Klarinet Archive - Posting 000475.txt from 1997/10

From: "Bill Edinger,Anna Gilman, and Grace Edinger" <wde1@-----.com>
Subj: music ed questions
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 15:08:49 -0400

Two questions/statements for the music educators out there:

1) My daughter just began lessons (11 years old, sixth grade, in her
third year of playing) and while I'm pleased with the teacher (even
though she is a die-hard Rubank advocate), I have run into the old dogma
that my daughter's previous school instructor embraced: the harder the
reed, the better, and the sooner the student works up to a 3-1/2, the
better. No mention of mouthpiece design or personal variances, just
straight-out harder-is-better. Any suggestions on how to argue against
this without jeopardizing a good relation with the teacher? Or should I
just keep my mouth shut? By the way, she (my daughter) uses a Clark
Fobes Debut mouthpiece, which we (my daughter and I, and apparently the
new teacher) feel is wonderful.

2) We just moved from a small middle-class town in Upstate New York to
Fresno and a very affluent school system, supposedly one of the best in
California. Here they don't begin music instruction until fifth grade,
not fourth, and for the sixth grade, there are no group instrument
lessons, only full band lessons twice a week. That's right, they teach
them the rudiments in fifth grade, and just leave them hanging the next
year and presumably pick them up in intermediate school the next year,
assuming that they are still playing. Is this nuts or what? With the
sports mania here, I can see absolutely no explanation for this bizarre
attitude. Is this occurring elsewhere, or is California leading the
nation in trashing music programs along with public education in
general?

Bill E.