 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Meri
Date: 2000-06-14 15:06
I've had teachers who I didn't like (but wouldn't think were bad for everyone), but then there are bad teachers. At a music camp several years ago, there was this really bad clarinet master class teacher. She focusses on the discussion of materials and setup, completely missing the point about the player, since many of the players had poor breathing habits. During one class, she was asking for suggestions for things to work on. I suggested breathing. The way she took it shocked me--she decided to have us put more breath marks in our music, not improve the way we breathe when playing our instruments. (Some of them were breathing about every other bar--at a fast tempo) It gets worse. She calls one of the best clarinet instructors I know "off the wall" (that was because what he would make his students do *before* playing a single note--but the exercises worked in improving one's breathing), but what caused me to walk out of her master class on the 5th day of camp was that she made fun not only of the angle that I held my instrument at the time, but had the rest of the master class imitate it--when most of them were far worse players. I didn't come back to her master class for the rest of the camp.
The interesting part was that she studied with the teacher she insulted. Later I found out he didn't like her either. I can just imagine what her private students were like. I have no regrets about walking out on her.
Another story, involving a friend of mine (my stand partner in All-City Orchestra) is a case of exploitation--he quit forever after taking lessons for several years and even sold his instrument. He complained that he was always forced to compete, and was getting sick and tired of it. Even one of my high school music teachers warned me about him--turned out she was right--he's had a lot of advanced students quit playing due to forced competition.
Both of these teachers are now in a different profession.
Meri
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