 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-04-23 19:39
At the risk of pointing out the oh so obvious, the steps to becoming a great player, regardless of the clarinet genre you cut your teeth in (classical, spiritual (e.g. Gospel, Klezmer), Jazz, Band Era, etc.) are so utterly simple you might wonder why so few are truly virtuosic.
Sure, there's abilities were born with, hooking up with the right instructor at the right time, (which is probably not long after emerging from the womb) and gear, etc.; and clearly not everyone is or should be destined to be Julian Bliss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe_WiPxEAY8
So, if the steps, which I will outline, are so easy, why don't more players reach the best version of themselves?
The best parallel answer as to why this is so, that I can furnish, lies in the weight loss industry. In 2012 it was a $20 billion U.S. industry. In 2016, $60 billion, and still 2/3 of Americans are overweight. And yet like the steps to becoming a great clarinet player (true, I haven't gotten to them yet, bear with me a little longer, I will) describing what it takes to take and keep off weight is so utterly simple:
"Consume less calories than you are, and exercise more than you are."
OK--it's not THAT simple. In addition to eating less, we have to make those calories "count," getting the nutrients we need for healthy living. And exercise, while so necessary, doesn't mean each of us were destined to do so via pole vaulting. Physical activity has to be tailored to our abilities and likes.
And yet we can, because were are only human, fail at maintaining proper physical fitness for the same reason we can fall short of being the best clarinet players our genetics and environment (and to a smaller extent equipment) destine us to be. The reason why, and the holy grail are actually one and the same:
focused discipline over the long term, with the right teachers.
Let's break down this so simple yet so elusive holy grail, removing any ambiguity. Great play comes from blocking many hours of your time to distraction free focused, metronomic repetition of the great study books of our craft:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=224152&t=224150
If I could bundle this into a video it would be something like this, only tailored (likely down) to your abilities, at speeds no faster than you can reasonable handle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YYk8okEQ10
(and remember, that's just Bob's warmup)
Then find yourself a teacher (a fitness coach) who is demanding, watching you finger every nuance with the least effort necessary
http://www.kalmenopperman.com/testimonials
(btw: the student's the great Adam Ebert, still practicing this philosophy today)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWigDvhiVJk
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So why is the very holy grail the source of our failure? It's because understanding the steps are easy, but implementing them, day in day out, 3 or 30 years from now, when their novelty and newness has worn off, and not being sidetracked by other things that could reasonably (baseball, debate team), or unreasonably (clarinet gear that falsely promises things, or your false believe that it will hand you the sun, moon, and stars) takes up your time is:
freakin' hard,
particularly when advancement can seem like a "2 steps forwards, and 3 steps back" proposition.
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Time to practice, quite literally, what I preach.
Post Edited (2017-04-23 19:41)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-04-24 05:31
WhitePlainsDave wrote:
>
> focused discipline over the long term, with the right
> teachers.
>
There's not much to argue with the first part of this. And it's the degree to which a musician maintains this that separates the good player from the exceptional one.
The "right" teachers are important at a certain stage of a player's development. This can be something of a lucky draw for most students, but more important, there is only so far even a great teacher can take a student. And I think most students reach that point surprisingly sooner than many would expect.
One of my consistent suggestions to beginners of any age who post here asking, essentially, for instruction on how to get a better tone, how to tongue faster or cleaner, how to stop a persistent squeak, how to play more in tune, what mouthpiece/barrel/instrument/reed will accomplish all of these improvements, is to find a skilled local teacher who can hear and see what the person is doing as a starting point. A good teacher can short-cut the path to solving those basic problems. A teacher can open an inexperienced student (of any age) up to more music-centered thinking in the ways technique can be used to realize the notation on the page and the ways that realization can be made meaningful in the sense of musical art.
But once certain basics are established, the teacher can become an obstruction and his instructions a straitjacket. I think this point comes at different times for each individual, just as individuals leave childhood and become capable of living as independent adults at different times. Once the student/musician reaches that point, the point where musical independence is possible, his best teacher becomes his (or her) ears and the best source of artistic inspiration comes from processing everything he listens to and experiences. Self-analysis and introspection then become the mature expression of "focused discipline" and finding personal solutions to individual problems becomes a lifelong process.
Self-analysis and introspection are the hard parts that not everyone is willing to do.
Karl
Post Edited (2017-04-24 10:27)
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Author: RLarm
Date: 2017-04-25 11:44
When I studied with Herb Blayman (such a great man) I asked him what is the secret to becoming a great clarinetist? He immediately answered practice playing all the Kroepsch studies. And that was it!
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-04-25 22:17
The straightjacket that teachers can impose Karl, which I fully concede can exist, is not the problem at least I feel most teacher's encounter (I acknowledge the bias of a teacher wanting to believe they can still add value beyond when many others privy to the situation would say that their "work with a particular student is done.")
From my own personal experience with High School players, I find myself, not unlike the exercise trainer, keeping students focused on etude work as least as much their technique with same. Understandably, everyone's so focused on their NYSSMA (or whatever State's) solos (and gear) that they tend to back burner things like the assigned (and so critical) Kroepsch studies referenced above.
Surely though there is that advanced player who needs to work with the Hawleys and Gilads of the world, where such instructors will focus more with the student who already knows and practices etude drills via autopilot, on interpretation of major works--than etude study presumed to already have occurred and remain ongoing....
or merely the kid too advanced for the beginner music store teacher who teaches all woodwinds, but specializes in brass, (no offense intended towards them) that lacks the clarinet specific depth of knowledge to continue efficiently advancing that promising student.
To your point though, even at the advanced enough level, there's something to be said about studying with several of the greats for not only the right fit, but the (slightly?) different perspective each teacher brings, followed by, at the highest of levels, independence and the less occasional master class work, or help with a specific problem (e.g. seeing a Larry Combs for a specific fingering issue, Julian Bliss working with Sabine Meyer for an opinion.)
Post Edited (2017-04-25 22:18)
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The Clarinet Pages
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