Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-09-07 14:33
A point that often gets overlooked in the selection of etudes is the need for coaching.
In my experience, working with a great teacher, I find the need for many, many technical "tips" to accompany my work. Left to my own devices, my interpretations would be inferior, and I often choose awkward fingering options --particularly in the choice of alternative fingerings in the altissimo.
In an unwritten pact with my teacher, I spend short time (a calander week, say) on the exercises --a do it myself period. Then, I play them for my teacher --and, if needed, he'll have me go back over the work with better fingering choices. Thats a bummer when I spend a week practicing doing something stupid. But, in the end, unlearning the stupid and replacing it with the better is probably a good thing.
I teaches me responsiblity and forces me to think hard about what I'm doing when I start a new exercise.
The key point is that when I've brought the work to an acceptable standard, its on the way to being "right."
Often, too, my teacher will take time to send me off in the right direction --advising me at the exercise's introduction of some "trap" that I can avoid.
The point of all this is: it is supremely helpful to have an expert guide to your development. Don't just buy a book and blast your way through it. Get a great teacher and jointly select the next batch of work.
Bob Phillips
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The Clarinet BBoard
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