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 First lessons
Author: Musicgirl2223 
Date:   2015-01-20 10:37

So, here is my situation:
I am a first year music major in college. I'm doing pretty well, so far. I'm principal clarinet in the Symphonic Band here, which is the lower band, but still an accomplishment for a Freshman. Clarinet is my main instrument but I also play tenor sax. I'm a music education/performance double major.
I have never taught private lessons before, but I was asked to start teaching a 5th grade girl to play. She is in beginning band and the daughter of my dad's coworker. I have never met her and lessons will possibly be starting next week.
My question is, does anyone have any advice or input on what to start teaching her with? I have a few books (Essential Elements, Rubank Elementary Method, maybe a few more...) I could start on but I would like to see what her band teacher has her working on first before I throw more stuff at her. I am willing to buy another book for her to work out of, though, if anyone has any good ones that they know of for fifth grade band students. I am a total nerd about clarinet have spent hours looking up the best ways to care for them and could start talking about care/maintenance, but like I would like some input from some experienced professionals.
Thank you!

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 Re: First lessons
Author: maxopf 
Date:   2015-01-20 11:11

I taught some beginning elementary schoolers at my high school last year. I'll let the professionals to go into specifics about teaching methodology, but in my opinion you should really focus their initial lessons on the fundamentals of clarinet playing - good embouchure, proper hand positioning, good air support and articulation, and so forth - before getting too involved in music or method books. It's really hard to have students go back and fix bad habits in these areas once they've been playing for a while (I say this from both personal experience as a student and from my experiences of having taught beginners.)

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 Re: First lessons
Author: Musicgirl2223 
Date:   2015-01-20 11:18

Yeah...no kidding...I was one of those students that no one caught for a long time unfortunately...it didn't take me long to relearn some things but I wouldn't wish that on a beginner especially...Thanks...those are great suggestions...

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 Re: First lessons
Author: greenslater 
Date:   2015-01-20 12:33

Have a look at the Abracadabra Clarinet book. Lots of tunes based on a good sequence of notes as the range is extended. No advice about technique etc - that's your job :)

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 Re: First lessons
Author: kdk 
Date:   2015-01-20 18:05

maxopf wrote:

> focus their initial lessons on the fundamentals of clarinet
> playing - good embouchure, proper hand positioning, good air
> support and articulation, and so forth - before getting too
> involved in music or method books.

These are important and I would only add that while focusing on them don't obsess over them. Your goal at the very beginning is to guide your student toward a way of playing that avoids destructive habits, not so much one that does everything perfectly from the start. She won't do everything (perhaps anything) the perfect, right way. It's important that she doesn't get used to doing things that will predictably make it hard to play well as she develops. Her embouchure, her finger control, her articulation and her control of air will all take time to build and refine. Initially the need is to make sure that ongoing refinement is possible without having later to make drastic changes.

She has already been involved with written music, so that train has left the station. Until you have a sense of her natural musical ability, her level physical control and her interest in the clarinet, you may, as you suggest, want to just support the school program for a couple of lessons. Review what she's supposed to be practicing for her teacher at school. Maybe invent some short scale exercises using the notes she already knows - probably not a full octave.

You can do some echo "games." Play a rhythm on a single pitch and have her echo it back to you. If she's talented with a good ear, after she's used to it you may be able to "trick" her by changing notes and see if she can match you by ear. Tell her as much as necessary about what you're doing, but if she can hear patterns of steps up and down on her own, all the better. At this point, too, your modeling is at least as important as her accuracy in echoing you. She needs to hear good playing.

One thing you can do independent of the school program is to teach her to articulate with her tongue if the teacher in school isn't working on it. Some teachers avoid tongued articulation for a long time. It's easier to teach one-on-one than it is in a group lesson, and it isn't practical to get past very basic slow rhythms until the tongue comes into use. You can use echoing to reinforce tonguing once you've taught her to do it.

Just a few thoughts. Just keep in mind (I hate slogans, but here's one that seems apt) "Rome wasn't built in a day." With any luck and a lot of experience, you'll be really good at this in about 30 years. :)

Have fun and enjoy the process.

Karl

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 Re: First lessons
Author: Dick 
Date:   2015-01-20 23:44

Books, resources, etc. - all have their advocates and supporters, but emphasizing basics has to be woven throughout any course of instruction. Years ago I knew a young girl who went through two years of beginning band (grades 4-5) before anyone realized she was holding her clarinet with her left hand on the bottom.

Dick

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 Re: First lessons
Author: Paul Aviles 
Date:   2015-01-21 02:45

Don't get to worked up about it. Work with what you have when you get there rather than build up a model of what you want to do in advance.........and........

Teachers learn more during a lesson than their students........SHHHH! Don't tell anyone else about this.






.............Paul Aviles



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 Re: First lessons
Author: nellsonic 
Date:   2015-01-21 10:32

Two very good and true comments from Paul.

If you are sufficiently committed to be a good potential teacher, it's natural to be a little apprehensive at the beginning. By the same token, if you are qualified you will find yourself naturally pulling teaching tricks from the back of your mind in response to the situation you find yourself in, based on all the good things you've hopefully been taught over the years. That's part of the fun!

My best advice would be to remember to connect personally with your student at the first lesson. A simple question like, "what do you like to do besides playing music?" communicates that you care about the person and not just the puzzle of how to maximize their clarinet playing. It's easy to get 'tunnel vision' in the beginning as you try to do your best job, and to overlook this kind of small signal that is really important to many students and helps to put them at ease and be receptive to your help. The old teaching maxim, "they won't care how much you know until they know how much you care" has some truth to it.

After the first lesson you'll be much better prepared to plan a course of action for the future.

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