the truth) just as much as UK students will think they are doing a rubbish job (irrespective of the truth). All the teachers at the workshop agreed vigourously - they had NEVER heard of a student talking about their work as being "rubbish". Paul was ASTOUNDED. I've subsequently talked with other teachers from the UK I know and they completely agree with Paul - UK students will talk themselves down, partly in an effort to prevent the teacher from doing so, apparently.

Just thought I'd share this anecdote about this particular cultural difference...

Elissa, thank you for sharing your perspective with us! I'm going to stick with this point of view as I play his pieces.