Klarinet Archive - Posting 000380.txt from 1995/06

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: weird keys
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 12:29:30 -0400

Susan E. Pontow writes:

>To John Baetens,

>This comment comes from personal experience. I grew up with
>the Rubank books also, but as a music ed. major don't like to
>use them at all. I am giving lessons to a 6th grade student who
>uses the Rubank because my professor uses it, but I definitely >prefer
writing my own material or copying it from my other
>books when working with her on technique.

>I'm presently studying with Thomas Thompson, associate
>principal clarinet of the Pittsburgh Symphony. For technique
>in scale studies I practice the Baermann Book III. I also practice
>the Stark arpeggio studies.

>I also believe that perhaps the best way to learn scales,
>arpeggios, etc. is to practice them in as many different ways
>that you can imagine. This wouldinclude, besides the notes, >dynamics,
articulation, expression, etc....

>I hope this helps.

Thank you for your suggestions, and I also thank all of
the others who have offered suggestions on how to get past
the fear of playing in "weird keys".
Based on suggestions from this list, I decided to get either
the Klose method or the Baermann. I found the Klose book
first, so I am starting with that. On going through the exercises,
many things sounded familiar. I looked through my old
Rubank books again and noticed for the first time that the
Rubank method seems to be mostly a collection of exercises
from other methods, including both Klose and Baermann.
But I can definitely see the value of the Major and Minor scales
study that the book recommends to practice daily. It presents
all the major and minor scales in one exercise. There is only
one problem. The store I bought the book from had several
copies, but every copy had a very poor type quality. It kind of
looks like it was photocopied several times. The type is kind
of blurry and the print is small. In the famous scales study, the
type is even smaller and all the different key signatures are
represented by accidentals. This makes it very hard for my
45 year old eyes to read. Even though my Rubank books are
over 30 years old, they are much easier to read.
I will continue to struggle through this exercise until I can play
it proficiently, and then I will try something else, perhaps
Baermann or Stark.

John Baetens.