 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2010-01-31 20:09
Never, ever underestimate the ability of children. Yes, they played from memory, without music stands!
However I didn't see smiles. It would have been nice to see the director smile at the audience and at the children who'd just done an unbelievable job! I've read that Japan has the reputation of pushing themselves and their children to reach the excel in order to get into the best schools and universities, get the best jobs, and to end up burning out in mid-life.
Kids love to excel at something, to be good at something. We've got to give them that opportunity to do something they love and even push them at times, but there have got to be limits.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2010-01-31 20:18
We shouldn't see too much into a video.
I understand that every culture is different, and everywhere you might be taught differently how to act in front of a camera, of an audience, during a competition etc.
Whatever their background - a fantastic performance. I'd be interesting to see where they are in 20 years. (something I occasionally ponder about when I read about a person making headlines today).
--
Ben
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-01-31 22:49
They are fantastic, what a group of young kids. As an interesting side note did you notice that all the clarinet players, one bass clarinet, were using the Rovner ligatures? I know Rovner and he's told me that he sells ten of thousands of his ligatures to Japan as well as other countries over seas. They like them because if you drop them they don't loose their shape as the metal ones do. That's one of the reasons so many schools buy them. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: mrn
Date: 2010-01-31 23:35
I don't know to what extent the rest of Japanese music education is influenced by the Suzuki Method, but Suzuki students memorize everything. The Suzuki Method places less emphasis on sight-reading (especially in the initial stages) and more on listening and basic musicianship.
If you listen to this video, you will notice that what's exceptionally good about these kids is their ensemble ability--they play together and, for the most part, in tune with each other. The music they're playing doesn't sound that difficult technically (it's actually rather repetitive), but you can tell that it takes a good sense of rhythm and a good ear for where your part fits in with everyone else's to pull it off. That doesn't take hours and hours of at-home practice to do--it just takes good aural skills. These kids don't have the distraction of sheet music in front of them, so they learn to rely on their ears. Perhaps that's something we in the West could learn from.
Another hallmark of the Suzuki approach is starting children on instruments at a very early age by western standards. I understand that starting kids early on a musical instrument is common in Japan, in general. It's likely many of these kids have been playing musical instruments for 4 or more years (comparable to an American high school sophomore in terms of years of training, if you think about it). In that light, comparing them with American students of the same age just doesn't make any sense.
And although Asian parents and their children do have a reputation for being very competitive and the parents have a reputation for pushing their children to be high achievers, the Suzuki people, at least, discourage competition and promote playing for the enjoyment of it. They also don't promote endless drills and exercises, but spend the bulk of their time on real music, which is a lot more fun.
So I wouldn't be so quick to attribute the success of this group to unreasonable parental expectations. Nor would I feel threatened by their ability (after all, Japan doesn't produce any more world-class performers or ensembles than the rest of the world does). They just have a different system than we do, one that places a lot more emphasis on early education (and early music education, in particular) than ours does.
Of course, if our writing system were as complex as the Japanese, I imagine our educational system might look a lot more like theirs.
Post Edited (2010-01-31 23:38)
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Author: srattle
Date: 2010-01-31 23:49
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyZnIzoqjfA&feature=related
Also amazing, with a really nice trombone choreography 0:36
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Author: clarionet
Date: 2010-02-01 08:08
Great music-making! thank you Ed.
Brenda: I really didn't see what you have seen. the percussionist seems to be enjoying herself, the clarinetist on the front-left moves whereas others do not, and the trumpet with the mute is definitely smiling.
I think the "seriousness" is just the concentration required and looking at the conductor.
Ages: they look to be between 9-12 or so.
What I really envy is the high standard of the instruments available to them: they must have all that percussion material in school and place to keep it in!
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2010-02-01 12:09
To me this is a reminder to offer assistance to our grandchildren when they get past the diaper stage. Mom and Dad may by then be very busy making a living and caring for an increasing family size, but the kids could be taking advantage of the pre-school music education that's available. They already love it when they hear their Dad play the guitar.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2010-02-01 18:55
Brenda, I agree with you. It's especially important to encourage the kids with their music now that so many school districts, under financial pressure from the recession, are downsizing their music programs.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-02-01 22:08
Just a thought. If we did this in the USA it would be great for the kids to learn and play an instrument and music so well. I think we all agree here that it is an important and useful activity to experience in life. The downside is that than we might have even more students wanting to make a profession playing music where there are not nearly enough jobs for the students to get now. I'm willing to bet that only about 5% t0 10% of our conservatory graduates ever make their living from performing or teaching, probably even less for clarinet students. I'd like to see every student given the opportunity to learn to play an instrument and play in an ensemble but not to encourage them from trying to make it a career. I was one of the lucky ones, I love what I do but I know most of the students I went to school with were not so lucky. ESP
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2010-02-01 22:55
In some parts of the world music is just what happens in every kitchen. I'm thinking of the Canadian East Coast fiddle music, perhaps it's the same in the States? So music education isn't so much a professional thing, it's just what's done for recreation among friends and family. This is what I'd like to see happen with our extended family. But I have to get over the emotional block that was created when my lovely kids would make fun of my singing... the ones complaining the most were the ones with great ability but who didn't sing. The one who didn't complain doesn't have a great ear, but would sing just for the joy of it. The boys complained about her singing off tune, but I'd get after them and told them that I'd rather have singing in my house than to have critical boys who knew how, but who DIDN'T. Anyway, our grandkids love to hear singing.
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Author: mikeyarbulu
Date: 2010-02-02 00:12
Ed, if we bring up more children that are interested in music, wouldn't that create more job opportunities for everyone? Wouldn't that increase the demand for live performances?
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Author: kiseoglee
Date: 2010-02-02 00:42
I think it's something misconception that children might not enjoy music. This is competition session, and it is natural kids look nervous and stiff, as they are kids!
Of course, I postulate there is some difference of cultural background between Japan and Westerns. Usually east-Aisan's face who concentrate in someting looks like they are stressful... (I'm a Korean)
I feel deep impressions from their ensemble. It is not the level of ordinary kid of ages. It required hard training and they got it. Some of them will major in their instrument, some won't. However, it must be a great memory to everybody of enssemble to ahcieve this miraclous performance. Everybody should be a music-lover in their lifetime.
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2010-02-02 02:14
Kiseoglee, thank you for your insight. We often don't understand the differences in cultures, so it's helpful to hear from someone who lives it.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2010-02-02 07:07
Ed Palanker wrote:
> Just a thought. If we did this in the USA it would be great for the kids to
> learn and play an instrument and music so well. I think we all agree here
> that it is an important and useful activity to experience in life. The downside
> is that than we might have even more students wanting to make a
> profession playing music where there are not nearly enough jobs for the
> students to get now.
Well I don't know. If we increase math and history classes in school I doubt we'd see a lot more pupils who want to become mathematicians or historians.
I think we'd have enough time to teach our children about what's hot and what's not on the job market, and how to deal with dreams that won't come true immediately.
--
Ben
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Author: graham
Date: 2010-02-02 11:41
A potential difficulty in starting children on wind instruments at a young age is that they may encounter physical barriers which put them off pursuing it, whereas that would have been less likely if they had started later. What we see here is clearly a creme de la creme ensemble, but you wonder what might have happened to the children who were unable to catch on quickly. My guess is that it might contribute to an opposite tendency to the one advanced by Ed. More people dropping out leaving a smaller elite of wonder-children to take up places in the academies.
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