Klarinet Archive - Posting 001124.txt from 2004/07

From: "Thomas" <thomas@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Essential Elements
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 06:22:08 -0400

Sorry, gang, but I hate this series.

They used EE for a while in our district and it was awful, the kids made
absolutely no progress in a year. Two books of EE is the technical
equivalent of Book 1 Breeze Easy plus the first three pages of 16ths in BEz
2 - check it for yourselves. The district went back to Breeze Easy. Much
more substantial - even tho it's old, it still teaches things in a good
progression. We as teachers can make certain aspects of playing easier for
the kids - I don't totally like what BEz does with B and the "Break" (there
is no such thing) but that's only because they work on it too soon. People
shouldn't try to fix what isn't broken.

Anyway, back to EE - if you look at the layout of the book, it is very busy.
I think the kids need to multi task just to be able to read the thing. I
have had some kids with LDs who can NOT follow it, and I switched them off.
It pissed one school teacher off until they figured out why I did it. When
the kids started to be able to read, the teacher switched them all back.

EE makes no sense in the order of how it teaches what it teaches, does not
give enough practice or sensible practice to each new "element" and hops all
over. It spends too much time on things that don't need it, and not enough
on what does. I wonder if serious musicians were ever consulted when
developing each book? Probably not.

The series teaches to band music, instead of music itself, let alone the
instrument. That is not a good way to teach anything. These band series
were developed because school districts are cutting back on music programs
and that way band directors don't have to teach lessons in the schools and
they don't need to hire so many teachers. They also make it so the parents
think they don't have to take their kids out and get them lessons in order
for the band to be able to play. It was developed because the directors
don't really know how to teach instruments they don't play. They can all
play a tune in Bb and VOILA! They are musicians! This is the Music Man,
not music education. I am not a Dr. Tim fan. A lot of his stuff panders to
this stuff. He is a good salesman.

The flute book does not teach B natural until sometime through the second
book. This makes it nearly impossible to get kids to remember to play B
natural, and takes months to break the habit - not to mention students
telling me that Bb is the "regular" B.

For the overall series, I like BEz the best. But it's not a "band book."
For that, I'd stick wtih Yamaha, at least you know what you are getting.
Accent on Achievement is not so hot but it has a lot of songs, my son has
used that (Trumpet) because we started him in 2nd grade, but it was so
weird - they were putting in 6/8 songs, and hadn't taught 6/8..... (Galper's
book does that, too....or at least the edition I have does....)

Lynn

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