Klarinet Archive - Posting 000697.txt from 1998/07

From: "Kellie Downing" <um13@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: The Mozart concerto and Mark - or _any_ young
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 23:41:32 -0400

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>From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
>To: klarinet@-----.org
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>Subject: [kl] Re: The Mozart concerto and Mark - or _any_ young student
>
>As some of you know, from time to time I teach all the woodwinds. In
the
>case of all our instruments (except the saxophone - thus far at least I
>haven't been subjected to Mozart for saxophone) I find it very
difficult
>to deal with a situation where a high school student has played the
Mozart
>concerto (or concertos in the case of the flute).
>
>One almost always come to the time when the college student must study
>these works. Personally, I tend to save them for the senior year in
>college, because the musical difficulties are so great that I want to
wait
>until the student has gained as much musical maturity as possible.
>
>Almost invariably, the student will protest, "But, I already played
that -
>when I was in HIGH SCHOOL!" Most of them take it as a definite insult
>that a professor will ask them or force them to play a piece which they
>consider of a level of difficulty of a "high school" work. Then, when
>they find out the level of detail with which I want them to consider
the
>work, they become bored or impatient or both.
>
>What is the solution? Should we ask teachers of high school level
>students not to assign Mozart? I don't think that will work. There
are
>several factors at work when a teacher assigns Mozart to a 15- or
16-year
>old student. There may be a "vanity" factor at work here - "My student
is
>playing _Mozart_." Some students may have pushed or agitated their
>teachers into assigning Mozart because some other player they admire
has
>played it.
>
>Perhaps at a minimum, teachers could forewarn students that they will
be
>expected to play the work again during their college years, and give
them
>an idea of why this is the case.
>
>To my way of thinking, the Mozart concerto for any woodwind player's
>specific instrument is something that should remain in the repertoire
for
>life. Anyone ought to be able to have the Mozart concerto ready to
play
>with two weeks notice, and we can continue to learn more about playing
it
>throughout our lives.
>
>I will slightly disagree with Dan Leeson on one point. When we listen
to
>orchestral auditions for woodwind players, as we will be doing in a few
>weeks for flutists, I don't object to listening to Mozart over and over
>again. In fact, our repertoire list for auditions _requires_ the
>exposition of the first movement of the appropriate Mozart concerto as
the
>solo piece. It's not that everyone has to play it the same way, or
that
>we have a pre-concieved notion of how it should be played. But, one
can
>tell within a few measures many things about a player by listening to
>their rendition of Mozart. Rhythm, technical facility, tone
production,
>articulation, musical sensitivity, how much thought the player has
given
>to the way he/she plays the instrument, and much more. This is where
you
>can separate the men from the boys and the women from the girls.
>
>Ed Lacy
>*****************************************************************
>Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
>Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
> Evansville, IN 47722
>el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
>*****************************************************************
>I have recently graduated from high school and will be attending
University of Michigan in the fall, majoring in music education. I
played the Mozart Concerto for two years. In working with me on this
work and all others, however, my teacher always managed to stress that
the wonderful thing about music is that you never stop learning and
improving. I was always fully aware that I will be playing the piece
again and am looking forwad to it. I just hope I am granted a short
reprieve before returning to it! Maybe the harm isn't done in playing
the piece too early, but it the attitude that was not corrected while
doing it.

Kellie Downing
>
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