Author: Slowoldman
Date: 2020-09-19 21:46
Speaking from my own experience: As a young average amateur player (playing in band in through college), I remember my teachers seeming to stress fingers and speed more than tone production or musical concepts. I was going through exercises, but without clear intention or guidance.
When I resumed playing after a 34-year layoff, my embouchure and sound picked up where I left off--Thin, inconsistent, etc. The first teacher I found again seemed to expect me to just play the repertoire pieces, without much attention on his part to tone.
A change of teachers (in my 60's!)was absolutely life-changing for me. In the first lesson, my new teacher improved my tone simply by finding an explanation of breath support that made sense to me; and identified that I was biting (and using a too-hard reed to go along with that bad concept!) to make up for poor support. He had lots of new ways of looking at what I was doing versus what I could be doing. Instead of telling me to practice, he taught me HOW to practice. Example: Not "play scales", but HOW to play them to get what I need (or what he wanted) out of them.
Fast-forward 6 years: I will never be a "star", but my playing has improved many-fold, to what my teacher compares to "conservatory level". I have learned the difference between playing clarinet to "be in the band" versus being a musician. Most importantly, my enjoyment of playing clarinet has increased tremendously; and I can't imagine life without it!
Assuming that you have at least some aptitude for playing clarinet, I am a firm believer that a change of teachers can lead to big changes in your playing. But (as other posters have said) there's no "best" teacher--It's a matter of finding the one who's right for YOU, who is willing to address your concerns and can "speak your language" and be creative with various exercises and concepts to help you improve.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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