 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: pacherry
Date: 2014-04-15 17:37
Preface: I am not a clarinet player, nor have I ever been a clarinet player.
My 12yr old son has been taking lessons from the same teacher for approximately 2.5 years. He is above average, but by no means a prodigy compared to his peers. (For reference he performed Boccherini's Minuet for solo & ensemble this year) His private teacher is a saxophone specialist at a local university, but provides lessons on flute, clarinet, bassoon, oboe, and saxophone at our local brick music store. My question is when is it proper to spend the extra money and drive the extra distance to have him receive lessons from a clarinet specialist? I am not interested in pushing him ahead or being "that" parent, but I also want to provide him every opportunity that he reasonably needs. Thank you for your feedback.
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-04-15 18:32
When it's time to change teachers, either for yourself or a family member is a question for the ages. I don't claim to know exactly when the time is right--just maybe some of the factors to consider when contemplating such a change. When faced with a bad teacher, or the opportunity to study with a great one, the choice can be easy--but often it is not.
It sounds to me from context, although this is me surmising, that perhaps, as your son's current teacher covers many woodwind instruments that he may be less of a master of any of them than someone who focuses on one instrument. But such statements can easily paint with too broad a brush for all circumstances. Some "doublers" I know that play on Broadway teach better on any of their instruments than someone who only plays and/or teaches just one.
One useful metric I've used, but that may not be available to you is how other kids who've already been in your son's shoes have faired with such a change. Another is your own personal willingness to spend the extra time and money.
Another is your son's interest, which is not to be equated with your beliefs, if any, that he may fair better with a clarinet specific teacher: an equally important but separate factor. And still another factor, which may have nothing to do with his teacher, is the rate at which he is progressing over time, and if you feel that rate is diminishing.
Good luck
Post Edited (2014-04-15 18:34)
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Author: pacherry
Date: 2014-04-15 19:05
Thank you for responding. I should add that my son's teacher is not a bad teacher and, as far as I can tell, is still providing sufficient education. However, being a lay person, I am just trying to get a general idea of when it is that I should invest in a more specialized teacher for my son.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-04-15 19:30
This is a case where all you can really do is poll people for opinions - there's no objective standard.
In my own opinion (as a clarinet specialist who only plays sax when I need to and no other woodwind instruments) this is as good a time as any to move to a clarinetist-teacher. There are individual issues that might sway me the other way - who are the available clarinetists in your area, or how far must you travel to reach a clarinetist? How strong is your son's attachment to is current teacher? How well does the current teacher play clarinet. Some sax specialists began as clarinetists and are quite good players who made a choice about what musical genre they most wanted to pursue. Other sax specialists only added clarinet later in their development and are god-awful clarinet players (they play clarinet only when they need to).
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-04-15 19:31
Also you can look at it as "supplementary" (at least for starters). One teacher will say something that another may not OR say it in a slightly different way that will for some reason resonate more with the student.
Don't be shy about using more than one teacher or moving from one to another. This is all part the learning process.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: pacherry
Date: 2014-04-15 19:39
I have not found any specific new teachers. I would imagine that it would either be a graduate student or professor from the University of Michigan or one of the DSO musicians that teach in the metro-Detroit area.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2014-04-15 19:42
I had exactly the same issue many years ago with my son. Luckily, his teacher (a fine sax/clarinet player) told me when my son needed the next level of instruction - not so much because the teacher couldn't impart more knowledge, but because it was time for a change.
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2014-04-15 22:29
Another thing to consider - is your son constantly improving? Does he sound better and better? Is the music he's playing increasingly challenging? If yes, perhaps his current teacher is doing a great job.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2014-04-16 09:57
When I was a child, for years I had a teacher who was a very nice man, but who slept through the lessons. The trouble with keeping the same teacher too long is that he gets used to your bad habits and limitations. Either he accepts them or just unconsciously gives up on putting them right. Every now and again, we need a fresh start. Similarly, some orchestas have had the same conductors for too long. Even if the conductor is excellent, after a while, the orchestra could benefit from a change.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-04-16 14:33
I only agree with the "conductor" part only in that there are so few inspired conductors. But if you have a wonderful conductor (a true genius) and a fabulous ensemble, they should be bound together as long as nature permits.
..........Paul Aviles
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2014-04-16 22:09
When my daughter was in high school, she took lessons for a while from a man who was a clarinet specialist. She learned a lot and got along with him, but never really warmed up to him. To make a long story short, she switched to a woman who was the woodwind specialist type (like your son's teacher). Her real strengths were saxophone and the double reeds, but she did have several clarinet students. My daughter knew all this from the beginning, but it didn't matter to her. She liked her new teacher, learned a great deal from her, and enjoyed her lessons. How can you beat that?
If your son likes this teacher, is enthusiastic about his lessons, and is learning something, don't switch. At a future time, if he really seems to be taking off, you can look for a clarinet specialist.
It's interesting to note that in colleges with small music departments, applied faculty members were sometimes asked to teach instruments other than their own. Does anyone know if this is still happening? I met a flute player once who attended Michigan State in the 1940s, and he told me about studying with Keith Stein before the university hired a flute professor. Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr (MSU) and Michele Gingras (Miami University) also taught saxophone at one time.
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Author: Hurstfarm
Date: 2014-04-17 01:07
Of course there is no definitive "right" answer. One of the best things a teacher can do in the early years of learning an instrument is to inspire a pupil to practice (ideally not under parental duress!) to develop his/her technical and musical skills. You will have your own view on the extent to which it has worked with your son, but its importance shouldn't be underestimated. However, there's a limit to how far enthusiasm and fun will get the student in mastering it. Good multi-instrumentalist teachers generally have a pretty clear idea when to recommend handing on a promising student to a specialist on an instrument that isn't their main study. They will also often be able to suggest who to approach. If you have a good relationship with your son's teacher you shouldn't be afraid to broach the subject directly, and see what advice you get.
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Author: MSK
Date: 2014-04-17 01:39
I was recently faced with a somewhat similar situation on which teacher to choose. I could go with an affordable and local woodwind generalist (double reed primary) verses a much longer drive for a clarinet specialist. I decided the drive and expense weren't worth it for my own above average but non-prodigy 12 year old. However, I did know both that this teacher has great raport with students and a high success rate at All-State auditions. Like others have said, student-teacher relationship and progress are what matter.
As you child becomes more advanced (or older) the needs may change though. I personally had a bad experience with a piano teacher that was great with elementary aged beginners to intermediates, but not so great with teens or more advanced students. For example she never progressed me out of the method books and onto actual repertoire.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2014-04-17 16:26
As these thoughtful responses show, there's really no "one size fits all" answer. I think it's a good idea to have more than one teacher somewhere along the line -- simply because different people have different strengths -- but I also tend to think that it would be a mistake to quit an excellent teacher who's a good fit with the student just because having more than one teacher seems like a good idea.
Here's another thought (that probably doesn't reflect too well on my personality, but ...) some of us do better in an adversarial relationship. I don't mean adversarial in the most extreme sense of letting slip the dogs of war, but in the sense that some of us learn more if we're pushing back against something. In my case, I developed a passion for the music of Bach through studying piano with a brilliant teacher (Arthur Eisler) who refused to assign me any Bach because he thought nobody should be playing baroque keyboard music on a modern piano. Pfui! I dug into my mother's trove of music scores and studied Bach on my own. I probably would have learned to play Bach better from a teacher who taught Bach, but I learned something else: to be a self-starter, to practice purely because I wanted to practice and to study the score and do background research instead of just following instructions. I never knew it at the time, but I was learning how to compose music.
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: pacherry
Date: 2014-04-17 17:15
Thank you all so much for your thoughtful responses. I suppose, moving the conversation forward, I like the idea of beginning the process now through the use of two teachers. What I am envisioning, and please feel free to offer up your opinions so that I may refine my idea by using your expertise as a sounding board, is to continue my son with his current teacher weekly and then once a month take him to a specialist for a mini-master lesson of sorts. In your opinions, is monthly often enough, too often? Secondly, if anyone is from the Metro-Detroit area, can you recommend an appropriate teacher? We are approximately 40-45 minutes from Ann Arbor and 15-20 minutes from Orchestra Hall. My son does play in the DSO CYE, but I am not sure that "buys" him any additional access to any of the DSO musicians. Again, thank you all for your help.
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