Klarinet Archive - Posting 000342.txt from 2000/06
From: Joanne Leichtweisz <gijo@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Students in general, was Re: [kl] New Student
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 10:34:23 -0400
Hi Joushua,
My name is Jess.
I am a student myself, a very dedicated student, but I think that as a student,
what I see may help you. First since nobody knows me, I will tell you about me.
I play clarineat and bass clarinet in band, however, I take lessons on piano,
and was self taught, on guitar, sax and clarinet. I have been playing the
clarinet for 4 years. I have near a 200 dollar mouthpiece, which I purchased
with my on money, I play on a 4 vandoren. I know all the alternate fingerings,
so as a resuly know ALL the major scales in 2 or 3 octives. I play FM and GM
fluently in 3 octives, and I sometimes go up to 20+ measures without breathing
as a result of my many hours each week of breathing mechanics and if I may
metion, I have no private teacher. I only told you this, not to boast but to
show you what someone who really wants to be a musican is like, or at least
someone who has never been to a dance because she practices 3-4 hours every
Friday night. Not every one is like that however. If your student one day plans
to be a musican than yes, you should be concered. But, if she is just in it for
the game, let her go. Maybe what she just needs is something to take her mind
off a problem. I am the section leader in my school. There is no other person
that really seems to be dedictated and it often disapoints me when in eigth
grade some people still can't play over the break, but one girl especially
caught my attention, she never played and when she did you wished she didn't.
When I brought her to the attention of my band director, she talked to her and
found that she never will be serious about playing but she has some family
problems at home, and music helped her cope. TALK TO YOUR STUDENT, AS A STUDENT
MYSELF I CAN SAY THERE IS NOTHING MORE HELPFUL TO A STUDENT. THEY WILL RESPECT
AND TRUST YOU MORE AND MAY EVEN LEAR BETTER!
TALK.
Thanks for reading this far, You're a great teacher if you listened to what a
student had to say.
P:S: Email me some time if ya get the chance, I enjoy talking to other musicans.
Franklin Kercher wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joshua M. Coleman <joshcole@-----.edu>
> To: Klarinet <klarinet@-----.org>
> 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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