Author: TomNY
Date: 2011-07-21 04:45
Greetings, everyone. I'm hoping someone can give me some feedback on a clarinet dilemma I'm facing at the moment.
I'm the father of an 11-year-old clarinet player (going into 7th grade). My son is a good musician--not a prodigy, but that's not the issue here. He's been given a piece by his clarinet teacher to prepare for next year's state music festival (NYSSMA, for those of you who know New York). The piece is Concerto in Eb for Clarinet and Piano, by Franz Anton Rossler (the second of the composer's two clarinet concerti in this key).
Here's my problem/question: I think this piece is way too difficult for a musician of this age. I'm a pianist, so I'm not sure what constitutes an appropriate piece for an 11-year-old clarinet player, but I thought somebody here might know. Of course I plan to bring my concerns to his teacher, but I'm hoping to hear what other experienced players think about this first. Are any of you familiar with this piece? In doing some cursory hunting around the internet, I see it listed on university websites (in one case, as an appropriate audition piece for the university). That in itself seems to substantiate my concern. But I'm not looking to be "right" here; I'm trying to find out if perhaps I'm way off base in thinking this piece is more likely suited to a senior high school student than a seventh grader. In reading the score myself, I thought it was a pretty busy piece. I've been listening as my son practices, and I know he's reading rhythms wrong in numerous places (his teacher says they'll clean this up later, but that makes no sense to me whatsoever), and his tempo is erratic overall. I think he's in way over his head, but I assume it's a NYSSMA Level 5 piece, which is what he's supposedly ready for at this point.
I know I've gone on very long here, and I'm grateful to anyone who's taken the time to read this and who might be able to help. Thanks for sharing your musical knowledge, and best wishes to everyone in this online community.
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