 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Ashley91489
Date: 2008-06-29 17:11
I'll be majoring in music ed. and taking applied lessons on clarinet, working w/ the clarinet professor.
What exactly do you do during these type lessons? What do you work on and what are you expected to know/learn?
Any other information as well as advice would be greatly appreciated!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-06-29 17:33
Ashley,
With a good teacher you will get out of the lessons what you put into it. If you practice, prepare, and conduct yourself as a performance major does you (hopefully) will receive the same education. This does vary between schools and teachers.
There is at some institutions, unfortunately, the perception that music ed majors are often not as serious about studying as performance majors (and this is often true in its' own way).
If you are studying with an excellent teacher you will hopefully be challenged on many levels, and you may have to seriously re-evaluate and change your fundamental skills.
You should also attempt to wring every bit of information that can be squeezed from your teacher at every opportunity!
Good luck!
James
Gnothi Seauton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-29 17:36
I can only speak to what we do at Peabody. We treat all clarinet majors the same, performance and Ed students. We don’t differentiate them at their juries, seating auditions or studio expectations. Of course each teacher can make their own decisions on what and how much to assign. We expect all majors to be the same quality musicians and instrumentalist. Even at their entrance auditions, all clarinet majors are competing as equals regardless of the degree they are seeking. I hope that gives you some insight. I know that depends greatly on the school you’re attending.
When I taught at Towson University I had mostly music ed majors. I gave them as much material as I felt they needed at the level of playing they were at so they could become reasonably good musicians and try to relate their clarinet playing to the other instruments they were taught in methods class. In other words I was just as interested in how well they were able to play the clarinet in order to learn musicianship, phrasing, listening to intonation etc. as I was in trying to get them to understand how to apply it to the other instruments they would have to teach. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 (Listen to a little Mozart, live performance)
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2008-06-29 20:40)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2008-06-29 18:59
Make sure you pay attention to how your teacher teaches as well as what your teacher teaches. In fact, you may want to use some of your lesson time to discuss clarinet (and music) pedagogy. Beyond using the lessons to learn how to play an instrument, you should use them to learn how to teach it.
Also, if you are considering a career that involves directing a school band or orchestra and, if your school allows it, you might want to consider using at least some semesters to learn the rudiments (or beyond) of a variety of instruments rather than focusing entirely on one instrument for your entire college career. Beyond any class lessons you have in brass, string, and percussion instruments, you may find it useful to explore one or more of their members in more depth. I think you'll be a better teacher for it. (If brass and percussion players spent a little more time on woodwinds, we might have fewer school band leaders demanding that all their students play the same reed and a B45 mouthpiece.) In any case, I would recommend that you not complete your program without at least being reasonably proficient on saxophone and I personally don't think you can ever be too good on piano.
Just MOO.
Best regards,
jnk
Post Edited (2008-06-29 19:01)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GBK
Date: 2008-06-29 19:20
Good advice above from Jack.
Speaking as a recently retired high school/jr high/elementary school band director (yes - I've done them all), aside from absorbing everything you can during your applied music classes on brass, strings and percussion I would also recommend getting friendly with music majors of the less common band/orchestral instruments.
Continually ask them questions, get tips, and find out the common student/beginner problems when learning their instruments (and of course how to solve them).
Nothing makes me more angry (or embarrasses our profession) than a beginning music teacher who has no clue what to do with a first year bassoon, viola or French horn student ...GBK
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ursa
Date: 2008-06-30 05:19
Ashley,
As far as what to expect from lessons...relax, and remember that incoming music students vary in levels of proficiency and talent. As you start with lessons, your professor is going to figure out where you're at in your development, and build from there.
My best advice: Take a good, hard look at your practice routines in terms of how efficiently and effectively you practice. And don't wait 'til school starts, do it now. I practically lived in a practice room as a Music Ed major and still did not have sufficient time to prepare everything to a level of excellence (or mere competence) that I could feel pleased about. In addition to my major instruments, I always had material for piano, voice, and at least one other instrument to study--and that one other instrument was often a real chore to develop proficiency upon. Practice time is going to be one of your most precious commodities...learn to use it to best advantage.
GBK makes excellent points in his post above. Looking back, I constantly regret investing too much time developing as a performer while spending too little effort developing as an professional educator who could effectively teach instruments that are dissimilar to the ones I know well.
Suggestion: Why not contact your clarinet professor and ask him/her the same questions you posted here on the BBoard?
Best Regards,
Ursa
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
