Klarinet Archive - Posting 000838.txt from 1999/11

From: Dan Sutherland <dsuther@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] How young to start clarinet?
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 21:09:40 -0500

Routine and Patience.
[continuing to be anecdotal],
After kindergarten class, after lunch, after an episode of "Little Bear"
on TV, where you can observe insipid, cloying, goodwill between naturally
combative species, [Although the theme music is great, Schubert's first
violin sonata arranged for a mix of winds and strings, I think] after you
[not your child] have a nap, you work together on music. After some months
your child will turn off the TV himself and go to wherever you play music.
Most days you will feel that little progress is being made.
Keep in mind. Facility [being able to do things] is very empowering.
Facility is difficult to attain if you learn once a week for a half hour,
which is a major failing of traditional musical training. We have a
responsibility to develop facility, particularly in music, in our
offspring. If we support the view that learning is an option, where desire
is requisite, we are in danger of denying our youth their right [I think
they have a right] to do things.
Also. Music is a written as well as aural language. The development of
the aural over the written is irresponsible in the long run.
Children are individual. My youngest is particularly tough to engage in
musical projects. Because he is the third, and nothing much is expected of
him and less is demanded, his musical development lags behind that of his
siblings.

We do what we can.

Make an embouchure face and blow out sharply. Have your child copy the
proceedure.

Dan.

"I wouldn't mind that Bill Gates and company are taking over the world if
their stuff worked better" Janice Sutherland.

At 01:11 17/11/99 -0800, you wrote:
>I just HAVE to respond to this thread and ask one really pertinent question:
>
>How on EARTH do you get a 3 year old - or even a five year old - to sit
>still long enough to learn even how to hold a clarinet in his/her mouth? I
>absolutely must have this hidden knowledge. My two five year old boys have
>blown into a Lyons clarinet, but primarily they want to sing into the darned
>thing for a few seconds and then continue what they do best - run all over
>hell's half acre. It's cute to watch, but I just get plain jealous when I
>see people whose kids actually sit still and learn stuff like this when they
>are so young! To be so lucky...
>
>Patty Smith...
>who is lucky to have her spirited children AND her clarinets
>
>
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