Klarinet Archive - Posting 000627.txt from 2002/06

From: "Lawrence Whitney" <phoenix_811@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Lesson Rate Survey $
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 10:12:06 -0400

It might be interesting to investigate how far people really are willing to
drive to study with a great teacher. My commute is 45 mins each way for
what is supposed to be a weekly hour lesson but usually runs over to an hour
and a half, two hours, etc.

Larry Whitney
-----Original Message-----
From: LeliaLoban@-----.com]
Subject: [kl] Lesson Rate Survey $

Gary Van Cott wrote,
>$20 an hour in the 1950s! That was a lot of money.

My parents and I thought so, too! ;-)

Gary Van Cott wrote,
>When I started taking lessons (in the suburbs of LA)
>in the late 1950s my teacher got about $2.75 for a half
>hour. When my lessons ended in 1966 I don't think it
>was any more than $3.75.

Gene Nibbelin wrote,
>>Historical note-When I started studying in'37 or '38, the cost
>>was $2.00 for a 1/2 to 3/4 hour lesson. That gradually increased
>>to $5.00 in the next 7 or 8 years.

The Depression and WWII era prices are about what I'd expect, but the
suburban L. A. prices from the 1950s amaze me--$3.75 for a half hour, or
$7.50 per hour, was less than half the going rate for piano lessons in Marin
County, although I don't know what wind teachers were charging there,
because
lessons on more than one instrument weren't in our budget. My parents found
out about some local piano teachers who only charged $15 per hour, but
several of the active professional pianists charged $20 per hour in Marin.
My mother gulped hard and paid that much because she particularly wanted me
to study with Arthur Eisler. His price stayed the same until I stopped
taking lessons from him in 1966.

Gene Nibbelin wrote,
>>Concerning the 2 hour lesson. Scott Ellington, my teacher,
>>lives in a southern suburb of Ft. Myers. I live in NE Cape Coral
>>and the Cape is north of Ft. Myers. It is a 45 to 60 minute drive....

Yeowie! Okay, I understand. Congratulations on finding a teacher who can
inspire such a commute! :-)

Gene Nibbelin signed off,
>>(Who also has a cat named "Shadow". A Russian Blue, who enjoys my
>>practicing.)

I wish my Shadow Cat liked clarinets. She's the same color as a Russian
Blue, with silky, short fur. It seems her coat was just the luck of the
gene
pool, since she's an alley cat. She's solid gray with no markings, except
in
bright sunlight, when at some angles I can see very faint hints of tabby in
her undercoat. She's a small cat, shorter and stockier than a Russian
Blue.

Lelia

------------------------------

klarinet@-----.org
From: 13fang-snapper@-----.org (Shadow Cat)
Subject: Re: [kl] Lesson Rate Survey $

I'm making my half-blind pet human type this. ALLEY CAT?!! That's an
outrageous slur, especially coming from a MONGREL human! And I do not have
any tabby stripes whatsoever! None! No tabby! Not the merest hint of
tabby! And what's she doing looking at my undercoat anyway?! She's
imagining things!

I'm an efficiently compact, muscular cat, but stocky?! How dare she call me
stocky! She might as well accuse me of being plump! In fact, I am gaunt,
starved, weak with hunger, because she fails, fails, fails to provide me
with
the two extra breakfasts, the second helping of dinner and the 2:00 a.m.
snack I require to keep up my strength, and because she tortures me with
horrible noises on the infernal screech-stick cl*r*n*t. The least she could
do after subjecting me to these screams of the damned is feed me a nice
little brunch by way of apology.

Greetings to my fellow Shadow. I assume you're only pretending to enjoy the
noise because there's something to gain by ingratiating yourself, although
personally I think that pet humans ought to be kept in their place and not
coddled like that. But whatever works for you....

And, by the way, I am pure, deep blue-gray with a silvery gleam, and no
tabby!

Ssst,
Shadow Cat

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