Klarinet Archive - Posting 000928.txt from 2004/07

From: "Christy Erickson" <perickso@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Advice needed on young clarinet student wanting to learn sax
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:48:30 -0400

I have a young student (going into fourth grade this year) who started
taking clarinet lessons with me last summer. I was reluctant to take a
clarinet student so young, although I have had students this age in the =
past
and have been successful at teaching them to play. The student in =
question
originally wanted to learn to play the saxophone, but was a bit too =
small
for that instrument so we started her on clarinet with a neck strap.=20
This child turned out to be an absolutely awesome student. Her =
clarinet
tone is excellent. When I had my last student recital, this little 8 =
year
old asked why a 9th grader's clarinet tone sounded "funny." I didn't =
know
what to say but her observation was right on. I had been working with =
the
older student on tone and hadn't been able to get very far in helping =
her
improve her tone, even with various mouthpieces, reeds, etc... This 8 =
year
old is simply a natural with a great ear. =20
This morning, she came to her lesson with an old Selmer Bundy =
saxophone
her Grandma had purchased at the local St. Vinny's, of all places, and =
she
had taken it in to be overhauled. This girl also started taking piano
lessons this summer and I'm a bit hesitant to start with the saxophone, =
for
fear it may be a bit overwhelming and a tad confusing to be working on 3
instruments at the same time but the Mom has really been pushing for it.
She is crossing the break on her clarinet but is still having some
difficulty with that skill. She does learn by ear, and so it has been a =
bit
of a challenge to teach her to read rhythms from the written page. =20
Any ideas or suggestions? I'm under the impression she intends to
continue playing the clarinet but I just think 3 instruments at one time =
may
be too much. Shall I suggest to the Mom that we discontinue clarinet =
and
start working on saxophone? Continue with clarinet and start saxophone =
at
the same time? In our area, kids don't start on instrumental music =
until
5th grade so I'm wondering what she'll be doing in the school band =
program
by that time without being incredibly bored. Percussion perhaps? I do
have a friend who had a flute student who started at a very young age =
and
when that student got to 5th grade, they did have her play percussion =
for
the first year so she wouldn't have to sit through all the beginner =
flute
lessons.=20
Has anyone had an experience similar to this? Ideas please. =20
Christy

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org