 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-01 08:01
How many practice hours before entering a music department of college or university? Some people says at least 5000 hours,however talented,if we try to become pros in future.I would like to ask those who passed the entrance exams and became pros how many hours they had practiced after starting playing clarinet.It may be (or may not be) a somewhat guidance to young ambitious people.
Personally I gave up becoming a pro in my youth,when I came across an awful number 5000 since I was a late beginner of 15 years of age:My calculations was 18(entrance age,since I was borne in December) - 15=3 years, 5000/3/365=4.6hours.
Every-day! At least! Rain or Snow or Holdays or Vacations!
It was a simple calculation.
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Author: ted
Date: 1999-03-01 11:47
I don't know the answer, but there are exceptions. There was a young guy I heard in concert about five years ago who started clarinet at 16 named Todd Palmer. He played trumpet prior to clarinet. I know he has recorded at least one CD. He also had some great teachers- Gervase dePeyer to name one. Also Jean Piere Rampal, the great flute player, started playing flute at 18 I've heard, but his father was also a great flute player.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-03-01 12:10
Hiroshi wrote:
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How many practice hours before entering a music department of college or university? Some people says at least 5000 hours,however talented,if we try to become pros in future.
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The general number I hear bandied about is 4000 hours; not to become a pro or to get into a music department, but to become technically proficient (not necessarily <i>musically</i> proficient.
Based on what I've been listening to during college/conservatory entrance auditions, I think 4000 hours is probably about right for entrance into the top schools.
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-03-01 12:30
Yet you cannot take a hard and fast number for any physical skill and say that I will have reached level X by that time. There are several elements that come into play.
1. The quality of practice time. Is it mindlessly running through the exercises or is the student thinking and studying?
2. Talent comes into play. Natural ability makes a big difference. I have seen that in my own family. My daughter learned Novice level Morse code in half the "normal" time. It took me twice the "normal" time.
Also you need to use the proper time scale. One should include about four years of post high school time in their estimate of hours. Beginners in elementary school are not ready to put in extended hours. Yet college students may have the discipline and physical stamina to put in extended hours.
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Author: Mario
Date: 1999-03-01 16:39
The musical field is becoming quite competitive. You have to be very good to make a decent living at it. Only a few reached the elite level of concert solists.
I have read somewhere (on this bulleting board?) that you need 10,000 hours of work to become a Master violonist. This is about 10 years of training (1000 hours per year, 3 hours per day, 330 days per year). You might be able to accelerate with a few more hours per year. Incredible talent might trim a couple of years, but musical maturity takes time and personal growth.
Look at it this way. One who is really serious will put 3 hours per day most of the days. Assuming that he/she starts in his(her) low teens, a young musician would then reach top level in his(her) ealy twenties. This seems to be the trend and correspond to most tracks following by youg graduate students in the musical field.
Violonists and pianists (because they can often start much earlier) will often (with talent and proper training) reach an amazing level by their mid teens. I suspect that those very few are already very close to the 10,000 hours mark by then.
There is no other about it. It takes effort and dedication.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-01 20:50
I heard once Maurice Andret pays trumpet at least 8 hours. Heifetzs,Rubinstein,more hours.That comes from the fact that they really loved(s) music and exercise is not compulsory matter!
Thank you!
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Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-03-02 00:32
So for those of us who started really late (in my thirties in my case) are there any role models that "made it" after starting that late?
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Author: Evan
Date: 1999-03-02 01:13
I really do not think that there is a set number, when you sound good, you sound good. Practicing does make a big difference, charlie parker practiced 14 hours a day for six years, so did sonny Rollins and John Coletrane.
The most important thing to remember is to always play cahlenging things when practicing and taking musical growth little by little, If you do this and have great natural talent, you will succeed
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Author: Tim2
Date: 1999-03-02 03:10
There was a young guy I heard in concert about five years ago who started clarinet at 16 named Todd Palmer.
I have a recording of his, on which is none other than the Berstein Sonata. Personally, I think his upper range tends toward being "spread." It is solid but just a bit spread to my ears. He looks pretty young in the photo. I would imagine that if one is already a performing musician, the whole process of reading music does not have to be relearned. Quicker study, I think.
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Author: ted
Date: 1999-03-02 13:51
I haven't heard Todd Palmer since the concert. I remember being very impressed by his technique, and the fact that he played from memory.
He may have been taught to produce a tone that sounds "spread" to our ears, who are used to very "focused" tones. I believe his teacher, dePeyer, has a somewhat different concept of tone than my teachers. I have some older recordings of dePeyer, and his tone in the upper registers is flute-like (and even has a slow narrow controlled vibrato). By the way, I've read a lot of criticism of dePeyer's tone in recent recordings, but I really like some of his recordings from the sixties.
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Author: Tim2
Date: 1999-03-04 04:10
I do very much like dePeyer's tone. I think that bit of vibrato is great. I have him doing Sheperd on the Rock with Beverly Sills. I have heard other concertos with him too. Spohr #1. His tone is one of the best. But you're right, not in everyone's.
I guess this is not what I hear in Todd Palmer. I will grant you that Todd sounds like a very good artist. His Bernstein is very good, musically. I like what he does.
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