Klarinet Archive - Posting 000138.txt from 1997/07

From: musicandkeyclub@-----.com (FROM ME MAN)
Subj: Re: clarinet playing
Date: Sat, 5 Jul 1997 21:31:58 -0400

Good point Roger...I'm back only a couple days, and look what we
find...the same thing that made me leave the last time...

Ken

On Fri, 4 Jul 1997 23:17:51 -0500 (CDT) Roger Garrett
<rgarrett@-----.edu> writes:
>I will follow the advice of Lawrie Bloom....that is....most of the
>people
>who criticize others for the sake of their own egos tend to remain on
>this
>web page. I don't see the finest performers teachers here...I see a
>group
>who play for fun, a group who are striving to achieve (I hope Nick is
>in
>this group), and a group who work to blather on and on to spread their
>work. I place Neil in this group.....not persuasive.....but with a
>lot to
>say.
>
>If Mr Leupold wishes to continue his daily retoric .......that's ok by
>me...but I have watched hundreds of college age students (check out
>Yip's
>email) fail because they are unable to adhere to a discipline...they
>are
>coddled and spoon fed...and they work at Kinkos....eventually going
>the
>route of 90% of all clarinet "students"......students who had talent
>but
>failed. Failure is the result of the student.....usually not because
>of a
>single teacher...and in Yip's case....FIVE teachers!
>
>Condesceding? No......realistic yes! Pedestal and tomatoes...?? I
>am
>laughing at the ego that wrote it. Neil speaks to a person who is
>asking
>for help....yet he turns away from it ......for many years. This is
>not a
>person looking for an individual style...this is a student who is
>searching for a teacher to tell him he is wonderful now. To mention
>Marcelus, Mazzeo, Hadcock, Russky, Leister...etc...as examples....they
>were never where this young man was...and they didn't switch teachers
>every year in their 5th - 10th year....! Great speech
>Niel....but...not
>helpful. Want to be a great
>performer/musician/clarinetist....etc....quit
>looking for the perfect teacher and the quick fix.....find out what
>real
>music is and imitate it. Spend 3-4 hours applying what your teachers
>ask
>you to do...you won't need to ask the people on this web page....you
>will
>discover for yourself...and if you can't do that....you won't achieve.
>
>Neil's insight is as uninformed as it is wordy and romanticized. Take
>a
>look around Nick.....Philosophy is fine...until you take the audition
>and try to
>compete against the folks who listened to their teachers. Nick is at
>a point in his life where it is time to get into the practice room and
>apply what he has been told.....the variations in instruction are not
>that far removed. But.....wait for the luck and the perfect teacher,
>and
>you will be 40 years old with nothing to show (musically) but
>a...."gee...if only I had...." Thankfully, I avoided
>that.....Niel.....
>
>Hmmmmmm..........superior intellect? Geez......I see it as superior
>ego...nothing more.
>
>I stick to my intial recommendation.......pursue the clarinet in a
>serious
>way....accept your instructors and glean from them what you can
>without
>making excuses. Otherwise...take up an instrument you feel you can
>sightread on.......music is a serious business...not one to be piddled
>with. If you can't get serious about it....leave the instrument in
>the
>case until you are ready. And I mean at all levels.....
>
>RGarrett
>
>On Fri, 4 Jul 1997, Neil Leupold wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 4 Jul 1997, Roger Garrett wrote:
>>
>> > Perhaps taking up the trombone? Tuba parts are not as hard to
>read as
>> > clarinet parts...that might be better! That many teachers can't
>be
>> > screwed up....perhaps it is your ability to learn from them?
>>
>> Frankly, I find the above comments derisive and condescending.
>Rather
>> than merely sit on a pedestal and throw tomatoes, however, I'll
>offer some
>> insight of my own.
>>
>> Nick Yip indicated that he has experienced confusion over the course
>of
>> his training as a clarinetist, due to the disparate advice given by
>each
>> respective instructor. Depending on how far you hope to go as a
>> clarinetist and a musician, there are some basic ideas which begin
>to
>> reveal and clarify themselves over time. One of these ideas is that
>
>> there are many more ways than one to accomplish a goal. This
>applies to
>> pretty much any given field or discipline, and can be easily
>witnessed by
>> observing and comparing the top-flight practitioners in whichever
>subject
>> you're studying. There's little question that Stanley Drucker and
>Karl
>> Leister are representations of the pinnacle of orchestral clarinet
>> playing, yet their styles, their qualities of tone, their musicality
>
>> -- the fundamental elements which identify them as the musicians
>that
>> they are -- are strikingly different.
>>
>> One of the wonderful things about achieving technical mastery over
>> an instrument is the ability to adapt one's playing to a given
>context.
>> If we were unemotional beings, there would be no need to alter our
>> performance styles. If the music we played were all of a particular
>> emotive quality, again there would be little need or use for the
>> ability to adapt and diversify our repertoire of musical nuances and
>> expressive gestures. Needless to say, there is enormous diversity
>> in the music that we play, and even greater diversity in the kinds
>of
>> feelings we experience when we hear and/or perform that music.
>>
>> All of the above having been said, hopefully it is instructive to
>> cite the correlation between the expressive process and the learning
>> process which accompanies it. Since there is such diversity of
>> expression in the music that way play, and because this
>expressiveness
>> is also tied to a lineage of scholarship and tradition, we are
>beholden
>> as performers to develop adaptive abilities which will enable us to
>> realize these properties convincingly. This entails much more than
>> technical mastery of the instrument, but technique is vital to the
>> endeavor, so that's where teachers typically begin. I'll not say
>> whether this is good or bad, but that's how it's usually done.
>> Where there is lineage and tradition in the creation of music
>> (composition), there is a counterpart of lineage and tradition
>> in the way it is taught and performed, including on the clarinet.
>> The Bonade method. The Russianoff method. The Marcellus method.
>> The Mazzeo method. Ken Grant. Peter Hadcock. Fred Ormand. Larry
>Combs.
>> Kalman Opperman. These names and dozens more comprise the people of
>past
>> and present who have taught and/or are teaching students how to
>master
>> their instruments and realize their individual goals as clarinetists
>and
>> musicians. Most of these people would probably agree on certain
>> fundamental areas of technique and performance, but none of them
>plays
>> quite like any of the others, and their approach to teaching -- even
>in
>> those areas on which they agree -- was/is different for each.
>>
>> To make all of this relevant to Nick, I'll say the following.
>Amidst
>> the confusion of disparate teaching and performing styles, the
>common
>> thread is the individual. The acknolwedged masters are not revered
>as
>> a result of their ability to emulate a past master, but for their
>> innovations and ability to make their music in a way completely
>unique
>> to them. This involves many different areas of approach, the sum of
>> which results in an individual musician's identity. When you take
>> lessons from any given teacher, you're learning not just from them,
>> but from all of their past teachers as well. Some teachers even
>like
>> to quote their mentors for inspiration or credibility during
>lessons.
>> YOUR goal is to take the lessons you learn from your various
>teachers
>> and synthesize that knowledge into an approach which makes sense to
>> Nick Yip. In cases of seemingly contradictory directions from two
>> different teachers, we come back to the individual: you. These are
>> the times when you make a decision to either accept the information
>and
>> try to incorporate it into your current understanding and knowledge,
>or
>> dismiss it until such time that somebody gives you a new way of
>looking
>> at the problem which makes sense to you. In all cases, your
>objective
>> is to absorb as many new techniques and concepts as you can,
>applying
>> those which fit your current level of development (as well as your
>> personality), until you arrive at a unified approach which reveals
>> the artistry of Nick Yip.
>>
>> Somebody on the list has said at least a few times over the years
>> something to the effect of, "It's not how you hit the ball. Just
>get
>> it in the hole." It's a golfing analogy, but it's very instructive.
>> Ultimately, whatever teacher you're with will (hopefully) be more
>con-
>> cerned with the sound and musicality you produce, rather than
>fretting
>> endlessly over how you achieve it. Some teachers insist mercilessly
>> that you do it "their" way (how pompous, as if they invented the
>approach
>> they currently use and never took a lesson in their lives), while
>others
>> at the opposite extreme simply say, "Put the mouthpiece in your
>mouth and
>> blow," meaning you're on your own as far as figuring out how to
>achieve
>> the musical effect they're after. Over the course of multiple
>teachers,
>> it becomes a game of trying to please everybody, when everybody
>wants you
>> to do something differently than the others. My suggestion? Play
>the
>> game. You already know that you are free to switch teachers when a
>> particular one isn't working out, but until you switch, make it a
>game
>> between him/her and yourself to see if you can do it the way they
>ask
>> you to. If you don't already have any ideas of your own on a given
>> issue, following somebody else's lead should be easy. When you
>disagree
>> with a teacher's approach, suspend your disagreement initially,
>giving that
>> person's idea the benefit of the doubt. Even if you reject it in
>the
>> end, you will have learned that there exists a way of achieving the
>end
>> which is different from the one you currently use. Every teacher
>has
>> something to offer. You can pick and choose as you grow, but never
>> fully dismiss any approach out of hand.
>>
>> Coming back to my initial point, your goal is develop diversity in
>your
>> own approach to performance. This comes about by learning how to
>adapt
>> your playing to the demands of different music, different conductors
>and,
>> in your present case, to different teachers. If you stick with it
>and
>> use your own individual judgement, your identity as a clarinetist
>and
>> musician will begin to emerge of its own spontaneous energy. First
>things
>> first, nonetheless. You need to fill a grab-bag of technical and
>musical
>> concepts, from which you can pull the ingredients which will result
>in
>> your own brand of performance and musicianship. Best of luck to
>you.
>>
>> 'Hope this helps.
>>
>> Neil
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>