Klarinet Archive - Posting 001309.txt from 2000/10

From: rgarrett@-----.edu
Subj: RE: [kl] A curricular issue
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 17:18:41 -0400

At 10:02 AM 10/27/2000 -0700, you wrote:
> Teachers want their
>students in the performing group; conductors want the best performers in
>their ensemble. Often these are not the same people. (As both a teacher and
>conductor, Roger must hate himself!)

Both sentences carry a lot of insightfulness. I tell my conducting
students that I generally do not like conductors. They look at me like I'm
from Mars because I conduct a band and teach conducting! I feel pulled
apart sometimes when I have to walk into rehearsal and do conductor things
(that are necessary to get the students to focus and work hard in
rehearsal......and then motivate them to work outside of rehearsal) when I
know how they feel. Still, it makes me a better performer for our
conductor in Peoria when I view it that way. Thankfully, he is much more
human than most conductors - I think he may even be from our planet!

>You can think about this as the "Charlie Neidich problem." What do you do
>when an anthropology major strolls in to your band room and blows the socks
>off every other clarinet player in the school?

Me? I put him in the top spot. If my clarinet majors complain (which they
wouldn't dare.....right Rachel???), they would get the old, why don't you
practice harder lecture. We live in a competitive world - in my opinion,
students need to earn their positions. They don't deserve the position by
virtue of their degree program (uh oh, I let a bit of opinion slip there!!!!).

>It's one thing to limit enrollment in a conservatory; quite another at a
>music school that is part of a larger [public] university. Music majors are
>*required* to take classes outside the Music Department -- and they do
>indeed push history majors out of required history classes! (That's why you
>often see seniors taking intro history classes, to fill out the requirements
>of their degree). If the university as a whole has an open admission
>policy, what is so freakin' special about the music department that it gets
>to be an exception?

Now this is a very good point I hadn't thought of. Thanks!

Sincerely,
Roger Garrett

Roger Garrett
Professor of Clarinet
Director, Symphonic Winds
Advisor, IWU Recording Services
Illinois Wesleyan University
School of Music
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900
(309) 556-3268

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