Klarinet Archive - Posting 000384.txt from 1996/03

From: Barbara C Johnstone <bcj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Children and music
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 12:13:55 -0500

I second David LaRocque's plug for the recorder. Recorders are easy enough
to play at a very basic level that kids can be making real music quickly --
but challenging enough to play really well that you can keep learning for ever.
I'm also very glad to have an instrument on which I can play Baroque music,
since the repertoire on which a modern clarinet sounds really good begins
later on. I'm sure that recorder breathing and fingering helped me with
clarinet, too.

As a somewhat irrelevant aside: you can get a much bigger rise out of
audiences by playing the recorder well than by playing the clarinet well, even
though the latter is much more difficult!

Barbara Johnstone
bcj@-----.edu