Klarinet Archive - Posting 000429.txt from 2001/08

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Ab and C Clarinets
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 22:11:23 -0400

Sorry Neil, but what you say happens with maturation appears to me to be
a failure of music education. In other disciplines (mathematics, for
example, which I also have degrees in), no one enters college without a
fairly good idea of the history of the major branches of the material.
This is also true in most sciences, in painting, the dance, photography,
films, and lots of other disciplines. One can go even further and
suggest that the education process for those disciplines would have been
retarded without that historical knowledge.

I find that only in music (and I'm speaking about clarinet playing) is
there an assumption made that understanding the history of what we do is
not only unecessary but irrelevant to the end product.

Now, if you had said that he did not get that information from his
educational system because they don't know it either, I'd tend to agree
with you there. But that is nothing more than a further condemnation of
the system. What we turn out are some of the best technical players in
the world but who have enormous deficiencies in how they play because
they never understood that part of their subject.

I have said in the past that, while performances of K. 622 and 581 (for
example) are invariably technically marvellous when executed by American
players, the end musical result is that there is very little inherent
understanding of the musical needs of what they are playing. And this
assertion (which is my opinion, of course, not necessarily religious
truth) is just a byproduct of the failure of our music education system
(for clarinets, of course) to teach very much about music.

But they sure teach technqiue! That I agree. Unfortunately, technique
and musicianship don't necessarily mean the same thing.

Dan

Neil Leupold wrote:
>
> --- Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net> wrote:
>
> > And yet a young man who appears to be an up and coming player is
> > completely unaware of the sequence of events that caused it. That
> > is, because no one considered it an important part of his music
> > education, he appears to know nothing about the subject. That
> > is not a criticism of him as much as it is a crticism of the
> > entire music education system for clarinet players.
>
> This is a little premature isn't it? Kevin hasn't yet completed
> his degree program at SFASU. If I remember correctly, he's only
> in his first or second undergrad year. I received the information
> to which you refer over the course of earning my undergraduate de-
> gree. Shoryu Nohe, who recently earned his, did as well. Your
> wide brushstroke of condemnation toward "the entire music edu-
> cation system for clarinet players" seems improperly placed
> and too generally directed. If Kevin graduates from SFASU
> and still has not gained exposure to the origins and devel-
> opment of the clarinet, then you might be justified in saying
> a word or two about the quality of clarinet education at SFASU
> specifically. But even in that case, let's wait & see.
>
> Neil
>
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> Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
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>
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--
***************************
** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

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