Klarinet Archive - Posting 001015.txt from 1999/09

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] a typical lesson assignment
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 22:09:40 -0400

on 9/27/99 10:10 PM, Daniel A. Paprocki wrote:

>I'm curious what other college professors or students have as a typical
>weekly lesson assignment for an hour lesson. Also how much practice time is
>expected of the student per day. Right now I assign 1 etude, 1 key in
>Baermann III (up to 3rds), and work on a solo for an hour lesson once a
>week. This varies from week to week - sometimes the etude carries over a
>week. To me this seems light. When I was an undergrad at U of Wis. the
>normal week assignment was two etudes, 1 key in Baermann or Stievenard, a
>movement from a piece, and memorize scales, arpeggios, and 3rds for jury.
>There was no differentiation between music ed and performance majors and
>this was in the 80's. What do other's assign and expect as practice time

I think the answer to your question depends on the kind of student you
have, by which I mean major or non-major, performance of Music Ed. Before
anyone screams bloody murder, I don't mean to imply that the *quality* of
the work should be any different. But in some circumstances, the quantity
expectation may need to be flexible.

I have 6 students at U of Richmond - 4 non-majors, two majors. From my
majors I expect a couple of hours a day of practice. In fact this is a
department "requirement" from the student handbook. They should do a key
a week in Baermann/Hamelin/J.B. Albert - an etude, and make significant
progress on whatever repertoire they're working on. "Real Music" doesn't
tend to respond to the "movement a week" style of teaching, at least for
me, and U of R, for all its good points is not a major conservatory. I
work toward having students perfect (achieve the highest level of quality
that they can) appropriate repertoire (for them) and then we move on.

My non-majors tend to move more slowly, but not always. I have one
student who is on a free ride as a bio major, who manages very consistent
progress from week to week in spite of a very heavy lab schedule, and has
covered a fair amount of the standard repertoire. In the past, I've had
business and government and history majors, and in their senior years, as
the requirements of their majors heated up, they've had less time to
practice than they'd like. What I want these students to carry away is a
thoughtful approach to practicing, so that they can continue to do good
quality work and enjoy their clarinet playing without me, after
graduation. I also want them to think about musical issues (phrasing,
composers styles, etc.) and use the clarinet repertoire as a vehicle for
those thoughts. I hope they'll be intelligent and appreciative concert
goers as a result.

I taught at Ithaca College as an adjunct for 2 years before I came to
Richmond. I was impressed by the program there, which emphasized quality
performance from the Music Ed students as well as the performers. the
emphasis (come jury time) was more on how well the student played, and
much less on how much music had passed over their stand that semester.

Has this made any sense? Hope so.

David

p.s. I do think there is a body of standard repertoire that students need
to cover. But I don't think you can get to all of it in four years, even
under the best of circumstances - it's a lifetime of work. I'm still
learning new pieces, and the half century mark is looming! that's what
keeps life interesting.

David Niethamer
Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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