Klarinet Archive - Posting 000634.txt from 1997/05

From: Karl Krelove <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Expert Opinions and Stupid Questions
Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 12:32:44 -0400

At 03:10 PM 5/23/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I am a beginning clarinet student. I see no reason why even the easiest
>question should not be posted to this list. The amount of posts is not
>staggering. I saw no rule against easy questions when I signed up. If
>any person is not motivated to answer, don't.
>
>This list is useful to people of all stages of proficiency. What one
>person may believe is obvious may be unknown to me.
>
Whoa! I must have missed something juicy - What post (or response) brought
this on?

From: "Robert D. Shaw"
> I personally am tired of hearing people on the list attempt to
>FLAME others with their petty opinions about things that have nothing to
>do with clarinet, or other music related subjects. And even though most
>of the people on this list use it as a forum to help and encourage
>others, or get information that was not available to them before, some
>continue to criticize others for things that are not really pertinant to
>this list.
> I personally would like to see a better attitude develop which
>would only help to further the cause of great clarinet playing!

Whatever "flaming" happens on this list would be barely if at all
recognizable as such on many other lists I've read over the last several
years that I've had E-mail and Usenet access. If you get tired of all the
marching band cross talk or the arguments about signature lines, skip those
topics (check the listing of subject lines). It comes up over and over that
the greatest strength and greatest weakness of an unmoderated list is the
freedom it gives everyone. The members of this list I think show great
self-discipline overall. If the subject seems tedious, skip it.

Chuck Stringer wrote:
> ...The band director said that
>she would have to teacher herself, so she can use all the help she can get.
>She is a very good clarinet player.

I repeat I don't think I saw the original exchange that started this
thread, but it isn't the first time we've had discussion in this direction.
If there have been complaints stated or implied about "stupid" questions,
this goes to the crux of the problem. There are many problems that can
develop in an inexperienced player's approach to playing. Most just can't
be accurately diagnosed, much less solved, by people, however
knowledgeable, at long distance. Even with a teacher, you can end up on a
lot of wild goose chases and false solutions until you finally discover the
real underlying problem. Are the mouthpiece and instrument working right?
Is the reed choice appropriate (oh, how many of my students insist, after
all my patient reminding, that "new reed" equals "good reed")? Then there
are a million ways for the embouchure to be wrong, many of them impossible
to correct with a beginning student (especially a young one) without
resorting to a lot of indirect imagery that can't be universal because it
depends for its effect on the student's previous life experiences (if the
kid doesn't understand the image, it's totally useless). A seemingly simple
question like "Why do I squeak when I play above 4th line D?" can have as
many different answers as there are players who ask it. Moreover, giving a
dozen different "possible" answers and leaving the questioner on her own to
try applying them is a prescription for frustration for the questioner. I
know whether my thumb is covering the hole when I press the register key,
but will a less experienced player? Meanwhile, if the squeak doesn't go
away, does that mean she's still not covering the hole because she can't
tell, or does it mean there is some other problem? If none of the
suggestions work, does that mean she is just suited to the clarinet? Of
course, not. Many of the "simple" problems need someone who knows