Klarinet Archive - Posting 000346.txt from 2003/10

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] reeds for beginners?
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 21:20:26 -0400

Nancy Buckman wrote,
>Just curious.....how does one blow properly into a mouthpiece/barrel?
>I know this wasn't your idea here, but there are many different sounds
>produced when blowing through just a mouthpiece and barrel and
>unless you have playing experience the acquired sound is hard to
>control. IMHO, I don't see anything that can be gained, other than
>making a lot of noise.

Bingo. Yup, a lot of noise. Horrible noise! Squealing, shrieking,
ear-twisting noise! Now think back to when we were nine years old. At
that age, how much did we understand about Mozart, Brahms, music theory and
the history of the clarinet? More to the point, how much did we care? I,
for one, didn't give half a dry squeak about any of that stuff, but....
YEEEEEheeheeheehee! An excuse to MAKE NOISE!! And get away with it, too,
because it's *educational*!

Offhand, I can't imagine a better way to seduce kids into the joys of
making music....
:-)

My grade school teacher won the class over by casting himself in the role
of subversive and his students in the roles of his accomplices. In the
1950s, a lot of school was about sitting still and being quiet. Even at
recess, teachers shushed us so that we wouldn’t disturb the kids still in
class. I forget exactly what he said on that first day of band, but he let
us know that band was not about sitting still and shutting up. Later, of
course, he taught us to *refine* the noise, but I’ve never forgotten the
unadulterated glee when he showed us how to squeal our mouthpieces and head
joints alone. That session was nothing like military boot camp, believe
me--although, come to think of it, other teachers later had to forbid some
of the kids from deploying the mouthpieces outside the band room.

I missed replying to the thread about Jack Brymer's obituary awhile ago.
Kevin and I just had Space Invaders (houseguests) ; I had an informal
composition competition entry to finish; entering meant committing to vote
on the entries other than my own; and next week I’m off to California to
visit my folks. Sorry to have missed out on some interesting discussions,
but maybe this is as good a time and place as any to say that my
inspiration as a beginning clarinet player didn't come from anything I was
playing, because at that age I did have just enough musical taste to
realize that I sounded appalling. The enthusiasm came despite the noise I
made, in part because of my grade school band teacher's infectious
enthusiasm, in part because my parents loved music and kept the house full
of it, and in part because, early on, my Aunt Mary gave me Jack Brymer's LP
of the Mozart concerto. No specific teaching technique excited me about the
clarinet. Hearing the *potential* was my inspiration.

Lelia Loban
lelialoban@-----.net]
Web site (originals music scores as audio or print-out)
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/LeliaLoban

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