Author: BethGraham
Date: 2021-02-07 20:12
A bit of background. I've been learning clarinet for just over two years, and prior to the start of the pandemic in March 2020, had been taking weekly lessons and had just started in the Rubank Intermediate book. I was also playing, enthusiastically though not well, as 3rd clarinet in a community band as well as in a local New Horizons "beginner band."
Since the pandemic hit, I've been going it alone: no more lessons, and certainly no more band rehearsal. I've structured my own (mostly daily) practice, working through Rubank Intermediate and supplementing with things like Hite's Melodious and Progressive Studies and Michele Anderson's online Mastering High Notes class.
Well, I've finally finished Rubank Intermediate and started the Advanced vol. 1 book a few days ago, and Holy Cow! It is so much *easier* than the Intermediate book so far. Moreover, the units are chunked in what to my mind is a far more logical manner, with less emphasis from the start on the altissimo range. My first impression is that Advanced sets up a student for success in a way that Intermediate does not; a student can actually *master* these units rather than just moving from one lesson to the next when it's "good enough."
In hindsight, I wish I'd skipped Intermediate and started working in the Advanced book last March, though clearly all the slog through Intermediate is making the new book seem easier. I totally agree with what older threads on Rubank Advanced have noted about the book being like eating your vegetables. Still, it looks like an excellent book for consolidating skills. (Of course, fickle woman that I am, I'll continue to supplement with other things, such as Baermann 2nd Division.)
I am longing, though, for the day I can return to rehearsal and resume in-person lessons. In the meantime, I'll continue my solitary work so I can be a stronger band member once that day arrives.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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