Klarinet Archive - Posting 000158.txt from 2002/10

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Making Someone Feel Stupid (was [kl] Re: painted mouthpieces)
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2002 07:12:19 -0400

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeremy Yager [mailto:bomber@-----.com]
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Rebecca Brennan" <rjbrennan1221@-----.com>
>>
>> ... I learned my lesson about saying anything to
>> people who
>> are far superior to such a young student.
>
> Rebecca,
> Be careful of the lesson that you learn, it seems you are learning the
> wrong one. Most of this community are quite nice folks. The one
> post was a
> touch harsh, and then some folks came along aid so. I saw some discussion
> afterward, but it all seemed at least fairly productive.
>
Rebecca,

There's another lesson to be learned - how not to answer a question. I had a
clarinet teacher once when I was in junior high school - very well reputed
in the Philadelphia area where I lived and later went on to a very respected
position in a major U.S. orchestra. He made a regular exercise of making me
feel stupid at practically every lesson I went to. I very nearly quit
playing the clarinet because the abuse. Another teacher (my band director at
school) convinced me to stick it out until the end of the year, when I was
able to change teachers. I learned a lot that year - none of it about the
clarinet. But I did learn what not to do when, years later, I began to teach
my own students.

Ironically, the knowledge of what not to do has probably been as valuable as
anything else I've learned in the years since. Stay with us and read.
Sometimes the temperature gets a little hot even among the more experienced
list members. No one here is vicious.

Best wishes,

Karl Krelove

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