Klarinet Archive - Posting 001294.txt from 2004/03

From: "Christy Erickson" <perickso@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] not just the music department
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:29:01 -0500

"In this case, the use of the "crutch" (electronic tuner) caused people =
to=20
MISS the underlying problem entirely! Frankly, I don't see how one =
could=20
get that far in music with so basic a pitch problem, but clearly he will =

get no better than mediocre unless he CAN eventually pick up the=20
skill. Which tends to prove my point. Relying on the electronic help =
will=20
get you only so far. I'm not accusing him of being lazy, but intensive=20
training MIGHT still work. Who knows?"

Bill, I'm afraid I haven't made myself clear here. This student was =
playing
saxophone and I suppose since everyone complains about the saxophones =
being
out of tune, maybe no one took a closer look. I didn't say this student =
was
using a tuner when he was playing or even to tune his saxophone before
tuning. Many band directors tune their students so it's my guess that =
no
one knew or bothered to check more closely whether this kid had any =
sense of
pitch. He simply had a bad ear to begin with-tuner or not. He would =
never
be able to become a music major but had gotten that far before someone
discovered he sang in a monotone voice and couldn't distinguish a 5th =
from a
second, etc... This became apparent in a music theory class when he =
was
required to sight sing. Sadly, no one had bothered to screen for this
before he got into college and wanted to major in music. There are =
those
who have weaknesses like this and in my opinion, it doesn't mean they =
ought
not play music. If a tuner helps someone like this with a "bad" ear to =
tune
their instrument and they can stay within reasonable pitch while =
playing,
why shouldn't they have some fun? This student really WAS dependent on =
a
machine but he did not yet know it. Amazingly, he was getting by by
fingering the correct notes and that's as far as his musical ability =
truly
went. =20
My daughter has always had trouble with math. She has ADHD, =
cyclothymia,
and mild Tourette's. Her short term memory is not very good and is very
inconsistent from day to day. Her IEP says she can use a calculator to
double check basic math facts if she needs to do that in a hurry when =
doing
complex math problems. It doesn't mean she doesn't know the math facts =
and
is being lazy. It simply means she cannot always retrieve them from her
brain as fast as she needs to to keep up with the rest of the class at
times. As I said, it varies from day to day. One day she'll be able to
retrieve the answer to 9 x 8 immediately and the following day the
information is simply not there or it takes her 10 minutes to retrieve =
it.
It's not that people haven't worked with her on this or that she has not
practiced. She really truly CAN'T do this like many of the other kids =
are
able to. She is now in 7th grade and if she was required to retrieve =
those
math facts up from her brain without help on a bad day, she'd never =
finish
her assignment when performing complex, multi-step math problems. The
neuropsychologist said that math is the least important skill to worry
about, since we do have the most assistive technology available in this
area. My guess is that my daughter has practiced these basic math facts =
far
more than the kids who memorized them perhaps in the 4th or 5th grade =
and
there is a possibility that she may never know them as well as some =
others.
It's due to the brain disorder and unless the medical field makes some
amazing advances in this area that could help her short-term memory =
skills
in the near future, it's rather cruel to tell her she's "lazy" or =
"doesn't
work hard enough." =20

Christy

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