 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chalumeau
Date: 2021-07-03 08:07
I'm about to start teaching a 14 year old student who is brand new to clarinet. Usually with beginners I've used Standard of Excellence, but my beginners have always been younger (5th-6th grade). I'm wondering if a 14 year old would think the red book is too childish? Curious to hear any opinions, and feel free to offer alternatives!
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2021-07-03 08:11
I don't know the book. It would depend on the kid. I started taking private lessons with "Foundation to Clarinet Playing" which took you from square one to pretty complicated stuff. Don't know if it's still in print as that was 1964.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2021-07-03 12:34
The objective is to teach the student the rudiments of the clarinet and to progressively introduce more complex ideas. The Standard of Excellence series do this quite well.Our local New Horizons Band use it as a primer for people who have not played previously, and most of these people are aged 50+. It seems to work for them. They work through the book at a much higher rate than the kids do. Personally I used the Otto Langley book, but I think it's now out of print.
Tony F.
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Author: Chris_C ★2017
Date: 2021-07-03 13:06
The band I play with runs courses for adult beginners. That uses Standard of Excellence and I undertsand it works well.
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Author: donald
Date: 2021-07-03 14:58
It'll be fine so long as the student understands that the easy stuff is the foundation for the harder stuff that follows. I usually use "Take up the clarinet" and find with younger students I need to buffer it out with extra material, ut more able teenagers can go through it in less than 6 months... The ones who do the WHOLE BOOK end up a lot more able than those who skip through and only pick out their favourite bits... No matter what age...
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Author: Ed
Date: 2021-07-03 15:40
I suppose it works about as well as any of them Any of those books should provide a good enough foundation of reading and technique. They often are filled with old folks songs which are a vehicle to get them up and playing. If you have any local stores which have a selection of the beginner books you can browse and see if you prefer another. I always prefer the old Breeze Easy books. I liked the way they presented material and reinforced the concepts much better than the SOE.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2021-07-03 17:25
Chalumeau wrote:
> I'm about to start teaching a 14 year old student who is brand
> new to clarinet.
Is he brand new to music study? Or does he play something else? More important, is he new to reading music notation?
I think SOE is as good as anything else to teach the fundamentals of notation. Like most beginner books, it doles out new fingerings rather slowly for a 14 year old, but if you encourage him to move through at least the 1st book at his own comfortable speed, it will work.
You may want to supplement with a movie theme or something else familiar now and then. The folk tunes in the beginner books are no longer familiar to most kids. They're there mostly to save on royalty payments for more up-to-date tunes that are still protected and need to be licensed.
Karl
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2021-07-03 21:35
I'll just throw in that during my 19 years teaching Band I used maybe 4-5 different beginning method books. I used Band Today more often, but found they're all pretty much the same. Only so many ways you can teach new notes and rhythms.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: Ed
Date: 2021-07-04 04:21
"The folk tunes in the beginner books are no longer familiar to most kids"
That is certainly true. There was a time when kids grew up hearing (and singing) many traditional folk songs. Years ago I believe it was MENC (now NAFME) who had a list of folk songs every child should know. That seems to have faded away in most education. Teaching over the years there are times I offhandedly say to a student, "Well, of course you have heard this" and they stare at me blankly and say they have never heard the song. This has been the case even for standard patriotic fare such as America. I somehow doubt many of them would know the Star Spangled Banner except that it is played at sporting events!
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Author: Max S-D
Date: 2021-07-08 23:56
I mean, if you were learning "America the Beautiful" in school in, say, 1955, as my parents were, less time had elapsed since the music and lyrics were first published together (1895) than from 1955 to today. Same is true of a lot of those "everyone knows these!" songs, I suspect. I learned that one in elementary school, but that was thirty years ago at this point and it probably wasn't as ubiquitous in my life as in my parents' lives. They certainly know more words to that song than I do. Nowadays I can't even remember the last time I even heard that song, much less sang it. Maybe watching a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony last year.
I know I had great success back in 2009 when I transcribed the chorus to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" after my 9 year-old student was delighted to hear me messing around with the melody while we were setting up. It was an online joke ("Rickrolling") that he had heard a bunch of times and the melody connected with him, weirdly enough. It ended up being a fun lesson and he made some real progress. You have to meet your audience where they are!
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2021-07-09 00:27
Max S-D wrote:
> I mean, if you were learning "America the Beautiful" in school
> in, say, 1955, as my parents were, less time had elapsed since
> the music and lyrics were first published together (1895) than
> from 1955 to today. Same is true of a lot of those "everyone
> knows these!" songs, I suspect.
Well, it has a great deal to do with what's being *taught* in music classes. Those old "everyone knows them" tunes have not been part of most music curricula for decades or longer. As for the lyrics, we were taught those in the large assembly programs that were part of our school day back in the 1950s. Those all-school or even all-grade gatherings are no longer considered a worthwhile use of instructional time for better or for worse.
> I know I had great success back in 2009 when I transcribed the
> chorus to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" after my 9
> year-old student was delighted to hear me messing around with
> the melody while we were setting up.
When you're just pirating a tune for a quick one-off lesson for a student who needs motivating, it doesn't make much practical difference that anything new (up-to-date) is heavily protected by copyright and licensing rules. But it makes a great deal of difference to a publisher. Those licensing fees eat into the profits. If you want to deal mostly with printed teaching material, most of the music will be PD and not recent no matter which book you choose.
Karl
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