Klarinet Archive - Posting 001097.txt from 2000/01

From: "John W. Sheridan" <otare@-----.au>
Subj: [kl] Adult lessons
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 18:43:18 -0500

All of my students are at present adolescent, although I'd normally have no
qualms about working with an adult, but the following story makes me wonder
at times.
A year ago I got a phone call from a young married woman who wanted to take
lessons on the alto saxophone. We arranged a day and time and she showed up
on our doorstep as scheduled. After talking with her, it turned out that
she already had been playing the saxophone with her husband's band at a
local church. She said she couldn't read music all that well, so I
suggested we start with a general lesson book - which she politely refused.
She wanted to be able to play with the band, but rather than play melody all
the time wanted to learn to improvise. I might add that she had a new
silver Yangisawa (?) she'd bought as a "beginner" instrument.

I spent an hour and a half with her, tried to explain that to improvise, one
generally needed to be familiar with the chords. I demonstrated some chords
on my keyboard, and using my computer I printed out sample scales and
chords, and suggested that she bring some of the music the group played for
her next lesson. I might add that the group played mostly in the concert C
and G , I believe - putting her in the keys with 3 & 4 sharps suggested it
didn't seem quite fair that she should struggle with the difficult keys
while they had it easy. At any rate, she had excusses for missing the next
lesson, and the following and ultimately never returned.
I'm not sure at times if I failed her or not - and wonder how anyone else
might have better handled the situation. My own skills at improvising are
poor, and while I know there are various instructional methods books, etc
available, I'm not sure if suggesting one of these would have been any help,
considering the circumstances.

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