Klarinet Archive - Posting 000683.txt from 1998/06

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] re:teacher talent (was beginner)
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 10:23:47 -0400

On Sat, 20 Jun 1998, David C. Blumberg wrote:

> How can one teach good tone, if they can't (or never could) produce it
> themselves?

It is my view that no teacher can teach tone quality, and that no teacher
has ever done so. A teacher can teach embouchure, breath support,
position of the throat and oral cavity, etc., etc., in other words, all
the ingredients that are required for the production of a satisfying tone.
But, the tone that results will always be a in some respect different from
all other tone qualities, including the teacher's. Tone quality is
determined by the ear of the player.

The fallacy of a teacher trying to teach tone quality is that every tone
has two different aspects, (1) the way it sounds to the player, and (2)
the way it sounds to a listener. So, the if the teacher demonstrates a
tone quality for the student to emulate, it sounds different to the
student than to the teacher. Then, when the student tries to produce the
tone he has heard, what he is trying to copy is the tone of the teacher as
it sounded to the student. What the student plays in response sounds one
way to him, and another way to the teacher, etc., etc. This is a
never-ending cycle.

> One can't teach phrasing, if they don't have the musical sense to do it
> themselves?

I think no one has suggested that you look at your local grocery store or
used car dealership for a music teacher. We have been assuming that we
were talking about people who did have "musical sense," but who might not
be able to play at a professional level on the instrument being taught.
However, this is one thing that a teacher can teach to players on any
instrument at all. I know several bassoonists who studied with a
prominent cellist, who couldn't produce a single note on the bassoon, and
who didn't know a single bassoon fingering.

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu

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