The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Meri
Date: 2003-10-10 18:29
Have any of you ever used Paul Harris' Clarinet Method for Beginners?
I have been using this method with a student who's been studying with me almost a month now (she had been playing in a school music program for two years before, but her mom did not want her writing in the note names, which is why she decided to try private lessons), with a lot of success. For her, the method I normally use (Galper's Clarinet Method) did not seem to work for her at the very first lesson, and her mom told me she has visual tracking problems. My intuition said that I should look for a method that has the notes printed slightly larger, wider spaced, and does not progress quite as quickly rhythmically as the Galper does. (She knows her non-chromatic notes up to high C, her sound is not too bad).
With reminding her to look ahead in the music, and adding a new note one note at a time, she is now telling me that she finds it easier to read without the note names written in, has a solid understanding of eighth notes (will be teaching her dotted notes next lesson, hopefully as far as the dotted eighth and sixteenth, because that's a rhythmic figure the grade 7 students are expected to know at her school--I sing the praises of this middle school--it's one that "aims for the sun" in terms of quality!). Given her success, and the logistics of the Harris book, I am definitely going to try it with future young students. (Adult beginners I teach using Paul Harvey's The Complete Clarinet Player).
Also, if you're looking for a great theory book for young students (8-12 years old, though I would shift the suitability to 9-13) , consider trying Theory for Young Musicians, which is a theory book I have found my young students enjoy.
Meri
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