Klarinet Archive - Posting 000152.txt from 2003/06
From: "Resurgere Jones" <resurgereweb@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Help with a beginner student
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 21:40:15 -0400
While I don't necessarily encourage kids to jump the gun on beginner band, I
haven't found that it does any harm, so I wouldn't worry about that. Just a
few months head-start is not enough to take the excitement away from
beginner band for a youngster, and the feeling of "I know this already" adds
to the sense of accomplishment. Just council him not to be too much of a
braggart, or it can lead to some social problems...
Also, you're not going to irreprepably (sp?) damage anything in technique in
this period of time. That said, embouchure is very difficult to teach. You
can emphasize certain basics, such as:
-- how much mouthpiece to take in and how to form the embouchure (what goes
where) by demonstration.
-- the airstream as a "cool," fast airstream. Demonstrate by having him
direct air onto his hand from several inches away.
-- the need to maintain a consistent, firm, but not clenched embouchure
around the mouthpiece. Firm corners, relatively soft bottom lip.
I've come to believe that a lot of the good of beginner lessons is to
demonstrate to the student what the instrument is *supposed* to sound like,
something they hear very little of even in band. Play the lines; show the
student what they can sound like. If you can get that sound in their head,
they will be more motivated to practice to achieve that sound, and they will
find their own adjustments on the embouchure and in other areas.
And of course there's assembly of the instrument, fingerings, music
notation, etc. to learn. It probably goes without saying, but don't worry
about teaching all the music notation at once. A good beginner book will
teach notation gradually as they need it to play more notes/fingerings and
shorter time divisions. I've used the Rubank books,but there are other
instrument instruction books out there. Avoid at all costs the band method
books -- they are designed for group instruction and have a lot of redundant
stuff in them. A good indivual book has a "teaching point" for every line.
Encourage him to practice, but rigid practice goals are not necessary at
this stage. If anything, you sometimes have to encourage beginners not to
overpractice, which can lead to sloppy practicing.
>From: "Brian Peterson" <brianp@-----.com>
>Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
>To: <klarinet@-----.org>
>Subject: [kl] Help with a beginner student
>Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 11:32:18 -0500
>
>Dear All,
>
>Please excuse the extremely basic nature of my inquiry.
>
>The mother of a sixth grader at the church I attend has asked me to spend a
>little time with her son this summer teaching him some of the basics of
>clarinet, i.e. embouchure, posture, reading notes, etc. before he begins in
>late August.
>
>Although he's gotten the "don't do anything until August" lecture, this kid
>is Really excited about playing the clarinet and now that the horn, reeds,
>mouthpiece have arrived in the mail he can hardly control himself. I
>should
>say that for this young man to be excited about anything is nothing short
>of a miracle.
>
>I'm embarrassed to say that although I've been playing clarinet for over a
>quarter of a century and have helped young students with their music from
>time to time, I've never actually had to explain to someone else how to
>form
>a correct embouchure. The last thing I want to do is to do irreparable
>harm, so I would like to know what those of you who teach tell your young,
>beginning students.
>
>Thanks so much for your assistance.
>
>Brian Peterson
>
>
>
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