Klarinet Archive - Posting 000725.txt from 2000/07

From: JMarioneau@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] enthused musings upon Mozart Concerto
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 23:46:30 -0400

Jay,
There are many many great teachers who have proper expectations of their
students. There are unfortunately also some who require their students to
participate in these contests but do not spend the time to work with the
students to get them prepared. When I say teachers, I mean band directors
and private instructors, but mostly band directors. I know that many band
directors (especially young ones) may not be as familiar with the literature
for the various instruments other than their own as they should be. As a
group, the private teacher should know the literature for their instrument,
although some want to proudly boast about the hard stuff their students are
playing. My contention is a director needs to talk to players of the various
instruments and learn some of the basic literature of the different levels
for each instrument. That is what I and many others had to do. Some just
tell the students to go to the music store and pick out a solo. Many times
students don't know what is best for them to play. I assign solos to my
students and if they don't like that one, we talk about what they would like
and be able to play. The point you make about "at least they tried" is
certainly one of the reasons that so many are under prepared. If there are
no private teachers available, then it falls on the director to see that the
students are prepared and literature is given that is appropriate to the
student's musical development. I am not putting down band directors since I
am one myself. In fact, it is my day job (and evenings and weekends). There
are many good ones and some bad ones just like there are in every profession.
Sometimes the students just are not getting enough guidance in their choices
and are not worked with enough to be as prepared as they should be. Of
course, it is also great to hear students come in and play wonderfully on
whatever level they are playing on. They won't all play great, but it is
just frustrating to hear kids play poorly when you know they have the
capacity to play better if they receive better guidance in selection and
preparation.
James Marioneaux
Enough of the long posts, James.

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