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Re: Leon Russianoff Masterclass!!!

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-10-30 11:47

I audited a master class back in 1983(?) at the Klarfest in D.C. and recall being inspired enough to purchase his complete clarinet method and wish I were a New York resident. Russianoff came off as grandfatherly and caring with all the participants. I remember this more by contrast when in a subsequent class one of his purportedly best students kacked a passage and Russianoff openly chastised him for not playing as well as he could. I chalked that up to both of them being quite comfortable with each other.

Personally I think there were quite a few BIG concepts going on in these snippets. Maybe it all got lost in the fact that what he was doing with the student made the student confused while in this performance sort of setting. I'll be the first to admit that I want to hear a tangible improvement (sorta a "I'll believe it when I see it" moment) during master classes to reinforce the idea that whatever is being said could work for me too when I get back to the practice room. But when things don't work that way it shouldn't rule out the validity of what's being said.

Two things to remember about Mr. Russianoff are that he was controversial all along and he DID have the most impressive list of successful students of probably any clarinet teacher. And I don't believe he did it by charging $400 per lesson like Robert Marcellus to weed out all but the most serious students either.

................Paul Aviles

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Leon Russianoff Masterclass!!! new

DavidBlumberg

2014-10-29 22:20