Klarinet Archive - Posting 000370.txt from 1997/08

From: rteitelbaum@-----.com (Rob Teitelbaum)
Subj: RE: How young is too young?--Thank you!!
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:09:30 -0400

Though the thread seems to be continuing, I just wanted to take a moment
and thank everyone who contributed their thoughts to the question of my
brother taking up clarinet, and the larger issue of age appropriateness
for beginning music instruction. I was hoping to get a number of diverse
viewpoints, and I thank all of you for giving me exactly that.

The most interesting idea to me was to have a younger player start out on
Eb. I never thought of this before, but I think it's a great idea. Sadly,
I've not yet been able to persuade my mother of the same as applied to my
brother's situation--but I am working on it, and I think showing her the
transcript of the discussion thus far has helped. I was surprised she
wasn't more receptive to this anyway, since she's a violinist, and
started out on a half-size instrument like so many violinists do. But
like I said in my original post, my family life is a little on the
strange side--sometimes reason prevails here, and more often it doesn't.
:) Fear not, I intend to persist in pushing the issue.

Oh well, regardless of this, it's my hope that at the very least we can
start teaching my brother to read music (if not on clarinet, then at
least on the piano). I am in complete agreement with Mr. Cohler and
others that the younger a child is taught to read the notes, the better.
I've knowna number of players who learned initially by ear, but I can't
say I've ever met one who was a good sight-reader or who had a really
firm grasp of music theory, both of which I think are very important to
successful performance, particularly the latter.

Going back to my brother, one thing is for certain--he cannot yet play
the Bb clarinet. I took the advice which many of you gave and measured
his fingers on the instrument itself. They're certainly big enough to
cover the holes, and almost at a size capable of handling keywork (at
least the keywork required of a beginner), but his right pinky's not yet
long enough to reach all four keys used by it. Since such
moderately-important notes as C2 and Eb2 tend to be activated by this
finger, I decided it would probably be a good idea to wait until he could
play these notes. However, measuring him against the instrument in this
manner allowed me to SHOW him exactly why his fingers weren't long
enough, which eliminated any whining/crying/arguing from him about his
ability to start on Bb right now, so your suggestions were good for more
reasons than one.

Thank you again for all the helpful advice and stimulating
discussion--you've given my family and I a lot to think about.

Rob Teitelbaum
rteitelbaum@-----.com

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org