Author: pmgoff78
Date: 2006-06-13 13:59
I practice about an hour a day on average. I spent probably 3 years doing nothing but scales and 5 note segments, but recently I've begun preparing music again and researching different playing techniques.
I'd have to say that if you practice frustration, etc. then you might want to try branching out and doing new things. Learn to double tongue, circular breath, extend your range beyond Double C (This applies mostly to the Soprano Clarinetists), etc. Learning these things is quite empowering! It'll give you a new challenge that may spur you to get back to your etudes or music.
As an aside. I've noticed that it seems as if many people on this board are comparing themselves to great Clarinetists. If this is the case I would encourage anyone who feels this way to forget about playing like a great clarinetist and start playing like you. You might surprise yourself! You may be the next Bonade, Gigliotti, or Drucker and not even know it, and all because you were trying to live up to a standard that doesn't fit you.
One of the most liberating experiences you cna have as a musician is to realize that A) All Pros screw up as much or more than we do, and B) Professionals do NOT know every piece in the literature from memory and moreover don't even enjoy some of the biggies. They don't have all of the Rose etudes memorized. They haven't committed to memory that page 4, line 5, measure 3 of X Concerto has a misprinted Db in it. They know what helps them. That, in turn, is what they teach their students.
Example, I never "went through" the Rose 32 in College or High School. I'm learning the etudes I'd never done with some students now. I'm learning what works and what doesn't.
My college professor and I bopped around and did all kinds of things. We weren't on a strict regimen. He taught me virtuoso technique the easy way. No 6 day practice schedules, no B.S. He told me once that when he was teaching middle school band (for two years after he finished his undergrad) he had 3 private Clarinet students. He had never been through the Rose either. He learned the entire book along with his students and learned, just as his students did, which etudes were helpful and which weren't. Hence, he doesn't teach them all. He knows what works and what doesn't.
He doesn't play the Brahms Sonatas because he doesn't enjoy them, never cared for them, only knows them from a listeners perspective. BUT, he is a master technician when it comes to the works of Mozart and Weber. He enjoys them. He doesn't care for the Copland. So, he doesn't deal with it. If a student came along and wanted to learn it he would learn it along with them and decide anew whether he enjoys it or not, but he's not holding himself to a standard that is not of his own doing.
He's an accomplished musician, but he's not listening to the premiere recordings of the Copland, Corigliano, and God knows how many other pieces and thinking "If only I could play like that person!" He told me when we were preparing for my Senior Recital "Only play what you like, or you'll never enjoy your own playing." Isn't that the truth!
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The Clarinet BBoard
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