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 Naturally good tone
Author: Ron Jr. 
Date:   2005-09-20 13:29

Has anyone else encountered a student who was able to do with ease what took you much time to master?

Ron Jr.



Post Edited (2006-03-06 17:21)

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: archer1960 
Date:   2005-09-20 13:41

Part of that is probably the fact that she is a young adult, with the accompanying muscle coordination, and tone, along with the breath control from singing experience.

That plus a large bit of natural talent!

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: DavidBlumberg 
Date:   2005-09-20 14:12

Adults tend to play with a lot more physical pressure than a young student.

The thing now that you have to watch for is that the student not try to master it too quickly as adults tend to put too much internal pressure on themselves to get great fast.

It takes time.



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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: Ron Jr. 
Date:   2005-09-20 14:43

David,

You are right that "adults tend to put too much internal pressure on themselves to get great fast." Adult learners are EXTREMELY self critical and don't like to be in the position of being beginners; it makes them uncomfortable.

Also adults often don't fully understand that developing a solid ability of a wind instrument will take about five years of one hour a day of practice: scales, arpeggios, long tones, and etudes included.

In my opinion, the mastery of an music instrument is the most challenging activity that one could undertake. Also it is one of the most rewarding.

Ron Jr.

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2005-09-20 16:22

>>>>
Adult learners are EXTREMELY self critical and don't like to be in the position of being beginners; it makes them uncomfortable.
<<<<

I wouldn't generalize. It's maybe three weeks since I've started and I still consider myself a beginner. ;-)

In that time I built myself a repertoire of say ten simple songs, simple in the sense that it allows me to play without thinking a lot about the fingering, yet a bit more rewarding (for the environment) than simple up and down scales. This gives me head room for working on the sound.
It's a bit like getting dressed in the morning - one leg at a time works best.

What I sometimes miss in our ah so adult world is the insight that the first and foremost goal of every kind of music (or hobby in general) should be fun, fun, fun.
(I do not speak of professionals, they're a league of their own)

<warning: rant>
I see a lot of "looking down" on people with so-called inferior equipment (such as bicycling with just slacks and a t-shirt instead of a race dress, or playing on a plastic instrument, or using a cellular phone without a camera, or still working under Windows 95), and I think that puts people under a lot of unnecessary pressure. And there comes the spoiler, especially for the adults - behaving like a beginner is one thing, but looking like one, god forbid, no!
</rant>

Fortunately I am old and calm enough to just give a hoot on other people's sneers. :)

--
Ben

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: Brent 
Date:   2005-09-20 19:51

When she was in eighth grade my daughter decided she wanted to take up clarinet. I showed her how to put it together, which she did. I explained emouchure to her. She put all of her fingers down and played a low G as her first note...clear as a bell. After playing a few more notes she asked, "Can you show me how to play Peter and the Wolf?"

So i did--though in the wrong key. By the end of the evening she was doing a creditable job--better than most second year students i have had.

A month later she decided she wanted to play the guitar and hasn't touched the clarinet since. *sigh*

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: Tyler 
Date:   2005-09-20 20:35

Just singing=better clarinet tone. My teacher tried to tell me, but I didn't believe it could make much of a difference. Then I sang.

-Tyler



Post Edited (2005-09-20 20:35)

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: Matt Locker 
Date:   2005-09-20 21:03

Ben:

This is true in just about everything. However, nothing shuts those doing the looking down quicker than getting their derriere kicked by the person in the t-shirt & pants, or listening to someone play their $100 Vito & making it sound like a thing of beauty.

Someone who "looks down" on another because of what he/she has isn't someone I want to spend time with. With that said though, I hope you don't categorize "checking out someones equipment" as looking down. I personally love to see what other people are riding/playing/skiing/..... It's just fun to see what other people are using and how they get the most out of it.


MOO,
Matt


<warning: rant>
I see a lot of "looking down" on people with so-called inferior equipment (such as bicycling with just slacks and a t-shirt instead of a race dress, or playing on a plastic instrument, or using a cellular phone without a camera, or still working under Windows 95), and I think that puts people under a lot of unnecessary pressure. And there comes the spoiler, especially for the adults - behaving like a beginner is one thing, but looking like one, god forbid, no!
</rant>

Fortunately I am old and calm enough to just give a hoot on other people's sneers.


--
Ben

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: DavidBlumberg 
Date:   2005-09-20 21:17

It's not a question of looking down based on the cost, it's the quality.

A crappy clarinet will get a crappy sound compared to a great clarinet - with the same player playing it.

But a crappy player will still sound pretty bad on a great clarinet.



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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: buffet_tosca 
Date:   2005-09-21 13:00

when i furst joined band, i was 13 yrs old.. tt was last july.. my conductor, who juz took over our band at tt tyme, made us (the beginners) play the Concert Bb scale.. i could memorise everything and i juz played from the middle C to the 3rd space C.. tt was the onli thing taught to us by the seniors.. i dunno y.. but i felt as if i was in heaven when the conductor praised mi in front of the whole band(wif the seniors) tt i had a gd tone.. i was using a Buffet E11.. i'm already being upgraded to a Buffet RC now..

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: sfalexi 
Date:   2005-09-21 21:11

Buffet_Tosca,

Awesome. If you're upgrading to the RC, ma'e sure that you have a good professional help you choose one. That's a top of the line instrument, and if you pic the right one, it'll last you your entire playing career if you eep good care of it! But don't ma'e the mista'e of pic'ing the first one you see, and noticing a few years down the road that it has some tuning problems, or bad notes, or any other problems. Ta'e your time. Even if it ta'es a couple months. You're young enough to spare the time, in order to enjoy a great clarinet for HOWEVER long you continue playing.

Alexi

US Army Japan Band

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2005-09-21 21:23

Alexi - while your kbd continues to be broken - "[Alt]-0107" is the keycode combo for "k"... (ie keep the Alt key pressed while tapping "0107" on the numeric keypad). Uppercase A is Alt-075...

--
Ben

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 Re: Naturally good tone
Author: sfalexi 
Date:   2005-09-21 21:47

Thank you. (WOO HOO!). I forgot to try looking up those alt-keys. I used to use alt-168 for spanish class and alt-167 when I was in chem class. Thanks. I do have another keyboard in possession, but it needs some cleaning up before use on my comp.

Alexi

US Army Japan Band

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