 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Todd
Date: 2001-05-18 20:42
I'm working on Allbert Scales and Rose Etudes with my teacher. I practice them as much as I can, and while practicing I get them to sound good. Then I get to my lesson and hack my way through them and have to repeat some things again for the next lesson instead of moving on. I get a bit tense for my lessons because I want to do well and it must work its way into my fingers. My teacher is a great guy, very nice, is very encouraging, and I learn a lot from him, but it's frustrating in my mind to know I can play the music 100 times better in practice than at my lesson. I try to approach my practice sessions like there is someone in the room listening to me, in hopes it would better prepare me when there actually IS someone there. Any other suggestions? Of course, quitting is not an option and neither is self-mutilation. : )
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Author: Francesca
Date: 2001-05-18 21:26
I have the same problem. I usually do like you're doing and pretend someone is in the room while I practice. Another thing I do is just laugh at myself during the lesson and explain to my teacher that I really can play the piece better. My instructor just jokes with me and I'm fine for the rest of the lesson. Hope that helps a little bit. You're definitely not the only one!
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-05-18 21:33
We descend to the level of our training during combat.
Lessons with a teacher whose opinion you value simulates flop sweat.
The pressure applied during lessons will push you to higher levels of performance.
My teacher has me practice one "tick higher" on the metronome than the pace at the lesson. This makes most of the pieces feel as if they drag during lessons.
Higher level players (ah, that would be you, not I) seem to manifest this strain of self-criticism. Even Tiger Woods just wants to play well enough to win, perfection is not the aim of his game.
Are you still having fun with this? I find that being less invested in praise and more interested in making beautiful sounds (ah, with the clarinet I mean) makes for better playing.
Do try to have a little fun with this.
anji
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2001-05-18 21:36
Try to ignore the fact that there is anyone in the room listening to you and focus on the music. Play it for yourself, not for your teacher. People get nervous by thinking that they might make mistakes. Try to have the same mindset you have during practice - that mistakes don't matter that much. During practice, notice how you feel and try to duplicate that same feeling during your lesson.
Maybe I've said the same thing a half-dozen different ways, but it is all a matter of letting your subconscious mind do the work. Once you let your slower moving conscious mind get in the act, things become more difficult.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-05-18 21:59
Todd -
It starts with the breath. If you take a good one and sing the tone, you can get grooved on it and shut out everything else.
I'd be willing to bet that at your lesson you take a tempo right at or even faster than the one you worked things up to in the practice room. So......take it a bit slower than your practice tempo -- slow enough to make everything smooth and "round." Be like a dirigible, floating smoothly along.
An important part of your practicing is starting dead slow, so that every detail is *exactly* right. Never practice faster than perfect. If you do, you only learn to make mistakes.
Your teacher works with you at the skill level where you are. Play it your best at a tempo where you're comfortable, and let your teacher push you along.
You can do it. Your teacher *wants* you to do it. Everyone here wants you to do it.
Keep practicing.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Leanne
Date: 2001-05-18 22:27
Short answer: No, you aren't the only one
I used to have that problem too. Now I just show up to school a little early and practice in the band room. The band director is always floating around near by and he makes me more nervous than my teacher. Now I do a lot better.
My teacher is a real sweetheart, she totally understands the getting nervous for a lesson (college student). Last week she commented that I didn't use the "Gosh! I really can play this!" excuse and I told her what I did. She told me to keep it up, and that she would try it.
Just goes to show we can all learn a little bit from somebody else.
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Author: Pam
Date: 2001-05-18 23:45
It's a two-edged sword! My teacher understands that I want to do well for him and therefore get a little nervous. He also keeps telling me to relax, because that is how we all play our best! Maybe it's just a part of human nature and something we all will struggle with to one degree or another.
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Author: Jessica
Date: 2001-05-19 01:06
That's interesting, I usually do the exact opposite. Sometimes I practice very hard and still am not satisfied with the results, then when I get to my lessons I'll sound like, a million times better! Of course on the technical studies of the Rose Etudes (which I'm also currently working on) I can never play them quite as fast or good when lessons come along; as my teacher always says, when you're nervous the exact opposite of what you want to happen will happen: instead of your mouth being wet and your hands dry your hands are sweaty and your mouth is dry. So I guess that makes me the odd one out?
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Author: shelly
Date: 2001-05-19 01:13
I tape my daughter while she is playing the piano and then I give the tapes to her teacher to listen to (The teacher requested I do this). The teacher wanted to hear how Katie sounds at home on her own piano (or keyboard) and in her own space At first Katie was nervious playing for the tape recorder but she soon figured out that she could play it as many times as she wanted until she liked the sound of it and then she would turn the tape in. The teacher hears how good Katie is capable of playing a piece even though she may not play it that way consistently (especially when the teacher is watching!)
shelly
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Author: jerry
Date: 2001-05-19 10:42
Guess this is universal...............similar problem here. I am not intimidated by my teacher. I am senior to him in age, we both spent time in the US Marine Corp. (that's enough to create a defense to intmidation). So what is it that happens to one when he/she does well in practice and poorly in battle?
My teacher suggested a book (that I am still reading), "The Inner Game of Music". I recommend it if you can afford it -- about $20.
Sounds like a lot of good advice above -- I'll try some of it myself.
~ jerry
Still in Clarinet Boot Camp
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Author: Mindy
Date: 2001-05-19 11:55
I am the same problem I understand how you feel ttyl
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2001-05-19 16:41
Not us.
I play just as badly in front of the teacher, maybe a tad worse. But it bothers me more.
I like my playing when I'm alone, I enjoy it. I like my tone, although it could be better. I play slowly so I can generally get all the notes (and even express myself.) I have very little pride invested in my clarinet abilities...so there's no 'pride to goeth before the fall.'
With my paid critic there, I don't enjoy playing. In wind ensemble where I was given parts beyond my speed, I did not enjoy playing. But I do improve with the constructive criticism and that's good.
My son, who takes lessons with me, (we listen to each other's lessons) does not get stage fright on the clarinet. Lucky dog, he plays pretty much the same under all circumstances and has occasionally played better during recital than practice! I dare not inquire, I would not want to even bring the idea that he could be afraid or intimidated into his mind.
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Author: Cass Hill
Date: 2001-05-19 18:46
My playing in lessons improved when I made a rule to my self that I will never make an excuse. Whatever I play, that stands. I don't go telling the teacher "I can play it better" because that sounds lame. What counts is what I do play and not what I wish I played. I think a teacher respects a student more if there are no excuses.
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2001-05-20 03:37
If you are focused on the MUSIC, on MAKING MUSIC, you won't have room to worry about how you sound, or what your teacher thinks... Express, make music. If you invest yourself emotionally, it will show in what comes out of your instrument, and then who really cares if there are a couple of technical errors here and there?
I used to have the same problem, until I stopped caring about impressing/disappointing the teacher and starting loving making music. It is art, it is feeling.
Someone recommended The Inner Game of Music, excellent book. Can't recommend it enough. By Barry Green with Timothy Gallwey.
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Author: Cass
Date: 2001-05-20 14:16
Another thought, if a teacher really makes somebody so nervous their playing falls apart (more than normal nervousness) then maybe that student and that teacher aren't right for eachother. Not necessarily that the teacher is bad , might be brilliant in fact, but the particular student might do better with a different type teacher. I think my teacher might bore some students because she is so calm and quiet, but I like her that way.
She doesn't say much and never says it in a loud voice, but I listen to every word because with her, every word counts. She will say in plain English exactly what she thinks and without any dramatics. She never holds back on the criticism but criticizes the playing without belittling the student, so I am not ashamed of making a mistake in front of her. The mistake is a chance to learn something and not something to be humilated about.
I think she would be a really good type of teacher for someone who had a nervousness problem. If you are already nervous you don't need some stress kitty whining and holding her ears, rolling her eyes or yelling. I had a chorus teacher like that once in middle school and I thought jeez lady, get a grip. She just aggravated me but I can't say I cared about it much. I thought it was her problem and no reason to make it my problem. In some ways I can be cold blooded and it comes in handy sometimes. But some of the kids reacted severely to her and they would go throw up before a peformance because she infected them with her high strung ways. You could just see it spread, when she would go pawing at her hair in her weird jittery way and all of a sudden half the chorus was pawing at their hair.
My second try at a clarinet teacher was similar, a man who thought everything was the most important thing in the world. Well everything can't be the most important, the most vital, life and death. You can drive yourself crazy that way. I think I drove him up the wall because I wouldn't show him anything. He wanted a big reaction, wanted to make me cry or something I think and damned if I would give it to him. Forget it. I would stand there and give him the lizard look until he yelled himself out and sputtered to a stop. "So, you want me to play that again or what?" I would ask in an indifferent voice. Mean of me but I couldn't help wanting to pull his chain.
But inside where it didn't show, he drove me up the wall too. Fluff a note and he would yell. I need that like a hole in the head (felt like a hole in the head too, taking two aspirin every time I went to that lesson) so I said goodbye to him after my first month paid in advance was up. So if the teacher is infecting you with nerves like that , maybe it is time to change teachers.
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