Klarinet Archive - Posting 000374.txt from 2004/10

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Daniel Bonade and Rose
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 10:17:03 -0400

Dear List,

I recently came across this Daniel Bonade quote (in, of all places, "The
Band Director's Guide", by Kenneth L. Neidig, Pub. Prentice Hall, Copyright
1964):

"My idea in teaching is to wait until a student is able to master his
instrument sufficiently before giving him any solos to play because
beginners contract bad habits with solos and sometimes cannot get rid of
them. This is just a private opinion, of course".

My understanding is Mr. Bonade felt everything you needed to know about
being an orchestral clarinetist was in Rose (and, perhaps, a few other
etude books). At Juilliard, you would play through the Rose Etudes to his
satisfaction and after having done so you would repeat them, to his higher
satisfaction. He didn't seem to teach many orchestral excerpts (which is
ironic, considering he literally wrote the book) and asked for only a
select few of the most standard clarinet solos in the repertoire.

It is hard to argue with his track record in placing orchestral clarinet
players, but it is interesting to note that the Rose studies seem to have
become "too easy" for the modern clarinet player. I have spoken with
collegiate players who dismiss them as etudes studied in junior high or
high school and, therefore, not worthy of their attention at the collegiate
level. It am certainly willing to admit the possibility that clarinet
playing has changed drastically in the last 50 odd years since Mr. Bonade
was on the faculty of Juilliard. So I offer a question:

Are the Rose studies too easy for the modern collegiate clarinet player?

-Adam

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