Klarinet Archive - Posting 000536.txt from 1997/07

From: Karl Krelove <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Using Midi Accom. for teaching
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 23:29:28 -0400

At 12:22 PM 7/17/97 -0400, you wrote:
>I was wondering how many teachers out there use Midi accompaniments for
>their teaching.
>David C. Blumberg

I don't, but I know several who do with very young, elementary level kids.
Trouble seems to be that they get so wrapped up in working the MIDI
equipment that listening to the students' playing becomes secondary. Also,
when I've experimented even with those accompaniment CD's that come with
some of the method books, many of the students have complained that it's a
distraction. Not surprisingly, the ones who have the hardest time keeping
up technically get the most confused by it, because neither MIDI nor CD's
offer any flexibility of tempo if the student stumbles over a fingering or
misses a rhythm. If you mean MIDI accompaniments to major literature (like
Music-Minus-One) for advanced students preparing concert performances, I
think it might be valuable in the final stages of preparation. I've read
about Vivace, which is an accompaniment machine marketed by CODA (publisher
of Finale) that does supposedly follow a soloist, and that kind of MIDI
application would interest me as a teacher as well as for my own
practicing. But it's fairly expensive and I haven't actually seen one in
operation.

Karl