Author: brycon
Date: 2014-10-30 06:22
Thanks for posting.
I heard about Russianoff's teaching from my own teachers. Never having the chance to study with him myself (he had passed away before I began playing the clarinet), I enjoyed these videos.
It's difficult to comment on someone's teaching based on part of a masterclass (you try to avoid openly contradicting the student's professor, balance specific comments to the performer with general comments to the audience, and so on). Nevertheless, I found what Russianoff said to be more stimulating than the pedagogical bromides that get tossed off at most clarinet classes and repeated ad nauseam on the bboard.
The concept of blowing well before you play a note (so that you aren't beginning with the "freshest" air) in order to lower the pitch is worth noting. Although it's something I figured out on my own, a few years ago that nugget would have been worth a thousand tip of the tongue to the tip of the reed's. Furthermore, as a teacher, I found Russianoff's masterclass persona to be quite interesting: he was incredibly personable and enthusiastic, as if he approached the class as a performer himself.
At any rate, Walter Benjamin wrote (in paraphrase) that teaching shouldn't be about information. If you're really looking for information, read the newspaper (or a method book).
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The Clarinet BBoard
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