Klarinet Archive - Posting 000441.txt from 1999/10

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Altissimo
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 17:03:51 -0400

Rebecca Williams asked:

<<<I have 8th grade students that are about to learn notes above C for the
first time. My question to you guys is as follows: When teaching them the
fingerings, do you start with the half hole or doyou teach first finger up
and introduce the half hole concept later?>>>

In 8th grade, I'd skip the half-hole.

My conception of the half-hole isn't one of "fingering" -- the notes don't
call for half-hole treatment. What does is the INTERVAL--getting to the
altissimo note from the immediately preceding one. In junior high school
music, altissimo notes are generally approached in a scale, in which
half-holing is not necessary. Where half-holing adds value, IMHO, is in
making wider intervals more facile, say a fifth or more. That's when the
value of the half-hole technique really proves itself.

Most junior-high pieces, if they contain notes this high at all, don't have
the student slurring up from an octave below. While every clarinetist
should lean this, perhaps high school is a better time to introduce it (save
for the occasional prodigy, of course!).

. . . just my opinion, as always.

Regards,

kjf

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org