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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000024.txt from 2005/09

From: Rhondda May <rmay@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] "Getting it" the first time
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 08:54:00 -0400

Hello All-

Great topic and very interesting comments from all of you. I too was
thinking about something along these lines recently.

My one-and-only student at the moment has so much going for her: her
English is excellent, so she understands my words; she has scary
perfect pitch (she has alot of trouble playing the English horn because
of the psychic disconnect between the note names and the sounds she
perceives), and she's one of the only students I've taught in Hong Kong
who can learn intuitively (ie; I play it or sing it and she can copy
it successfully). But we set out on a tough project this summer and
got flat NOWHERE... And I even had really decent reeds for her, so
that wasn't it.

On the other hand, a student I taught for one year, about 6 years ago,
is the new English hornist in the Hong Kong Phil. He's only the 2nd
Hong Kong kid who's a wind player to win a fulltime contract with that
orchestra. This is a huge deal, and while I only had him for one year,
it was an extremely important year for him (and I'm not saying that to
make myself feel good; I got amazing feedback from the teacher in the
US who got him from me and had heard him before I taught him).

Chris was the 2nd kid I've taught in the 15 years I've been here whom I
had for an "important" single year. He and the other student were both
somehow just ready to hear what I had to say to them when I washed up
into their lives. Sometimes it just happens that way. I know I also
had some lessons at times in my life when I was in no way prepared to
understand or implement what I was hearing. This has been true in
other areas of my life than music.

I think one answer may be to just listen like a sponge and try to soak
up everything you can from any teacher you are around. It may not
apply to you just now, but in much the same way you sometimes wake up
with a "eureka" moment in the middle of the night, or have a brilliant
brainwave while in the shower, these things just have to sit in your
psyche and percolate for awhile.

For us as teachers, it's sometimes hard to teach a new student - you
have to say all those things that you've already said to umpteen other
students before them - but you really have to concentrate your mind on
the fact that this student has NEVER HEARD THIS BEFORE. It may seem
like second nature to you, but to this student, it's a revelation, even
if he doesn't get it immediately, it may turn out to have been a
turning point in his life, some years into the future.

good luck, all
Rhondda May
Hong Kong
On 10 Sep 05, at 12:59 PM, Grace Tice wrote:

> I like Susan's comments on this topic. Phil, you are awake too early
> to be thinking so hard!!! Good topic to bring up. I've been stewing
> on it all day long. I've tried to trim this down, but you won't
> believe it after you read all this :-)
>
> Some master class I went to one time---the comment was made that some
> things just take longer to simmer before the flavors mingle in the
> right way.
>
> I can think of things my very first oboe teacher said that didn't make
> sense until I was well into college. I thought I was doing what they
> were asking me to do, but can look back and know it wasn't true. To
> me, it's part of the process of doing the best you can with what
> you've got. As you mature, you have more life experience to add to
> your thought process, so you know you have to dig in to work out
> something, or you know that it might not be worth the trouble to learn
> x, y or z. Or you learn it just for the challenge. I'm also thinking
> of the way we learn to emote when playing too. I find it a lot easier
> now that I'm (ahem) over 40. I just put it out there, and have
> learned to worry less about what people are thinking. ***Notice I
> didn't say I don't worry at all.***--just less.
>
> As for not telling people when you see what they are doing that could
> be better or easier, I think you are partially right. Sometimes it's
> wasted breath, because you really can't tell anybody anything unless
> they want to hear it, BUT if you are the teacher, you have to plant
> the seeds and hope that someday your voice will be what they hear in
> their head when they really do "get it". It might be someone else's
> explanation that makes it fall into place after all, but it's stacked
> on layers of other teachers pushing and other people playing
> beautifully within earshot.
>
> I hope some other people will pipe up on this one. It hit me just
> right today.
> Grace
>
>
> Hi -
>
> Just musing. I am trying to understand why it is that it often takes
> several
> years after being given clear, good advice to actually understand it
> and be
> able to put it to good use.
>
> Examples, I was given some good instruction on tonguing, to not think
> so much
> of attack, but of releasing the air with the tongue. But it wasn't
> until I
> started experimenting with the up-and-down tonguing that I finally
> "got it." I
> think I have it, anyway. I'm doing a lot better with low note
> articulation now.
> I understand better how there is a strong unconscious tendency to
> burst air
> when tonguing due to speech habits, and that this has to be
> "unlearned" somehow.
>
> Everyone is told to relax the fingers, keep them close to the keys.
> But it's
> only in the last six months I saw the light and really worked to make a
> "religion" of it. The technical improvements, as a result, have been
> heartening. But
> couldn't this have occurred years ago?
>
> I was told my reeds and oboe seemed to allow too much air flow. I was
> even
> given an example of a more resistant reed to play (in terms of the
> quantity of
> air flowing through the reed not stiffness). But it took several years
> before I
> realized it wasn't a matter of a "blown out" oboe nor tubes that were
> too
> wide, but simply that it was possible to make a reed with a slightly
> smaller
> opening arc, and all of a sudden, sustaining support is so much easier
> and more
> relaxed.
>
> Why does it take so long to figure this stuff out even when it is
> explained
> and pointed out clearly? Anyone know?
>
> I see it happening with some friends, also. It seems almost useless to
> try
> and give some advice or explain things. If they aren't "ready" for it,
> it's like
> talking to a rock rolling down a hill. What can one do?
>
> - Phil Freihofner
>
>
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