Klarinet Archive - Posting 000247.txt from 2001/04

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] beginning student
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 17:26:08 -0400

<><> somebody wrote:
I haven't posted on the list before

Welcome to the list, sorry I lost track of your name.

<><> I am thinking of asking all the parents to buy the same basic
mouthpiece.

This topic has been discussed many times (you can search the
Klarinet archives with words such as 'mouthpiece' and 'school' and
'same' or 'require'), but I've never participated in this topic
before.... so here's my $.02 worth:

It seems to me that one of the long term goals of clarinet
education is to develop the student's ability to distinguish between the
effects of his/her own embouchure, tongue position, breath support, etc
and the effects of a particular piece of equipment. That is, you
_want_ (imo ymmv) the student to wonder, "What's going on here? Is it
the mouthpiece or me?" Therefore you should give the student (and the
student's parents) the opportunity and perhaps a gentle suggestion to
experiment within the limits of their budgets. "Does Sam play better
because of his mouthpiece? Or does that flat chin account for the
difference?" And so forth.

I have argued repeatedly that competition and demands for
'excellence' can be as damaging as they can be productive for the bulk
of students. Therefore the argument that uniform equipment will
produce a 'better sounding band/orchestra' doesn't satisfy me at the
beginning student level; and once a student is beyond the beginner
stage, he/she really needs to develop an ear for equipment differences
anyway, and equipment uniformity is counterproductive to this.

If a student has a truly inappropriate mouthpiece, then the teacher
owes some advice to the student. But uniformity? NO! (imo ymmv)

Cheers,
Bill

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