Klarinet Archive - Posting 000248.txt from 2000/06

From: "Franklin Kercher" <kranwli@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Students in general, was Re: [kl] New Student
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 13:06:38 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua M. Coleman <joshcole@-----.edu>
Date: Friday, June 09, 2000 10:45 AM
Subject: [kl] Students in general, was Re: [kl] New Student

I see stuff like this all the time at our school. The band director is
basicly an English teacher but has the band also. The assistant band
director is drummer and is very limited in knowledge of wind instruments. We
have seniors who are still writing A, B, C, etc. above the notes. Replace
that sheet with an identical one without the "notations" and they are lost.
There is no instruction on alternative fingering. They all seem to rely on
the person next to the and if the guy next door uses a bad habit or improper
methed, its just passed on to the next kid. One bright spot is that two of
the trumpets do take private lessons and have been very benificial to their
section. When he has tried to have a sectional after school, those kids
would fly through the door so fast Carl Lewis couldn't catch "em. "Gotta
catch the bus" or "my guppy's havin' babies" are some of the excuses you
hear. BUT, I can't fault the band director for a lot of this as he is
dealing with a wild bunch thats had little or no disapline, with no budget
to speak of, and a school system that puts priority on vertually anything
but the band. If it weren't for the need for some of that "music noise"
during the football games, we wouldn't have a band at all.

>I think it's funny how this thread began. I've been in lurk mode for
>about two years (?), after having posted quite a bit my first several
>months on the list. I now have an enormous studio (two students!!!). The
>first student I began teaching outrightly refuses to use the keys on the
>left side, other than E/B. Now, I'm not sure of the reasoning, but her
>band directors have never taught her that the left pinky keys are vital to
>clarinet playing (with the exception of that E/B key). As well, her band
>seemed to have never taught her any type of breathing mechanics -- other
>than "blow," that is. My question is, how many of you private teachers
>have encountered this? I know a major factor in this sort of thing is
>that some high school band directors are more involved with marching band
>competition in the fall and concert band competition in the spring that
>some of these basics are unfortunately overlooked. My student is in her
>fourth year of playing and only knows a few alternate fingerings (those
>that I've taught her). Her breathing has improved after she and I went
>through proper breathing mechanics. But I'm still concerned. Is this a
>common problem?
>
>Joshua M. Coleman
>Future Music Educator of America
>
>"Why put off 'til tomorrow what you can put off 'til the day after that?"
> -- Mark Twain
>
>
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