Klarinet Archive - Posting 001006.txt from 2000/08

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Which one? (Uh-oh...newby alert!)
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 11:07:09 -0400

<><> Spikus=A0Spiegelus wrote:
One of my saxophone professors taught that, if you saw that a lot of
kids were picking up the sax and wanting to play it, before the rest of
the group could finish, grab the demo instrument, and make some
'adjustments' (which primarily consist of changing that demo reed from a
2 or 2.5 to a 4.5). Then just about every kid who picks it up afterwards
won't be able to get a sound out of it!

One thread that runs through this entire conversation, in many
different ways, is: making children's decisions for them.
Obviously teaching _does_ contain an element of guiding children
toward what's in their own best interest, and ultimately this is a value
judgment that adults make for children in every society, both in and out
of school. Therefore I don't want to get hyper about this.
However, having been through the process of "Charlie _will_ play
in a band or he won't graduate" (yes, I called yesterday and
triple-checked that I understood the situation exactly) I'm sensitized
to overzealous instructors right now.
So I'm surprised not to hear comments about offering 'excess'
students the opportunity to form ensembles and choirs if they especially
want to play a certain instrument -- string ensemble, clarinet choir,
drum line, etc -- when there's an unacceptable imbalance of instruments
for the band or orchestra.
I suppose it's an issue of "...but we want you to learn how to play
in a full band/orchestra, not in a more specialized group." So I
suppose it gets back to the age old question that all teachers,
including parents, face:

STUDENT: "I want to learn what _I_ want to learn."

TEACHER: "But Johnny, you need to read books like Treasure Island
and Harry Potter, not comic books, and you need to read some poetry
too."

Perhaps it's also a matter of resources -- not enough teachers
available to teach in smaller groups?

Cheers,
Bill

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