 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-09-04 14:23
Dear boardfolk,
A couple years back, I asked you all for advice in helping my husband, an older clarinet re-beginner, learn to read and play.
I was feeling enormously frustrated because, despite his verifiably "good ear" for melody, he was struggling with reading rhythms. The consensus advice then seems to have been to let it be, that it was just a matter of time and exposure.
To an extent, that has been true. The fact of the matter is, the man can really play the clarinet very well. His tone is amazing, he's got the full range of fingerings, including altissimo, and he can do all sorts of of complicated licks. He has successfully played Bb in one band and bass clarinet in another band for the past three years now, and has grown enormously.
But he still can't read rhythms. And by "can't read," I mean, cannot be reliably counted on to finish a 4/4 bar if it contains anything other than quarter notes.
I am not saying that he can't PLAY a simple note sequence. He CAN play it -- and hundreds of other much more complicated things. He just can't look at it and read it and play it. He has to hear, in context, it first. For example, he has the Richard Stoltzman "Aria" book and CD (he's an opera buff), and he can literally sit down and play through the book -- including the Seguidilla from Carmen, and the stuff from Porgy and Bess (he's killer on "Summertime").
So it seems that his ability to play something depends largely on his having heard it before. I guess he's just a terrific mimic.
But how does one approach, pedagogically, this kind of learner, when trying to teach them to read music? How do we enable him to derive from the printed page what he now can only get by ear?
It seems silly to say that a musician's being an auditory learner is a problem, but it is.
Thanks for all help.
Susan
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2006-09-04 16:32
Just a thought....
Have you tried dictation? You play a rhythm, he has to write it down. Exactly the opposite task from the one that's causing problems, but maybe it would help.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Bruno
Date: 2006-09-04 16:49
Buy him a beginner's book and suggest that he start on PAGE ONE.
The bottom line seems to be that he can't read music.
b/
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2006-09-04 18:14
So, he's an ear player, apparently. So what? It means he can't become a professional classical musician. It means, that in amateur groups, others will have to accomodate his deficiencies. In amateur groups, others will have their own deficiencies as well.
I just wouldn't be concerned about it.
As mainly a reader, I can still have problems with tricky rhythms in the folk dance music I play. I sometimes find the easiest thing to do is to sit back and listen, then just mimic. It's more important to play what everyone else is playing than to get it "right", sometimes.
Steve Epstein
Post Edited (2006-09-04 18:18)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-09-04 18:19
Steve Epstein wrote:
> It means, that in
> amateur groups, others will have to accomodate his
> deficiencies.
Most amateur bands I know require at least minimal proficiency at sight reading; otherwise the rehearsals would be useless. Not being able to tongue 16ths at 120 is one thing. Not knowing they're 16ths to begin with is something much different.
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2006-09-04 18:22
Well, he's been successful in bands, as she says, so he probably has some minimal proficiency, or a very slick way of compensating. Point taken, though.
Steve Epstein
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-09-04 19:25
>>Well, he's been successful in bands, as she says, so he probably has some minimal proficiency, or a very slick way of compensating.<<
Yes, he does apparently have some way of compensating. And once he learns it, he's got it. Just don't give it to him out of that context (which I guess indicates that this is rote learning of some sort).
I think he compensates by (heaven forbid!) listening to what others are doing -- especially to the bassonist who sits beside him when he plays bass. She's often playing the same voice, and she's a strong reader.
Where he gets into big trouble is when he is one-to-a-voice in an ensemble context. Nobody to lean on/listen to.
Thank you, David Peacham, for the suggestion to have him learn dictation (it being the inverse of the problem).
This is not a matter of intellect -- he's got plenty of that, and he understands the theory. It's like musical dyslexia -- or just some peculiar lacuna in his musicianship.
S.
Post Edited (2006-09-04 19:32)
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Author: D
Date: 2006-09-04 20:35
i have always found this very hard too (I also do actually have a form of dyslexia so it could be related to that for me). The two things which have helped me the most are:
playing lots and lots of different music very slowly with a metronome going.
playing (recorders) in a small group where it is one to a part and normally about one oclock in the middle of Friday night. Everyone has had quite a few by that point so they are quite relaxed. In order to get the rhythms i have to listen very very hard, and often my part will then just slot in. It is the best educational experience I have had.
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2006-09-04 20:49
This is an interesting question. I have had some students with the same issue about rhythm notation.
How about trying this:
1) pick an easy scale or lick that he can play accurately
2) write out the rhythm using regular notation, but with no pitches, just all on one note. Play that using the scale or lick.
3) write out a no-pitch version, but with a different rhythm and play that
4) repeat using various rhythms from simple to complex, always playing the scale or lick in that rhythm.
This way he is not concerned with notes, just concentrating on standard rhythm notation.
Another thing I was thinking about would be to use as an intermediate learning tool a more visual notation for rhythm and then equate that to the standard notation. Something like a particular length line for each note value. ____ __ __ ________ would be quarter, eighth, eighth, half.
As a band player, he would certainly become more comfortable when new music is put out if he could read the rhythms.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-09-04 21:00
Hi Susan,
The probelm is not the playing, it's the rhythm, right. My guess is that we all had to learn this at some time and it does not come instintively. You've got to break down this problem to the simplest parts.
When I was last a HS director - that's at the school not too far from where you used to hung out - there was training device called something like TapMaster. It was a tool to teach rhythm.
You saw a rhythm in the instructional book and tried to input the rhythm at a specific tempo onto a tap-pad that was part of the machine. As I recall, you got feedback as to how well you did. I may be wrong on the exact manner of things but it was something like what I just described.
You could use a similar but more basic approach; you could be the TapMistress. Have him clap very slowly the rhythms in a basic percussion book (yes, I said a percussion book). On longer notes, you hold your hands together to indicate a sustain.
You sit with him, start the metronone, and clap with him but so he can't see your hands. This technique certainly borders on operant conditioning but what the hey! Once you are solid on the rhythm, you might have made a dent.
HRL
Post Edited (2006-09-05 12:34)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-09-04 23:08
So, he can break down 1/4 notes. Cool.
Write him some licks in 1/4 time making 1/16 notes in each measure. Tie the 1/16s into all possible combinatioins.
Then start removing the bar lines, making 2/4, 3/4, ...
I often have trouble with differing rhythmic variants on 1/16 notes, and at least three colleagues have shown me how to break down the tricky rhythms by tonguing ALL of the notes --then grouping them together. By doing that, I'm making some progress.
Bob Phillips
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2006-09-04 23:32
I have a slightly milder version of the same problem, which I'm slowly overcoming. The ultimate long term solution is to begin at the beginning in the elementary level clarinet lesson books (Rubank etc.) and only progress on to a new lesson when the last one has been completely learned. Play slowly with a metronome.
The short term stop gap solution I've been using is to scan the music for "my part" into the computer as soon as I get it. I also record group rehearsals on minidisc. I get the scanned music into Finale. Once my part is in Finale, I can play the midi version of the part while listening and watching the music. I can do this at a slow tempo at first, then bring it up to speed as I learn it. In some cases (only as a last resort) I even overlay the midi version of my part onto the recording of the rehearsal, so I can hear how they fit together.
If you can get the score, or copies of other parts these can also be combined into Finale.
This is a very time consuming process and I often wonder if just practicing from the lesson books wouldn't be time better spent.
I've been in a college Wind Symphony for four years now and practicing basics also. I am definitely improving my reading skills.
My best year in the Wind Symphony was when a very solid, and helpful player sat 1st chair in my section. It was a great benefit to me to be able hear "my part" being played properly right next to me. Alas, she has since moved to Texas. Now I get to hear giggles and see cell phone pictures of boy friends during rehearsal.
If you think you might want to invest the required time and money into the scanning and midi process, email me and I'll be glad to share the info on exactly what hardware and software I use and how I do it.
i
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2006-09-05 02:44
Hello, Susan.
I relied on my ear a great deal learning piano, and my sight reading ability is still way below my playing level. Some thoughts
1) Make tapping rhyhm part of the sight reading process before he tries to play the notes, and preferably on passages he has not heard.
2) Would he enjoy some rhythm reading work on small percussion instruments?
3) Find some duets, material that is new to him and below his playing level, and play with him. I love playing music with my husband anyway.
Good luck!
Barb
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2006-09-05 02:58
So, Susan, please clarify: He can read the notes themselves, as far as what to play, but not the rhythms? Are you sure he really is reading the notes, and not learning them from hearing others play his part, or hearing them from his own playing? You say he has a "verifiably 'good ear' for melody"; what do you mean by that? There are people whose ears are so good, they can play anything back to you that they hear just once. It is as if they are "ear-reading". If they have to read a new piece they struggle, but then miraculously they get it -- sometimes from their own struggled playing, or someone else singing the part to them. I consider this to be a gift, actually, but can see how it can be a difficulty if there is no real reading ability at all. I play with some people like that, but it's folk music, so it doesn't matter.
Steve Epstein
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-09-05 06:58
One of the the things I tend to notice with a subset of people who can play any rhythm if they've heard it before but can't play it if it's written in front of them is that they never really learned to count, or have gotten lazy with counting. A mild form of this would be the person who "feels" what a dotted eight-sixteenth rhythm should be like instead of really counting it, particularly when it starts sounding like an eighth-note triplet with the first two tied. With piano students the solution is simple...have them count out loud. It's harder to solve for wind players unless you can really convince them that it's really worth it to actually say the numbers, the divisions, and the sub-divisions in their heads.
-Randy
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-09-05 08:18
I learned rhythm from clapping. But I was about five at the time... :-)
BTW, I like the dictation idea. Cruel, for sure, but pretty intense.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-09-05 15:07
Thanks for all your replies so far. It's good to know (I guess!) that there are others who have similar struggles.
Let me just say that he has tried the standard prescriptions for improving his counting (going back to square one, using a metronome, clapping, etc.), to no particular avail. He has the "Dr. Beat" metronome, and uses it. (Whoever it was that nicknamed the Dr. Beat voice "Helga" got it right -- she is quite the rhythmical dominatrix.) But even the ever-insistent Helga has not been able to beat it into him, which is why I am looking for some other way to access his brain.
I do like the idea of dictation, if he'll stand still for that. TapMistress, indeed! ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
Also, following up on what John G. and Hank and Barb suggested, I have found this wonderful site:
http://www.midimaster.de/maine.htm
I downloaded the demo version of the Rhythm-Trainer. Based on that, I am going to go ahead and order the full version. It allows you to "play along", either on the computer or with your own instrument, and it also gets the ear/eye thing going by asking you to listen and then select the graphic representation of what you are hearing. I think it's a lot of fun. (But then, I thought solfege class was fun.)
He's just too good a player to not be able to do this. There's gotta be a way . . .
Susan
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2006-09-05 15:31
You might also take a look at Smart Music (www.smartmusic.com) which offers a variety of counting exercises, from simple to complex.
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Author: mtague
Date: 2006-09-06 03:16
I agree with the clapping. I still do that. I count the rhythm out loud: one, two, one and two and, one e and ah two e and ah, and so forth. I'll also clap it and then play it very slowly and eventually speed it up to the proper tempo.
My private teacher also will rewrite dotted notes with eighths or sixteenths or whatever they should be broken into and write the slur above them to help me. She always asks me to break it down first, and then she'll write it down after I've broken it up. Then we go through what I first outlined (though not always with the clapping) or she'll have me play it slowly if she thinks i've got it. It's slow, but I get rhythms and it's easier for me to read them now in new pieces I try.
If he doesn't want to learn to read it could be an issue trying to teach him. Music should be fun.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2006-09-06 06:45
A lot of good suggestions have been posted here, but I would like to amplify in a moment on David Peacham's advice to try dictation, because I think that's a definite step in the right direction.
Here are some principles that I would apply in a case like this:
1 - Get a rhythm book, or something like the Master Theory Workbook for basic rhythm training. He needs to get comfortable with rhythm without the distraction of combining it with the horn yet. Buying the computer program was a good move.
2 - Have him play something familiar, but write down the pitches only--I have my students write them as well-spaced open noteheads. Then have him sing the phrase while tapping his foot until he's comfortable in doing so. Once this is in place, have him write the beats on the page where he thinks they occur. (make sure he understands that if he feels a beat BETWEEN two notes, he should write it in between them as well)
I've found that there's no better way to dissect music than to reverse-engineer something familiar. I think that it would be a particularly good way for an apt mimic to learn. This method brings written music alive by recreating its evolution.
3 - I would think twice about clapping. He will not be able to do this when playing. I think it's better to have him tap his foot and hum the rhythm. Clapping is an unavailable option while playing, and does not do a good job of addressing note duration.
Best of luck. If the guy is playing well, he can learn to read. Patience and perseverance will prevail.
Allen Cole
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-09-06 09:37
OK I haven't read all these long posts so sorry if someone suggested this already. I have two suggestions - one is to have someone sing or play rhythms and he needs to write them down, and two is have him read rhythms by singing (only the rhythms without pitch).
I've seen these two methods help a lot of people with reading and rhythm problems.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2006-09-06 23:46
Those that I have run into with rhythm problems simply aren't counting. They have not been taught how to subdivide so they end up playing everything by "feeling" or hearing.
Take any type of simple music book and have him count out loud to see if subdividing and counting combinations are part of the problem.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-09-07 02:31
>>Take any type of simple music book and have him count out loud to see if subdividing and counting combinations are part of the problem.<<
Not so much subdividing, but definitely counting combinations. And rests.
I agree with those who pinpoint faulty early musical training and the resultant (bad) habits as a significant part of the problem. He has gotten by for a long time by faking it, and that (faking it) has become another bad habit that is hard to break.
My (oboe) teacher has suggested books by Sellner and/or Prestini as good sources for rhythm exercises. Do any of you have any experience with these?
Susan
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-09-07 09:57
Working with the music, have you tried (a) marking the beats within each bar (b) playing with extra-heavy emphasis on the 1st and 3rd beats (in 4/4 time)
and my personal favourite
(c) playing a rest as a 'sniff'?
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Author: D
Date: 2006-09-07 21:16
I have certainly found things easier since I realised that rests are part of the music too. A good trick when working out bars with rests in is to pretend the rest is a note, say open G, and play then rest outloud. Helps to see how long or short it really is. Pencil marking all the beats as mentioned above is a helpful trick too because it gets you in the habit of spotting where the beats happen and you can at least then keep your place, even if the rest of the band have picked it up first time.
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Author: elmo lewis
Date: 2006-09-08 19:51
There is an excellent book called Rhythmic Training by Robert Starer published by MCA. It starts with the simplest counting and rhythm exercises and progresses to more complicated examples.
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Author: Rhythmacres
Date: 2006-09-10 19:39
I'd really like some feedback from you about whether this works, as I'm including it in a book which is to be released soon.
I work as a private teacher with many adults, and this method will get anyone counting if they are willing to backtrack and sound like a beginner at first.
First, get a rhythm book. I use Ed Sueta's Rhythm Vocabulary.
This method is based on the foot tap. It breaks down the beat and it's so back to the basics that to begin with, it doesn't even involve tempo.
Start by blowing a quarter note and tapping your foot down, up. Make sure you begin the note right when the foot hits the floor. Keep your foot up in the air when you're done. Count "one" on the downbeat, and "and" on the upbeat. Do four of these in a row. This is one measure of quarter notes in 4/4 time. Don't try to keep up with a tempo at this point. Just get the feel of it in terms of downbeats and upbeats.
Do half notes the same way. Each half note gets two down-ups. Again, keep your foot up at the top when you finish.
Do dotted half notes---three down-ups, and whole notes---four down-ups.
Now do eighth notes, with the numbers on the downbeats, and the "ands" on the upbeat. If these don't come right away, do one eighth note at a time, by blowing the downbeat, keeping the foot down, and then when you're ready, blow the upbeat at the moment your foot reaches the top. Hold your foot up after the upbeat, and get mentally ready for the next downbeat. Always make sure you hit the downbeat note right when the foot hits the floor, and the upbeat note at the top of the tap. Numbers are down, and "ands" are up.
To get the feel of a dotted quarter, blow and tap "down-up-down". Do the same thing, counting "one-and-two". Again, numbers are down, and "ands" are up.
If everything is so far so good, try an upbeat quarter note. This is called syncopation. Start with the foot on the floor. Begin by tapping up, and starting the note right when you reach the top. It's important to get the coordination here, and that's where a teacher can tell you whether you're starting before or after the beat you're after. But without a teacher, you'll have to discriminate by yourself. Say your notation reads eighth, quarter eighth. You'd tap and play the eighth on the downbeat while counting "one". Then tap the upbeat quarter note (up-down) while counting "and-two". Then tap and play the eighth note (up) while counting "and". The key to this is taking enough time between each note to get it right. Do the thinking first, then play and feel it. An upbeat dotted quarter would be "up-down-up". Or counting, it would be "and-two-and". I can't over-stress the fact that at this point there is NO tempo involved. You can add the tempo later after you get the feel of each note. When I'm working with students on this, I will ask them not to go ahead of me, and I'll point out each note individually, stopping between notes.
Once you get the feel of what goes where, get out the rhythm book and start practicing rhythms up to the quarters, eighths, dotted quarters, and syncopations. Do not add tempos until you are very sure of the rhythms.
When working on sixteenths, there are some nuances to consider. Using the foot tap, play two notes on the downbeat, and two on the upbeat. Make sure the first sixteenth is on the downbeat, and the third sixteenth is on the upbeat. Numbers are still down, and "ands" are still up. Hold the foot down on the floor for the first two notes, play the third note right when the foot hits the top, and hold the foot up for the fourth sixteenth. Now, some people would say that the second and third sixteenths should be in the middle of the foot tap, but I look at it differently. Imagine the foot tap to be like your metronome. The clicks are at the top and the bottom. (I demonstrate this with the shelf attachment to my music stand, by moving a pencil back and forth, and using the top and bottom of the shelf as the metronome click.) If you're counting "one-ee-and-a", the numbers are still down and the ands are still up.
For triplets, you have to spread three notes evenly over two foot moves, or play "one-and-a" over "one-and". To get the feel of this, you can start by playing measures with three quarter notes. Then keep the notes going just the same, but tap only on the first of each three.
Once you learn this method, you can use it for practice at any time. You can always get the rhythms organized and ready to use a tempo with. But you have to be patient, get it right, feel the beats, and don't get ahead of yourself just because you're starting to feel the groove. It gets easier and easier with practice, and it comes together faster if you practice correctly.
One of the key things to feel correctly is the UPBEAT. Lots of times, people tap out rhythms (the notation) and not the beat, so they have no tool with which to measure the written notes. Also, there is the trap of counting a number for each movement of the foot. (Counting "one-two-three" while tapping down, up, down. The counting is "one-and-two".
I really hope you can understand this, and that it's useful for you. It's an unorthodox method which really works. I have helped many a hopeless case by slowing them down and making them go note by note. It's the most basic nub of the counting problem brought to the fore, and at first it feels like starting over, but trust me, with practice, it works. Signe
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-09-10 21:45
>>If everything is so far so good, try an upbeat quarter note.<<
I was with you until this point, Signe -- don't you mean an upbeat 8th note, rather than quarter? Or am I missing something here?
And just for further clarification, are you talking about doing this while reading the pattern, or without any notation in front of you?
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll share this idea with my (recalcitrant) husband. (He wasn't big on the idea of dictation, btw -- which tells me that that is EXACTLY where the issue is.)
S.
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Author: Rhythmacres
Date: 2006-09-11 01:09
I really meant an upbeat quarter note. As in eighth-quarter-eighth. The eighth would be on "one". The quarter would be on "and-two" and the last eighth would be on "and" (of two). On the tune "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen", look at the word "No-bo-dy". "No" would be the eighth (downbeat), "bo" would be the quarter (up-down) and "dy" would be the eighth. Now no matter how long it takes, try to connect the words to the proper part of the foot tap. When you can do that, write out the pattern: "eighth, quarter, eighth" and try it again. Now you're playing an upbeat quarter note, or a syncopation. I wish I could be sitting down with you. It takes some guidance to accomplish. That's why I'm hoping and wondering that my written account will work. I'm working with an extremely talented pro on it right now. He's played in LA for many years with dozens of stars, and he never learned the basics of reading. He found this method to be really liberating. Be patient. You'll love it if it works. Also, you may email me at woodwinder@msn.com. I'd like to carry on with this conversation but not have to check in every time. Good luck! Signe
PS. You can do this with or without notation to begin with. Just know what type of note you're working on and get that. Sometimes I'll just call out note values. Like I'll say "quarter" and they'll tap and blow a quarter note. Then they stop with the foot up. I'll say "eighth" and they'll blow a downbeat note, holding the foot down and ready for the next note. Then I'll say "eighth" and they'll play the next note on the upbeat, holding the position, and getting ready for the next note.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-09-11 02:44
>>I really meant an upbeat quarter note.<<
OK -- I think I was having an issue with terminology here, because my immediate referent for "upbeat" is the beat preceeding the downbeat of a bar. (I was a choral conductor for 20 years. For a conductor, the upbeat is a preparatory movement before the downbeat.)
But you aren't talking about bars here, right? Just the motion of down-and-up (or, in this case, up-and-down). What you're trying to do is to get the "feeling" of the displacement of syncopation. Got it.
I think you are right on the money as far as the need for him to feel the upbeat more strongly. I also think that when he is trying to count AND read, he ends up beating the rhythm rather than the meter, and counting his foot-falls rather than the beats.
Thanks for the help -- I'll contact you off the board for further discussion.
Susan
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Author: RussM
Date: 2006-09-11 14:20
I envy this fellow with his good ear. After a lifetime of trying to learn jazz improvisation, I have had to give up that goal out of frustration. To me, musical notation is logical, and reading is a skill that is not difficult to learn. Just don't ask me to listen to a musical phrase, and imitate it. Everyone's brain does not work the same way. Reading can be learned, given enough time and effort. A keen sense of relative pitch, however, is a natural talent that cannot be acquired by hard work, money, prayer, herbal remedies, or any other way known to man.
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Author: Snowy
Date: 2006-09-12 00:29
Dear Susan,
When I first saw this post I thought my spouse was accessing this board using the alias "Susan" .
After a lifetime I am still in the same territory as your hubby. Getting better slowly but still able to be thrown by something new. Jazz syncopation no trouble but written another story entirely.
For all the sterling advice that this thread has evoked the simple truth remains that the player, him or herself, must eventually connect with the written notes and sound the notes at the (relative) time indicated by the chart.
Personally I have found the greates aid to be at http://www.sibeliusmusic.com where the Scorch browser plugin brings with it the ability to play/hear thousands of musical items on their website with the little blue line - like the old bouncing ball of yesteryear- indicating exactly where it's at.
That is not say I am yet cured but hope springs eternal.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-09-12 16:32
I assume he's a poor dancer too; some people just don't "have" rhythm. Get him a snare drum and have him play the clarinet notes as drum beats. Playing a clarinet while trying to "get" rhythm is probably a poor combination for a person like your husband.
Bob Draznik
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-09-12 20:03
Hi BobD --
Well, he THINKS he can dance . . .
See, the problem really isn't that he "doesn't have rhythm". He does -- when he is playing something that he has heard many times before, or something where he knows how it goes. It's when he is confronted with being one-on-a-part with a score -- even a simple one -- for music he has never heard, that things go downhill. Fast.
He tries to count, then he gets confused, and lost, and gives up.
He did say that one of his problems (as Signe suggested) is that he finds himself counting the rhythm rather than the meter.
With all the suggestions that have been generated in this thread, it really now is up to him to decide if he wants to do it. I hope he will try (again), but I'm keeping myself out of it, except as a cheerleader.
Maybe I could get him interested in drum circles?
Susan
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Author: jmberch
Date: 2006-09-19 00:05
I am only in high school, and probably don't have as much experience as most of the other people that posted, but i used to be an auditory learner. My first honor band audition in high school, i had to have my teacher play the piece for me to learn it, i just couldn't count the music. My scores for my scales and audition pieces were the highest of all, but i scored extremely low on sight reading. My teacher gave me a book called 101 rythmic excercieses for band, and i had to play throught the whole bock everyday. It took a few weeks for me to start reading those basic rythyms. To this day, i still have trouble reading music, and sight reading is my worse enemy. When i practice out of my Select Studies book, i don't really read the music. I learned them all by myself, but i had to sit down and slowly count out the pieces. I think some people just aren't going be able to get reading music down; I suggest jazz . He can have tons of fun and play to his stregnth in jazz, i'm sure he'd make a great improver.
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The Clarinet Pages
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