Klarinet Archive - Posting 000469.txt from 1996/07

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: library work assigned to clarinet students?
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 12:43:09 -0400

Stan,
I teach only at a precollege - not the conservatory level, but I
would DEFINITELY assign a certain amount of reading to my students. Many
colleges include some sort of Library Skills course in their curriculum,
although some, like Peabody, only do it at the graduate level.
Even at my level, I am constantly assigning students to look
things up in a good dictionary and to listen to recordings of opera, etc.
For example, if the tune in the book says "Bohemian" for the
composer/origin, I make them go to the encyclopedia and look it up so
they understand the concepts of 1) pre WW I kingdoms 2) where
the meaning of a hippy-type comes from, etc. This kind of research (and
the knowledge that such things CAN be looked up) is **INVALUABLE** to a
musician. After all, we are supposedly ortists. How can an artist be in
touch with humanity's collective psyche/ethos and be ignorant of history,
moral trends, etc. Ditto for craftsmen; how can a fine clarinetist not
understand why the keywork developed as it did or why certain conventions
of playing style are the way they are?

Fred Jacobowitz
Clarinet/Sax Instructor, Peabody Preparatory

On Wed, 24 Jul 1996, Stan Geidel wrote:

> Friends,
>
> As a clarinetist who earns his living working in an academic library, I'm
> curious:
>
> 1. studio teachers (especially on the university level): do you assign
> library work as part of the educational experience for performance majors?
>
> 2. everyone: do you feel library work (readings on performance practice,
> composers, history, pedagogy, etc) should be assigned as part of the
> university clarinet studio experience?
>
> Thanks for your comments.
> Stan Geidel
> Dr. Stan Geidel
> Editor, The Online Clarinet Resource
>
> Visit OCR at
> http://www.iquest.net/~sgeidel/
>