Klarinet Archive - Posting 000436.txt from 1999/08
From: David Blumberg <reedman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] re:Earliest Age to Start Playing Clarinet?
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 23:32:11 -0400
Maurey" <edsshop@-----.ca>
Subject: Re: [kl] Earliest Age to Start Playing Clarinet?
Message-ID: <005001bee740$e566df00$bbabb3cf@-----.ca>
I started 44 years ago when I was 10. My adult teeth were slow coming
in---- but I had my 4 incisors and a bunch of gaps. Players in their 50's
told me then that when they were kids it was common to start kids on Eb
clarinets. It sounded like a good idea to me when I was 10. Today it seems
like a hideous thing to do. Think of the poor parents!
I hate to argue with someone of Emma Johnson's stature but I think learning
some skills should be done as early as possible. When I think back to my
days as a beginner it always strikes me how quick I was to absorb the
knowledge necessary to play and how I wish I had been given much more than I
got. I had terrific teachers but I still wish I been told the tricks I know
today that were learned so much more slowly and less thoroughly as an adult.
I have a friend who is a professor of linguistics. He told me that if a
person learns a second [or third] language after the age of 10 he will
always have a discernable accent. I wonder if learning to "speak" with a
musical instrument is in any way similar?
---------------------------------
Heres my take on the subject from the research I have seen:
Musical talent if developed early on will make for a more talented student
- there is evidence that the "hard wiring" in a pre-hormonal" student is
still developing until the onset of puberty. At that point, the "wires in
the brain" harden. The "God given talent" can grow up to that point if it
is developed early on. At the onset of puberty, the wires are in place for
ever. Then the "God given talent" is set, and will not change. Makes a
good case for starting them young, and not letting them get lazy. I
started 2 second graders this past year, one plays easily up to high C, and
the other one only started in March, and is doing quite well (goes down to
low F, just starting on the upper octave). The one who goes up to high C
(could play it after 4 months) Mother teaches 1st grade.
They both play Buffet B-12's.
David Blumberg
playit@-----.com
Have you heard? http://www.mytempo.com
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