Klarinet Archive - Posting 000282.txt from 2000/06

From: Audrey Travis <vsofan@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Students in general, was Re: [kl] New Student
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 01:42:21 -0400

Well spoken, Karl! Everything you say here is so correct - that's the gist of
what I tried to convey in my earlier response to Joshua. We do the very best
possible job we can with the resources and time available.

Thank you for your forthright post.

Audrey

Karl Krelove wrote:

> > -----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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