Klarinet Archive - Posting 000064.txt from 2002/02

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Stiff Finger joint
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 21:06:51 -0500

Should have been:

I understand that some children (and grown-ups) are physically better suited
to certain instruments and ill-suited to others. I don't understand your
righteous anger at anyone who would put a student's inspiration and interest
above pedagogical "wisdom." We weren't all "sleeping through college," nor
were all of our colleges "inaddiquate." Sometimes we just choose to take
different directions.

My evening snack was waiting in the kitchen and I didn't re-read as
carefully as I should have. :-)

Karl Krelove

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karl Krelove [mailto:kkrelove@-----.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 8:39 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: RE: [kl] Stiff Finger joint
>
>
> You know, sometimes it isn't the teacher who makes the choice of
> instrument.
> You can guide a young prospective player to an instrument he or she is
> *best* suited for physically, but you can't, in any environment in which
> I've ever taught, dictate the final choice. If the child is
> enamored of the
> sound or the look of a specific instrument, there are those of us
> who, your
> anger and whatever we were told in college notwithstanding, would rather
> have him(her) try the instrument of his choice (if it isn't physically
> impossible) than force him into a playing experience we choose for him
> because of the length of his fingers (or arms, etc...).
>
> I have a 9th grade private student whom I've taught since last summer. He
> has an abnormally short right hand ring finger. When he started studying
> with me he was struggling to play anything technical. His short fourth
> finger made it impossible for him to cover the G/D hole and still get his
> 5th finger on the right hand E/B or F/C keys without opening the first
> finger (Bb/F) hole. The contortions he was going through were
> unbelievable.
> He is now playing very fluently and has become a very good player. It was
> *impossible* for him to play the clarinet as he bought it, so I contacted
> Mike Hammer, who is an excellent repair tech in the Philadelphia area, and
> asked if he could provide any mechanical help. With an (admittedly
> expensive) bit of key work it became *very possible* for this young man to
> play excellently. Would he have been as good on any other
> instrument that a
> music teacher chose for him in fourth grade? If he had stuck with it, yes,
> absolutely. But *he* chose a clarinet for some reason and has been willing
> to struggle with it all this time even without the benefit of the
> mechanical
> accommodation.
>
> My college roommate is something like 5'4" or maybe, tops 5'6" and was a
> very successful trombonist for several years. He used an
> instrument with an
> F attachment and just didn't use 7th position.
>
> I understand that some children (and grown-ups) are physically
> better suited
> to certain instruments and ill-suited to others. I don't understand your
> righteous anger at anyone who would put pedagogical "wisdom" above a
> student's inspiration and interest. We weren't all "sleeping through
> college," nor were all of our colleges "inaddiquate." Sometimes we just
> choose to take different directions.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Karl Krelove
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Richard Bush [mailto:rbushidioglot@-----.com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 1:05 PM
> > To: klarinet@-----.org
> > Subject: Re: [kl] Stiff Finger joint
> >
> >
> > When I read something like this I get mad. Why wasn't this person
> > properly screened when she started? We shouldn't have very short people
> > with short parents start trombone---no seventh position, even when they
> > grow up. We don't put kids with course, shredding lip tissue on flute.
> > We don't (or shouldn't) put kids with very double jounted conditions of
> > their thumbs on clarinet.
> >
> > Were these music teachers sleeping through college, or were their
> > colleges so inaddiquate that they didn't teach these BASICS to their
> > music ed students?
> >
> > JMarioneau@-----.com wrote:
> >
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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