The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2002-08-12 20:00
Guess what i discovered!? i havent reached my peak! someone suggested going back to basics, so yesterday i did. and i discovered that i missed some things along the way and the reason i cant get more advanced is becuz i never got a good grasp on some intermediate things. i took out the intermdediate rubank method and worked in it all day yesterday taking short breaks when i needed to. im all excited becuz im learning new things and i thot i was stuck but im not. just need a good review! cant wait to go home and practice today! and thank you everyone who replied to my other thread!
JL
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2002-08-13 02:12
Anyone can stand over you and say "do this" or "do this other thing." You did the work. Pat yourself on the back.
Glad we could give you some direction in any case.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-08-13 04:00
Indeed. No one can do it for you. Your own discoveries are the best and most enduring you'll ever have.
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2002-08-13 12:48
well, im learning new ways to play notes for one. i knew there were more than one way to play notes, but there were still a lot i didnt know. so as i go along i have to think about what way will be the best way and it usually comes out smoother if i follow the guidelines of rubank. so my fingers and brain are learning new patterns. and when i play pieces down the road, i know what my choices are.
and hmmm, lets see - syncopation. i kinda had it from listening to other clarinet players around me, but didnt really understand how to read it it very well. i kinda had it, but not really. and when i went back and really concentrated on understanding it, the way it is in the method book, i understood what i was seeing better and not just what i was hearing. i still need work on this tho.
playing fluently - i noticed that when i played the exercises i 'fumble' around a lot. we never bothered to go back to figure out why. and think its just becuz i was playing in a harder book which was more technically challenging and trying to go to fast. its easier to notice that my fingers are not hitting all the keys good all the time when playing the easier excersises. then i stop and find what notes are the problem and work it out. then play it slow until i get it smooth
all in all - i think that im beyond intermediate, and maybe not neccessarily missed a lot of stuff, but i think we jumped the gun in trying to get more advanced and i got very stuck for a long time and a good review of the intermdiate lessons seem to helping cuz i feel like im learning new things and intead of frustration, im excited about playing and working thru it.
JL
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-08-13 15:11
Janlynn -
The great teacher Leon Russianoff would get hot-shots coming into Juilliard who would play the Nielsen Concerto at double speed for him at the first lesson. He would stop them, turn on a metronome at 60 and say "play a C major scale." Inevitably, there would be tiny bobbles and unevenness. He would tell them that the Nielsen was nothing if they couldn't do the basics.
So you're absolutely right. Everything comes back to the basics. In fact, it's much harder to practice so that everything's perfect than to fake it going faster and faster. Practicing fast only teaches you to make mistakes. The really hard work is building your technique up from the bottom.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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