Klarinet Archive - Posting 000279.txt from 2000/06

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Students in general, was Re: [kl] New Student
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 00:49:23 -0400

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joshua M. Coleman [mailto:joshcole@-----.edu]

> 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).

This is not an ideal beginning point to respond to, but it's the first in
your post. I'm not certain "vital" really describes those left pinky keys.
There aren't left/right duplicates on most other modern woodwinds. I'm not
certain they exist on the alternative German instruments and I'm fairly
certain they didn't exist on most pre-Boehm/Klose clarinets. Somehow
players, great and obscure, muddles through without them, playing much of
the same music we play today. That these keys make many passages easier is
not in dispute - I depend on them regularly. That they make these same
passages *possible* seems to me arguable, making their status as "vital" or
even "basic" questionable.

> As well, her band
> seemed to have never taught her any type of breathing mechanics -- other
> than "blow," that is.

I don't know this particular student or the teacher, but a student's not
having learned good technique is not necessarily the same as the teacher's
not having taught it (or tried to teach it).

> 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, this kind of post (it has come up before from time to time) always
makes me bristle a little, since I work "both sides of the fence" for my
living. I am a generalist at school (currently a string teacher no less) and
a player and private teacher of clarinet outside of the school day. I think
I'm very competent in both roles, but they are very different.

I'm certain that a violinist giving private instruction to any of my school
pupils can teach them all kinds of things I don't know to do. I have the
sense not to take on any string teaching beyond the beginner level, and I am
married to a violist who keeps me on a straight path in terms of the
techniques I *do* teach. My string students do things, fundamentally, the
right way. Do I know all the things a trained violinist or cellist or
bassist knows? Absolutely not. But my students leave my 5th grade class and
go on to a string specialist in middle school, and I've not a qualm in the
world about what I *have* taught them.

I teach classes that may consist of as many as 7 or 8 students. I also teach
an orchestra of 70-80 players. There's no way, even when I teach clarinet
classes, I can diagnose individual students' problems as accurately as I can
in a private lesson. My students play with the best level of musical
competence I can teach them with the limited individual attention I can
provide. They also for the most part enjoy playing their instruments and
find the experience a rewarding one. That's about all I think I can expect
to accomplish in a school music program.

There are certainly incompetent and/or uncaring music teachers in the world.
Some of them teach band, some orchestra, some chorus, and some "general" or
"classroom" music, and except for the band director, none of these is
affected by marching band requirements or concerns. But it pushes one of my
few buttons when people even _begin_ to imply that this incompetence can
automatically be inferred from a new private student's lack of sophisticated
technical command of the clarinet. Those left hand pinky keys can be left to
a private teacher or not. The kids can play their music very competently
without them. "Proper" breathing and refined tone qualities are things that
are, even for a very conscientious and competent teacher, difficult things
to teach in the circumstances under which many of us work, especially for a
non-specialist in the instrument on which you're judging him (clarinet in
this case). The school music teacher frequently has to settle for what he is
able to get kids to do in less than ideal teaching conditions. What he
doesn't teach or the student doesn't learn about clarinet technique in the
school setting is one reason why the student comes to you for private
lessons. If this were not the case, private teachers would serve little
purpose for most students.

Your concern is based on your experience with a specific student, one of
only two you are teaching. Stubbornness may be a personal trait of this
student, or inattentiveness, or maybe the teacher isn't as effective as
he/she could be. But you can't tell which is the case by listening to this
one student (at least until you've taught him for awhile), and in the long
run it doesn't matter - the student has come to you with gaps and weaknesses
in his knowledge. Your job as a private teacher is to address those and, to
the extent you can, help the student, starting from where he is, to achieve
the highest competence he can.

Karl Krelove

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