Klarinet Archive - Posting 001061.txt from 1999/04

From: Rich Gordley <rgordley@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] mouthpiece crud
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 1999 08:45:51 -0400

Robert Reyes wrote,
>What and how is the best way to show young players how to upkeep and
maintain there reed in good working order without them smelling bad, looking
bad, and screwing up the mouthpiece. Last monday when I was working with a
local youth band, I saw something that would would make your stomach turn,
the front part was a little dirty and brown looking. This is the scary part,
the other side was not only just as dirty but had this brown goo on it.
Brown Goo! I could only imagine what someone would have to do for there reed
to look like that. So I will ask the question again, What must one do to get
the point of proper reed care across. this is a true story.>

I taught Jr High band for 11 years and developed a very effective way of
getting the kids to clean the mouthpiece/reed. When having a group class
for beginners, at some point someone always is having some sort of trouble
with tone production. This is a great opportunity to check the
read/mouthpiece setup. When finding a particularly "green" specimen you
simply make the appropriate retching sound and shove it under ANOTHER
student's nose and say "would you put THIS in YOUR mouth?" A student can
put his own crud in his mouth, but HATES being exposed to someone else's
crud....do this a few times and the students start to police each other
hoping to prevent a close encounter with mouthpiece flora.
Rich Gordley
rgordley@-----.com
.......Ya doesn't has to call me Johnson!
http://wwp.icq.com/13397915

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