Klarinet Archive - Posting 000257.txt from 2003/11
From: "Ken Wolman" <kwolman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] School instruments
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 15:31:10 -0500
Kevin Callahan wrote:
> This was not the case at my US high school. We had excellent school
> instruments (and my senior year they were all refurbished, including
> silver plating and lacquer). However, the US, as a federalist system,
> means that schools are independent. I was in a very affluent
> neighborhood. That may well explain our good fortune.
>
> Kevin M. Callahan
> MIDN 3/C USNR
My kids went to school in an affluent area too. The instruments were
appropriate to a marching band: the school system, affluent or not,
couldn't afford Greenlines for every clarinetist, so they had Buffet
B12s. My playing kid wasn't in this loop: he played trumpet:-). But as
early as Junior High, irrespective of the instrument, they encouraged
parents to rent instruments with an option to buy. That's why Ben, at
22, still has the Holton trumpet he played through junior high and four
years of marching and concert band in high school.
So the equipment wasn't a problem. The teaching was. There was one
roving instructor. He may have been harried and overworked, but he made
snap decisions and wouldn't or couldn't lend any assistance in terms of
private lessons. Ten minutes every two weeks doesn't do it. His take
on my kid's trumpet playing was to move to the euphonium or tuba because
his trumpet embouchure didn't let him hit high notes. Well, how about
that?--but if someone had TAUGHT him how to blow properly and corrected
his embouchure, he might have had an easier time.
This is no different from the so-called "lessons" I had in school long
before: large-group blast-into-the-horn sessions with no instruction
except from a District instructor with a name calculated to make 5th
Grade boys giggle: Mrs. Balz. I had a few lessons from some private
teacher when I got into high school, but that was it. All my bad habits
are still with me. I'm hopeful that the guy I'm starting to work with
next week will help me spot and overcome the bad habits, presumably
before he hits the floor laughing. What I wasn't taught is absolutely
scary.
And no, the teacher is not Giora Feidman, it's an MM candidate at
Rutgers. Feidman charges more than I could afford:-).
Ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538
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