Klarinet Archive - Posting 001012.txt from 2000/08

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Which one? (Uh-oh...newby alert!)
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 14:36:23 -0400

Bill Hausmann wrote:

> This is why companies like ours will often go into the schools at the band
> director's request to do "fittings." We allow the kids to try out several
> instruments they might be interested in. If they can't get a sound out of
> a flute, we and they can eliminate that as a choice right away, thereby
> improving the child's likelihood of success.

. . . and Tim Zehr responded:

<<<My school worked the same way, and they turned me away from the trumpet
because I couldn't make a sound on it. Well, I have an identical twin who
exceled way above anybody in his calss on the trumpet, and I am quite sure
our musical abilities are exactly the same. This is why I believe turning
away students on the spot doesn't always work.>>>

Two thoughts:

-- I attended a master class given by Allen Vizzuti, a terrific trumpet
player. After the class, during the appointed autograph time, a sheepish
young man told him that although he really liked the trumpet, he couldn't
play it because "his lips were too big"; he couldn't make a sound at such a
"fitting" so he was steered to another instrument.

AV was incensed (noting that "Jon Faddis has big lips too!"). He pulled out
his gold-plated horn, and in front of all of us proceeded to teach the kid
how to blow. In 15 minutes, the young man was slurring from middle C to G
above the staff and back, with a big, full sound. I learned a lot that day.

To the extent that there is any point here, perhaps that (a) "fittings" are
sometimes suspect, and should be subject to a second opinion, and (b) a kid
will often do better if the task is what he or she wants to do. Remember
how Harry Truman described how to lead -- figure out what someone wants to
do an command them to do it.

-- I can't get much of a sound out of a flute. As a doubler and pit
musician, flute is a necessary evil. The point here is that I get dizzy.
Lack of talent perhaps.

-- A note to Tim -- I, too have an identical twin. He owns a violin (to the
chagrin of many felines). Don't assume that equivalent genetics lead to
equivalent talents; you can't photocopy people.

kjf

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