Klarinet Archive - Posting 000571.txt from 1997/10

From: Nicholas Yuk Sing Yip <nyip@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: music ed questions
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 00:30:19 -0400

On Sun, 12 Oct 1997, Bill Edinger,Anna Gilman, and Grace Edinger wrote:

> 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.
Bill, maybe some day, one of us will go up to the administration and make
a difference.:)Considering that Iwant to be a music teacher,hopefully
that will be soon!