Klarinet Archive - Posting 000710.txt from 2001/01

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: playing along with students (was: mouthpieces)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 13:16:54 -0500

I must agree with Sir Edwin in large part.

Many students get very good at shadow boxing, anticipating through visual cues
and body language when to proceed to the next note. Duets are often the
giveaway when rhythms do not line up vertically and the student must do his own
counting, thinking and land on his next note IN TIME. One of the biggest
problems that band students have is that they play the same piece day after day
after day. They are never required to get it RIGHT after just one, two or three
go throughs. Such rote learning creates a band that sounds like a herd of
sheep. Attacks and releases are molasses.

I will seldom play along with my student when they play what they have
(hopefully) prepared. If they miss a rhythm, I will stop them, I will talk
about it, I will help them analyze it, BUT I WILL NOT PLAY IT FOR THEM, SING IT
FOR THEM OR EVEN CLAP IT FOR THEM as it really goes. At some time in their
lives, they must figure this stuff out for themselves.

I do think one of the jobs of the teacher is to provide concepts and examples
of tone, attach, dynamics and all of the other basic playing skills. A teacher
who NEVER provides examples is short changing the student. They are, simply,
not getting their money's worth.

When to play and not to play with a student is walking a thin line. The teacher
who says or demonstrates to the student, "It goes like this....da dump de dump
de dump," is taking the worst possible shortcut, the most expedient way and is
doing a great disservice to the student. They can get that crap in school with
their band director.

"Lacy, Edwin" wrote:

> > I was very fortunate to be "brainwashed" with my teacher's tone
> > when I was very young. To this day, I "play along" with all of my
> > students for most of the lesson for that very reason, developing a
> > concept and execution (that sounds like a terrible word) of tone
> > production.
>
> But, if you think you sound exactly or very nearly like your teacher, or
> that your students sound exactly like you, there is a better than even
> chance that neither of these are happening. We have to remember that the
> sound of an instrument to the player is very different from the sound to a
> listener, and also different to a nearby listener and a more distant one,
> such as in an auditiorium at an orchestra concert. If you sat next your
> teacher, listened, and then tried to make a tone that sounded to you exactly
> like the teacher's example, you would be producing a different tone quality.
>
> However, in my opinion, there are even more and better reasons for NOT
> playing along with students in lessons. It is true that they need to hear
> good examples of the tone of their instrument, in addition to matters of
> musical interpretation. But, if the teacher is playing along with
> everything or nearly everything the student does, then a student with a good
> ear isn't really reading music, but is merely recreating what the teacher is
> doing. I have seen many examples of students who have been instructed in
> this manner who have very little idea of what music reading is all about.
>
> Someone told me something early in my career which is somewhat
> controversial, but which I have found to contain some truth. He said, "If
> you are playing, you aren't teaching." True, you are giving examples of
> various kinds, but this falls in the category of rote learning. I would
> like for the students to take a little more initiative, so that they can
> also play to the top of their ability when I am no longer sitting beside
> them. When I play in lessons, I find that I can never concern myself 100%
> with what the student is doing. There seems to be no way for me to totally
> ignore my own playing. After all, as the teacher, I want to play as well as
> I am able for the student, so I find myself thinking about how I am playing
> the music, how I am sounding, how my reed is working, etc.
>
> This is just how it seems to work for me. As the saying goes, "different
> strokes......."
>
> Ed Lacy
> **************************************************************
> Dr. Edwin Lacy, Professor of Music
> University of Evansville
> 1800 Lincoln Avenue
> Evansville, IN 47722
> telephone (812)479-2252; e-mail: EL2@-----.edu
> **************************************************************
>
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