The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Speculator Sam
Date: 2018-05-12 03:02
I'm not sure if this was asked before on this site, if so then I apologize. My question is regarding lessons 7, 11, and 13. I know they are referred to as daily studies, and what I've done so far is completed the lessons and when I meant a new set of daily studies, then I substituted lesson 7 for lesson 11 and moved on until I saw the next set.
I'm currently on lesson 17 now; how long should I continue repeating lesson 13? Thanks for reading.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kdk
Date: 2018-05-12 11:07
IMO, as long as you think you can improve it. At some point you'll feel that there's no further benefit and that something more advanced is more useful.
Karl
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2018-05-12 19:37
A lot of things carry the label of "daily studies", whether as part of a method or as standalone books such as Opperman's. The idea seems to be that they represent technique that should become part of your general playing abilities, meaning that technique should be acquired and maintained.
Actual daily practice of individual examples is often unnecessary, but the cleaner, smoother, better sounding, and faster they become, the better they extend to your overall playing. You judge how much work you need to put in on each of them based on your playing goals and needs. Sometimes you create your own exercises for similar reasons.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Speculator Sam
Date: 2018-05-12 22:42
I never thought of it that way. Personally I feel that lesson 13 for example was getting to a point where I could play the phrases smoothly without moving my fingers away from the clarinet very far anymore and that the speed that I could play the exercise was pretty much dictated by my intrinsic motivation to do so. The very last exercise on that page is tricky for me so I'll definitely keep doing that.
Regardless, when I do complete this book I will definitely repeat the entire book to ensure that my technique is solid. Once again thank you for responding KDK and Phillip
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2018-05-12 23:36
Hi Sam. Note that technique needs to be maintained. To oversimplify a bit, maintenance involves repetition. You may not want to consider any of the exercises "done with", though some will undoubtedly become so in the real world. I return fairly often to "daily studies", even basic ones; doing so can serve several purposes. It can highlight weaknesses or holes for correction, it can indicate progress (or its lack), and it can support stepping up to a higher technical level. I confess I'm less disciplined in this regard than many players better than me. Some basic things (like scales and common patterns) tend to become part of one's daily warmup or routine, i.e., they never go away.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Speculator Sam
Date: 2018-05-13 18:34
Good point. You are absolutely right there isn't really any one thing in the world of music that should ever be considered "done with". That adage reminds me of all those classical type recitals that professionals, like the saxophone great Yasuto Tanaka and the fine tenor Joseph Callejua, would still perform the "beginner pieces" early in their pro. careers.
Of course scales should be common sense. Michael Lowenstern said it best as well. In his "Clarinet Owner's Manual" video on scales he mentioned how you could easily get more mileage out of the Baermann book just by doing the sixteenth note exercises as quin-tuplets, hex-tuplets, sep-tuplets.
There's no such thing as perfect and one who strives for this in their playing should always stay in touch with their basics. My Mother's the closest thong I have to a clarinet teacher right now, and I remember when I finished the Accent on Achievement books and was ready to move onto Rubank Inter. she told me "Okay, now play through the entire AOA series, even the whole notes on page 1, once more. You have lungs and muscle memory now, so doing actually doing the exercises correctly shouldn't be an issue".
That was the biggest burn I've recieved in my adult life as of yet.
That being said my playing improved vastly after the weeks spent completing those books and yes I remember spending multiple days trying to play that damned Sousa march just right. I'll make sure I play through every book now two or three times if necessary. After all, skill level and technqiue is a marathon not a sprint. You can't rush these things and the body can only absorp so much in a single day and still be ready to absorp more the next day.
And according to my Mother, I still can't play "To a Wild Rose" correctly yet.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
|