Unacceptable!
If you walked out onto a basketball court right now and stopped a group of kids playing ball, each one of them could probably rattle off a dozen names of their favorite ball players, who they play for, and what makes each one unique from the other players. An avid tennis player is going to schedule his life around watching as much of Wimbledon as he can. A young baseball player will spend hours watching videos of his professional baseball pitcher so that he can copy his form perfectly. These young athletes draw their inspiration from their professional role models. They are what show high the bar, what is possible. Without these role models to aspire to, I think we'd see a huge drop in interest and quality in sports programs.
Of course, sports have a huge advantage over us as musicians. Media. Television, internet, radio, and movies are constantly bombarding us with videos, broadcasts, and tons of other information on these players. While we don't have this same kind of exposure available to us, we can't neglect this huge connection between role models and the desire to master a craft. And while musicians don't have the media exposure of athletes, thanks to the internet, we are still at the greatest point in history for exposing our students to great musical role models.
I still remember the first Itzhak Perlman album I listened to. It was a recording of Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole. It was this piece that made me not only want to play the violin, but play it like Perlman did. I bought more of his recordings and I found videos about him. I spent hours listening to him and watching him play. Then I found Hillary Hahn, Sarah Chang, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, and the list goes on and on. It was these players that showed me what playing the violin really sounded like and what I could achieve if I worked hard. I would watch their vibrato to see if they used arm or wrist. I would watch their YouTube video of a piece I was working on to see what fingering they used. A HUGE part of my education was what I learned by listening to and watching these musical giants.
So when I get a new student that I find doesn't know the players that they should, that is their first assignment for the week. Sometimes I suggest players and pieces, and sometimes I let them find their own. Giving students some role models does not guarantee that they will be inspired to be like them, but a student who does not have any role models, in my opinion, is practically guaranteed to see minimal progress and drop out of lessons more quickly.
What about you? How important do you see the role model to be in a student's musical education?