 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Fishamble
Date: 2012-05-02 13:48
About a year ago I got some advice on this board when I queried how to play something rapidly. I think it was Ken Shaw who finally got it through my head that I should practice slowly to ultimately have the ability to play at the speed I desired. I followed the advice (a departure for me at the time) and I've reaped great benefit. (And I'm grateful!!)
What I think is interesting about this is that I often find that I can't apply sound advice until I'm ready to. There's a combination of maturity, insight, and need that allow me to finally adopt things I've been told ad nauseum before but ignored.
I don't think it's because I'm thick. And it's not a need for technical skill (or not always, at least). You could be told on day one to play slowly. But until relatively recenly, I'd have been bored and couldn't have visualised the benefit in order to stick with it. Same for practicing scales when I was younger, for example.
I think this is important for teachers and learners alike to appreciate. Probably more important for the learner. My experience is that sometimes neither do.
David.
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2012-05-02 18:36
<<I think it was Ken Shaw who finally got it through my head that I should practice slowly to ultimately have the ability to play at the speed I desired>>
I certainly agree with David that this is some of the best advice given for learning the clarinet (and other instruments for that matter), and it's a shame some of us take so long to grasp it.
Thanks, David, and to Ken and others who preach this to us.
As Ed Palankar said, "Duh".
CarlT
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2012-05-02 18:39
>>What I think is interesting about this is that I often find that I can't apply sound advice until I'm ready to. There's a combination of maturity, insight, and need that allow me to finally adopt things I've been told ad nauseum before but ignored.
>>
Yes. Another factor: Often the situations where we're likely to get the best advice about playing an instrument are also situations that can put all the participants (including the judges!) on the defensive: auditions, seat-jumps, competitions, master classes, even the most reasonable requests from the conductor: "Let me hear what you're doing at bar 117," while the rest of the orchestra sits there and listens and, perhaps worse, watches.
In those situations, I have to guard against a tendency to raise my hackles even before anybody says one word. When the word comes, my reaction is very likely to be completely civil and even grateful on the outside but a gruff "Bleep you..." on the inside. Even if the word is praise, I tend to discount it as mere politeness and assume I didn't deserve it. Maybe that means I'm a looney-tunes, but I'm afraid it probably means I'm average!
It takes awhile for advice and criticism to sink in, and for that reason, I'm glad some of my teachers over the years put their comments in writing. Eventually the time would come when I could read the words I didn't really hear or understand at the time -- "Wow! So *that's* what s/he meant!"
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2012-05-02 19:10
You make some good points.
A few random thoughts-
-It sometimes takes a long time to know what it is you don't know.
-It is very hard for many of us to accept criticism.
-Often the path to learning to do something or to change is difficult. Many people are reluctant to go through the long process of tearing something down and building it back up. It often means re-learning something.
Glad things are working out for you.
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Author: Fishamble
Date: 2012-05-02 22:24
"As Ed Palankar said, "Duh"."
Funny you mentioned that, Carl, as it's exactly the line that reminded me to post. It is "Duh", but for various reasons it took me years to be ready to see that and go with it. More "D'Oh" than "Duh"!
lelia, I love what you pointed out ... the 'bleep you' factor. The context in which you receive advice, and the manner it's delivered too, is so important.
Ed, I agree, but one thing with regard to my point and the fact of 'change being difficult'... well the thing I'm getting at is that it usually isn't difficult once I've arrived at the point of being ready to make a change. In my example, practicing slowly suddenly made sense and I had a really positive attitude towards it, which I had completely lacked previously. It was easy and (dare I say it) enjoyable. Well, the results certainly were.
David.
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2012-05-02 23:42
Sometimes one just has to wait until it seems like it was your idea. A teacher really can't force their students to do the right thing in any consistent way. Much of teaching is planting seeds for a later time.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Ed
Date: 2012-05-03 02:50
Maybe I should have said change is difficult until one is ready for it?
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-05-03 03:30
"A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not to dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves." - Herbie Hancock
Post Edited (2012-05-03 03:31)
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The Clarinet Pages
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