 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ashley91489
Date: 2008-02-21 21:13
I'm talking 9th grade, doing very well for the age (playing 3 years). What should be emphasized and what all should be practiced? Best methods for teaching and instructing to help see some definite improvement?
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-02-21 21:50
Young teachers almost all talk too much. If your student isn't playing during most of the lesson, you're not doing it right.
For a 9th grader in the third year, a week's assignment might include learning to play a scale up and down two octaves, and then up and down in thirds, plus an etude and a popular song. Ask the student what his/her favorite song is and assign it for next week's lesson, played by ear in two different keys.
Concentrate on keeping the student playing and making enjoyable music. At this level, improvement comes as much from playing a lot as from studying.
Ken Shaw
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Author: davidsampson
Date: 2008-02-21 22:20
It all depends on how good they are. I would expect any ninth grader to be able to play all 12 major and 12 minor scales 2 octaves from memory If they can't, work on that. Start trying to find them solo to work up. K 622 is always a good choice, and an advanced 9th grader should be able to handle it. Theory is something that should be stressed, beyond your basic notes and rhythms. The Master Theory workbooks are very good, in my experience. They teach chord structure, arranging, basic composition, as well as your basics. Customize it to improve on your students weaknesses, but keep working on their strengths.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-02-21 22:46
FWIW, I would recommend the Rose Studies before attempting Mozart's Concerto.
Just a thought.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2008-02-21 22:52
quality tone production (long tones), embouchure (including learning how to deal with the register breaks), fingers & articulation (scales), phrasing through songs/etudes they like (starting dynamics and breathing).
If you have access to some play along music/CDs of easy songs, that's also a good way to introduce to intonation, often completely ignored until much later in the curriculum.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-02-22 02:28
i expect 9th grade and older students to warm up on a full range chromatic, plus all 12 major scales, full range, memorizied. all 12 major arpeggios, memorizied. the better 8th grade students, same thing, presuming they wish to continue with music in high school.
weekly assignments include technical studies (kropesch), kell stacatto studies, etudes, contest solos (class 1). duets. thirds & arpeggios in major and minor keys.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-02-22 04:52
I think it is definitely worth it to do some improvisation. Not necessarily in a specific style or song, but all improvised by the student. They can use a scale, several scales, or no scale at all. This helps creativity and many other things that don't really exist if playing only written music and excercises.
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2008-02-22 13:21
Thinking back to when I used to take lessons at school...
every week we'd go over the piece and the study from the week before, and leave with specific practice instructions. With the glorious benefit of hindsight, I'd say I could have done with a little more scale-bashing and sight-reading in the mix. But scales are hateful at that age for most of us.
The thing I enjoyed most, and which I think benefited my playing most, was the small ensemble work we would do. Our teacher would play bass and three of us would make up a quartet, and we'd work up a performance piece for the end of term. Nothing beats it for overall musicality.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2008-02-22 15:37
Duos -with the student required to play both parts. The larger ensembles recommended by Bassie would be great, if you have a number of students.
Bob Phillips
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2008-02-22 16:12
Consider having the student get SmartMusic - it is REALLY a lot of fun to play with the accomps. as well as the over 600 band pieces with the music scrolling along as a real ensemble plays it. All levels from just starting out to high school advanced (though the band music doesn't go nearly as high a level as the solos do).
I'm a clinician for smartmusic so that's the disclaimer......
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: clarinetmike
Date: 2008-02-22 19:26
Continue to focus on basics such as embouchure, relaxation, tone, articulation, etc. as you work on scales, etudes and music.
Also, Melodious and Progressive Studies, edited by David Hite are good pre-Rose etudes.
Michael Dean
Southeast Missouri State University
www.clarinetmike.com
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Author: clariniano
Date: 2008-03-04 19:33
I’m not sure about expecting a student in grade 9 in school to know all their major and minor scales. I teach an 11 year old clarinet student who just did his Grade 4 clarinet (got an 85%; on Grade 2 clarinet got a 90%--he’s been playing since he was 9, and has studied with me for close to 1 ½ years, here’s a video of his playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TKk9ERs92Y, while also having taught high school age students which most of my less experienced students could run circles around them. In another post I mentioned that I teach a 14-year-old autistic student, who will be doing his Grade 2 clarinet in June, he’s actually a better player than at least ½ the clarinetists in his school band. My typical 8th or 9th grade clarinetist is playing around the Grade 4 level (Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto), at least within a few months of study with me, which students are expected to know all scales and arpeggios up to four sharps and flats. All major and harmonic minor scales and arpeggios are required at Grade 6. Most kids here start to play an instrument around 12 years old.
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Author: davidsampson
Date: 2008-03-05 03:08
I can't speak for other locations, but 12 major and minors 2 octaves is required for all high school students at all levels, (where 2 octaves is possible on saxes and such) where I live. 3 octaves are expected for E, F, F#, and G. It's possible for a 9th grader to do it, and it would not hurt them.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-03-05 03:24
all 12 scales (with music, with courtesy accidentals, one octave) are required for beginning students (6th grade) at one school where i teach. if they can do that at the end of their first year, they're placed into the wind ensemble (top band) for 7th grade.
a memorizied 3 octave F major scale is part of the all region auditions in 7th grade (2nd year student), plus a 3 octave chromatic, among other things.
all 3 high schools in my district require all 12 major scales for an end of year audition, which includes the graduating 8th grade students.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: allencole
Date: 2008-03-05 21:03
I'm with Ken on pulling scales together and playing some songs by ear, and with Dave on doing some stuff with canned accompaniment. Both things are tremendously important to developing a spunky player with good situational awareness.
I'm also with Clariniano (enjoyed the student video BTW) as far as choosing your battles. I have many similar stories of kids with 3 years of lessons who couldn't play a scale or read their way out of a paper bag--all of a sudden waking up and going great guns when instruction was fed to them in a more digestible way.
Scales are deadly important, no doubt, but I often see too much of a push into minor scales and modes before the majors are solid. I would make sure that a kid can play at least 9 of the major scales, extract the root major arpeggios from them, and play some simple songs by ear on them before delving too much into the minors--particularly harmonic vs. melodic, etc.
We often try to classify too wide a variety of things as being basic, and emphasize too many choices too soon to get good retention by the student. The result can be that tasks of physical practice can take on levels of mental calculation that cripple the process. It may also account for some of the problem with teachers talking too much.
I have some kids who think (from a misunderstanding of their school band curriculum) that they are supposed produce their scales by mental assembling intervals and tetrachords--as opposed to repetitive physical practice. KISS is important when you're starting out--or starting OVER.
I agree with a lot of posters here that a 9th grader should be straight on all major scales (I agree a bit less on minor),chromatic, etc. But some of these folks may be college level instructors who screen their younger students.
When you're down in the trenches, you have to be more circumspect. I like the results I heard on that student's video.
Allen Cole
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2008-07-17 11:25
Ashley,
I just ran across this thread and need to add, begin to show the student the alternate fingerings. There is not a gig that goes by that I do not have need for something. In the community band I play with, most of the 1sts know them but when you get back into the 2nds and 3rds, it's like a disaster.
Try to find little snippets of pieces that have need for alternates. A good 9th grader would also need trill and tremolo fingerings as well. There are still some that I have to look up but knowing where to find them is the key.
BTW, GBK is the master of the alternate fingerings!
HRL
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2008-07-17 12:28
davidsampson,
While it might be required to play all major and minor scales here in Huntsville, I think you would be hard pressed to actually find a kid who can do it. This requirement is more of a suggestion and is only implemented when the kids have to audition for something.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-07-17 13:08
There is a great deal of good advice above.
I would say that the single most important fundamental that I teach any student (and relevant to this old thread: I would make sure your freshman knows how to do this) is the self-evaluative technique required to teach themselves.
To this end I regularly ask my students (after they have played) to rate themselves from 1-10 (any system will do). I them help them to adjust this number until they rate themselves accurately.
I'm amazed how, more than not in my area, the students generally do not give themselves ENOUGH credit for their playing. Many will give themselves an 8 or 9 simply because it is "impossible" to do anything perfectly (especially in our culture). When I then query: did you play the right notes? rhythms? articulations? dynamics? etc... the student finds themselves saying "yes" to each answer...and then I have to literally drag the word "perfect" out of their mouths. Unbelievable!
I would suggest that the self-evaluative technique is more than worthwhile be the most important skill taught. If you are successful, and the student is interested, all of the skills can be knocked out.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2008-07-17 13:28
DAVE wrote:
> davidsampson,
>
> While it might be required to play all major and minor scales
> here in Huntsville, I think you would be hard pressed to
> actually find a kid who can do it. This requirement is more of
> a suggestion and is only implemented when the kids have to
> audition for something.
Ah, but don't we all know that scales are not something that can/should be crammed when an audition or exam is looming? (lol).
Incidentally, the clarinet, of course, has a major difficulty in learning scales and arpeggios because overblowing the twelfth means that every octave is different. When I later learned the sax I kept doing a "double take" when I learned scales and arpeggios on that - "It can't be that fingering - I've just played that one!"
My teacher used to get us to "name and finger" each scale before playing it. It seems a chore at the time but it certainly gets them into your fingers.
Also, getting back a bit more to the theme of this thread, surely what is appropriate for this student depends a bit on his/her "learning style". Does the student learn best "aurally"? in which case improvisation etc might be great or "kinaesthetically"? in which case naming and fingering scales would again be an example of a good strategy. There are other "learning styles" which could suggest good ideas.
I'm not a psychologist or anything but I have seen TV programmes on teaching other subjects where this kind of adaptation of the approach has led to astonishing progress so I see no other reason why it should not apply to clarinet.
Also, if the student is keen and enthusiastic, why discuss a goal to work towards together, whether it is a specific public performance or an exam or progression to the next ensemble opportunity.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2008-07-17 14:21
I would caution against fingering scales without blowing--even if naming the notes as you do so. An important part of making the student independent is ensuring that they hear something sound wrong when a mistake is made, and that can only come if the horn is making noise.
I'd also counsel against integrating the naming of the notes as they are being fingered. This adds an unnecessary mental step into the process and can result in a lot of hesitation on the part of the student. If you think that they should recite scales, I think it would best done separately.
Scales have to be learned by playing them correctly over and over. When beginning a new scale, I find that it helps to have the student build the scale one note at a time. (1-2-1, 1-2-3-2-1, 1-2-3-4-3-2-1, etc.) This helps in several ways:
1 - They practice it down as much as they do up.
2 - When a mistake is made, it's easier to ID which note is wrong.
3 - Adding only one note at a time makes it more of a physical process and keeps them from adding a lot of mental baggage.
4 - It makes the ear work a little harder, as it has to judge scale fragments.
5 - Even if they are having to think about the pitches, learning remains a physical process. After all, it takes at least 7 reps just to complete one octave of scale.
As for alternate fingerings, definitely follow that advice to search for songs. They are definitely out there, way more fun than exercises, and searching for them can be a fun pastime for you.
Allen Cole
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Author: Clarie
Date: 2008-07-18 15:19
Where would you start with a beginner that is a 5th grade student and will be in beginning band in August?
I played clarinet for junior high, high school, and college years. Made All State Band all 3 years of high school and was a music minor in college. So I do have some background in clarinet even though it is from years ago.
I'm helping my relative who is the beginner clarinet player.
Any books or advice would be appreciated. How long should the beginner practice each day?
Thanks!
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Author: runner
Date: 2008-07-18 15:27
Find out what the method book that the school program uses. I have had many students get a "head start" for their band program by taking private lessons during the summer. (most continue for me at least).
I have found that "Essential Elements" and "Standard of excellence" are quite popular.
This summer I have no students getting that head start. I asked the owner of the music studio where I teach wondering if the high gas prices have something to do with the drop off. He said that the school music teachers asked the parents to not let their students get a head start. I can understand their posotion ( They feel that the students will get bored and quit!!)
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Author: allencole
Date: 2008-07-18 15:32
If the student is starting now (prior to school), Hal Leonard has a terrific package called "Play Clarinet Today." $25.00 gets you a book with accompaniment CD, and a DVD which helps reinforce proper assembly and embouchure during that long week between lessons.
If she already knows what her band book will be, most of the newer ones are very good for beginners. I've had good success with Standard of Excellence (Kjos), Accent on Achievement (Alfred) and Essential Elements 2000 (Hal Leonard).
Most books include CD's and I think that one of them also includes a DVD--although I haven't seen it. (I usually start a raw beginner with the Play Clarinet Today package because I'm concerned about proper assembly/disassembly--particulaly with all these First Act, John Baptiste, and other CSO's in circulation. Oddly, not all beginner videos cover that subject.
Allen Cole
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Author: claribari
Date: 2008-07-18 16:15
I would have them warm up with a fun marching band song or a portion of an etude. After which I would have them run through their 12 major scales (and don't put the scales in the same order all the time: I usually do chrom.,E,F,G,A,B,C,D,Eb,Db,Bb,Ab,Gb; and the next week I might go: Gb,Bb,Eb,C,A,F,chrom.,E,G,B,D,Db,Ab; something like that). Also practice the chrom by taking it in parts: (clarinets: E to E, E to E, E to E, E to G to E, and back down in parts). I also do 3 8ve on: E,F,Gb,G,Ab,A,Bb,B, and C; and then do two 8ve on the rest (at least for juniors and seniors, freshmen and sophmores I just do two 8ve unless they can handle three 8ve). Just keep in mind, it's good to give them a challenge, but make sure you don't push them so hard that it's not fun anymore. Don't treat the more advanced players different from the ones that aren't as good. Also, perhaps on one song that's not so difficult or one that's not going to be used for a competition or something, maybe let the seconds play first and the thirds play second while the firsts play third or something - it's always nice to see the second's eyes when they find out they're getting a chance to play something with more melody....of course the firsts usually aren't too excited. I would also make sure the freshmen have the reight embochure and posture. Maybe even make sure they are all on a good thickness of reed and make sure they know that one probably shouldn't be playing on a reed shaped like the Rocky Mountains (it sounds stupid that you would have to remind them of that, but I've seen some seniors who try to play on extremely chipped reeds and wonder why they always get second or third part).
And most importantly, make sure that they are having fun as they learn, or you will have an unruly bunch of kids with band instruments - not always a pretty site. 
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