 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Meri
Date: 2004-11-19 16:43
My student decided to stick it out after all! At least until he gets his Grade 8, since he knows he can get a couple of additional high school credits through RCM exams (Grade 6 and Grade 8 RCM count as high school credits). Doing the Grade 4 is for him to get a feel for them, as he has never done one before. (There is no way he can drop the RCM exam at this point) It was the case that he enjoys private lessons, but thought he did not have time for them anymore.
He's found another piece that I'm working on that he'd like to learn one day the first movement of the Grand Duo Concertant...
He was also told that two of my other students which he knows both of them (one who is a year younger than him, the other 3 1/2 years older) take lessons on more than one instrument! He is taking lessons on an every other week basis, and is being expected to practice an hour a day, 5 days per week. He decided he would drop school band, because it’s boring for him (quite some time before told me that “the seniors know almost nothing about the clarinet”). He agreed to limit video game playing to weekends, and only after he has done his homework and practicing.
Meri
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2004-11-19 18:32
It's good to hear how this turned out after all. Perhaps knowing that the other students put more into their music education by playing two instruments piqued his interest. Also having a long-term goal of the Grade 8 and the Grand Duo (a Grade 10 piece) would encourage him to pull up his socks and get going more. An hour a day isn't asking very much. His renewed interest might encourage him to end up playing longer than an hour.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-11-19 19:23
Quote:
It's good to hear how this turned out after all. Perhaps knowing that the other students put more into their music education by playing two instruments piqued his interest. There's nothing like a feeling of 'competition' to help someone strive to become better. This could very well be one of the PRIMARY reasons ('if HE can do it, why can't I?' sort of thing)
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Dee
Date: 2004-11-19 22:46
The Grand Duo Concertant is one of my favorite pieces. It's nice to work on it alone but you might be able to get him really excited if you can occasionally find a pianist to play with him. It truly is a duet and really shines when you have the piano.
I play it using a midi file on the computer for the piano part and even that is better than just playing alone.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-11-20 01:29
psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't ask) wrote:
> there's grade 8 music? I thought it only went up to grade 6?
The grading of music differs from state to state in the USA.
Outside of the USA there are many different grading systems used...GBK
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-11-20 19:13
I'm glad that this student is sufficiently interested to continue his clarinet studies. But am I alone in getting the creeps from hearing that he's dropping band, and that he considers band boring?
All of the other things described sound great in addition to his normal school band activities, but not as a substitute. Even more elite bands will not replicate some very important experiences in his development.
While I hope this is a happy turn of events, it is not an ending by any means. It is a very ambitious game plan, particularly considering what was described in the last thread on this student. I'd like to hear an update on this same situation around May or June.
Allen Cole
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2004-11-20 20:56
I have certainly dealt with the "quitting band" iissue myself and with my students. I always talk to them about it, because I think they are better off thinking in terms of what they can contribute rather than what they think they are "getting" out of band. It doesn't always work, but if they stay, with a good attitude and with chances for leadership, they actually do end up "getting" more out of it than they think.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-11-20 21:29
I wasn't in band for the music. I was in it for the dinners before the game, the bus trips, and the two hours between playing a field show and hearing the results. It was social hour, and six years after graduation I still get together with the friends I made in high school band, at least twice a year. The music was a bonus, and only a few years into college did I start to play the clarinet worth anything.
Sure, the music was important, but in retrospect it's what I remember least about the experience. I thought I was good at it, and that's all that mattered at the time.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-11-21 08:58
That issue of 'contribution' is the exact thing that I don't think you can replicate, even in more elite ensemble experiences. No matter how dedicated, the vast majority of talented students are not going to end up with symphony seats, or top service band positions. They are either going to continue playing in amateur groups, or they will get frustrated and quit.
I've seen a number of old classmates put the horn down, and it breaks my heart every time. Some were not adaptable enough--or were too esoteric--to explore other styles on the instrument. Others could not or would not learn to work effectively with weaker players.
But of course the better a player you are, the more likely that you will depend on players of lesser ability to help you make music. This requires mutual respect and some good social skills. This is where I think school band helps you to keep your feet on the ground.
Allen Cole
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-11-21 18:30
"They are either going to continue playing in amateur groups, or they will get frustrated and quit. I've seen a number of old classmates put the horn down, and it breaks my heart every time."
They may also simply find that other uses for their time fit them better. I know many people who have simply let their instrument go. Do I, in some way, wish that they had kept with it? Sure. However, I hardly consider it a tragedy. People can often get so worked up with the "he had so much potential to be a great clarinetist" mentality, I think. But everyone has the possibility to do a lot of things, and everyone must find their own path.
People who love to do something tend to instinctively want other people to love it as well, to share the joy of the experience. For each thing you spend time on, though, there is something else you are not spending time on.
For most clarinetists, the unspoken metanarrative path seems to be "practice, play in ensembles, maybe give lessons, try to land an orchestral gig." The ideal of "When I get better, I might get to play in a good orchestra," while noble, I find a bit antiquated. For many, this doesn't fit. After this realization, such people either find a different way to incorporate music or drop it altogether.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-11-22 00:24
I'm generally in agreement, Alex, but it does grieve me a little to see people who went through college on the instrument make the choice to quit--and you are quite right about it being their choice--because their training and/or outlook tended to force that choice onto them.
Perhaps other pursuits are better for their lives. But it seems to me that so much of this is caused by training with blinders on, and being inflexible about the definition of success.
Of course, I should probably be grateful. I probably owe much of my career to those who have put it down and moved on.
Allen Cole
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-11-22 00:51
I totally agree, Allen, about training with blinders on. It seems that most lessons are given BY the orchestral-track-or-bust people, perpetuating the notion that it is the one thing to do, and that it is necessary for "success" on the instrument. As a clarinetist and composer, for example, I find it disheartening how often the same pieces are performed, and how seldom new music is rehearsed and performed at universities (granted, lots of new music isn't all that performer-friendly). I know it's good to play the standard repertoire, but if I hear the Weber Concertino one more time, I may scream.
If all there was for me to do on clarinet was hope to play a bunch of pieces half as well as people have already made recordings of, I'd have dropped it already, given my personality. It's largely the fun of playing something that nobody else ever plays that keeps me going.
To me (my world-view of the month), I'd like it if "classical" concerts were viewed as "best of" and "reunion" tours: the piece everyone knows at the concert, after you play your cool new stuff. Unfortunately, ever since "listening" became a theoretical, methodical, academic activity (thanks, Schoenberg!), the world of instrumental music has become somewhat of a museum piece in my opinion... something that you do because it's "good for you" and helps make you "cultured," and only a small, specific portion of the population (e.g. most of us here) enjoys.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Meri
Date: 2004-11-23 18:17
To Dee:
I do already have an absolutely fantastic pianist, who I've been working with for almost a year (actually, he plays mine and my student's piano parts in exchange for me doing his promotion and our ensemble's promotion), we've already done several performances, including two full-length recitals, the most recent one last Saturday. I'll start to teach this student the second movement of the Grand Duo next lesson
To allen, alex, and clarinetwife:
The three bands in his school play at a relatively low level, (I've heard the bands at his school), I've heard much better balance and tone quality from 7th and 8th grade bands. Who wants to play in a low-level group where hardly anybody really cares about how the band sounds, and is led by a poor conductor? I felt that way in my high school band, while it was a very different story in the all-city and community bands. Nobody cared about contributing to the band.
Meri
"There is a difference between being flat and sounding in tune, and being in tune but sounding flat. The first I can live with; the second I cannot."
Post Edited (2004-11-23 18:54)
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2004-11-23 19:58
Meri wrote:
>
> The three bands in his school play at a relatively low level,
> (I've heard the bands at his school), I've heard much better
> balance and tone quality from 7th and 8th grade bands. Who
> wants to play in a low-level group where hardly anybody really
> cares about how the band sounds, and is led by a poor
> conductor? I felt that way in my high school band, while it was
> a very different story in the all-city and community bands.
> Nobody cared about contributing to the band.
That's too bad, Meri, because it seems to me that the best way to turn a program around would be to start at the top and find your leaders. (I say this not having been a band director )
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-11-25 19:46
I think you're missing the point, Meri.
If your student is above the level of the school group, he is in a position to improve that group, and to learn some life lessons about working in groups with weaker players. For the vast majority of promising young players, their lifelong enjoyment of the instrument will be contingent on their ability to help build up groups that would otherwise not seem worth playing in.
I've seen many cases where an elitist mindset has caused some fine musicians to miss out on the social rewards of playing--and sometimes quit altogether.
To me, it's a loss for that school band, and a loss for your student--even if you do feel that the band is mediocre or its director is ambivalent. Sooner or later, most of us face the fact that it is OUR job to make a silk purse from a sow's ear--and without unduly insulting the sow!
Allen Cole
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