Klarinet Archive - Posting 000299.txt from 2000/04

From: "Dodgshun family" <dodgshun@-----.nz>
Subj: Re: [kl] Student motivation (or lack thereof)/ Lame Excuses
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 22:51:24 -0400

> > > I find that there is a lack of comittment in this generation.
> When I
> > ask them how much they practiced this week, they usually say about 20
> > minutes a day for about 3-4 days, which I can tell. Then I tell them,
> well
> > I used to practice at least 5-6 hours a day 7 days a week, they look at
> me
> > in horror or shock
>
> I am not trying to take on the teaching world here, but I think that you
> are missing the point of taking music lessons. My daughter is in middle
> school. She practices clarinet and piano 30-45 minutes, 5 days a week.
She
> just received firsts in her solo and duet clarinet competitions. She
plays
> on a select level soccer team. She plays on her school basketball team
She
> is in the school play. She has had a number of poems and short stories
> published in anthologies. She has a couple of hours of homework every
night.
> Tonight she is going to a dance. Many of her friends do the same. Your
> students may not be as committed as you would like to that one endeavor
> where you are part of her life, but my daughters are doing a great job of
> growing up, and I know that music will always be a part of it. That is the
> purpose of why most children take music lessons.

Totally agree. Music does not have to be the be-all and end-all. I'm not
studying the clarinet (I decided psychology was more interesting!) but I'm
still learning and doing some pretty serious stuff. I have fairly heavy
university academic commitments, I do a lot of technical theatre work (which
is fast becoming the only thing I want to do with my time - why is the
theatre so addictive?), I work 5 part-time jobs to pay my way through
university, I have youth orchestra rehearsals and then I have to fit my
clarinet practice in, not to mention spending time with my friends. I can't
see how I could do any more than two hours practice a day, short of cutting
sleep back from 8 hours to six. Which would mean that a lot of what I did
would have to be re-done because it wouldn't have been done properly in the
first place. While music is a really important part of my life (I've met
some of my greatest friends through various musical things, and I know I'm a
better theatre sound technician because of it) it's not everything. Sure,
if it's all you want to do, then practice 5-6 hours a day, but for most
people it's not all they want to do. They just want to have it as a PART of
their lives. I certainly don't think that my teacher thinks I'm less than
committed because I practice less than 2 hours a day - I know she'd tell me
if this was the case! My view on this is that you have to let the kid
integrate music into their lives they way THEY want it to be, and go at
their pace. Yes, 20 minutes 5 days a week is not really enough for an
advanced student, but if it's all they can fit in, well, what can you do?
Demand that they give up their sport/theatre/social life/whatever? The way
I see it is that music can only be what you want it to be to you. I'd
rather do less practice and have time for my other interests, but if that's
not what you want, then that's fine. Everyone is different, and you have to
recognise and honour that.

Just my $0.02
Anna

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