Trevor J Hedrick ELED 324

Transcription

1 Text Set Clarinet Playing Techniques Text Set Rationale In my text set I have chosen to focus primarily on Clarinet playing techniques due to my love for the clarinet and music. I m a music education major and see many ways that not only playing the clarinet can make a positive musical impact on one s life but how music as a whole can have a positive impact on the way someone sees their life. Instead of focusing all of the tiny details it takes to perform on the clarinet, I am focusing a lot of my instruction on students and adults who have some musical background and can work with me on not just how to perform on the clarinet but also how to convey music through techniques on the clarinet. The main goal I have is to get students young and old to understand the meaning behind why techniques are crucial to the performance of great music on the clarinet and how that music they produce can affect someone s life. Reading Strategy The main reading strategy I plan to use is questioning. It only makes sense for me to use questioning throughout due to the nature of music education. Much of music education consists of detailed student to instructor question and answer. Because music is a universal language, one in which we all speak in some form, we need to understand each other when we interact. With this comes great patience in controlling our teaching methods. With the texts I have chosen, it s really easy to understand where the student is coming from and how they interpret music. These texts also allow for technical skill building while playing as well as not playing the clarinet. Some students tend to back down from answering any questions the instructor may have for them throughout their education process but it is crucial for the student to grasp the background knowledge even if it means embarrassment of other students. That may be harsh to some but in the area of music education, if you don t understand phrasing, interpretation, articulation or any other technique, you need to ask and sometimes when the question gets asked by a student they seem wrong for asking it. Ever question that is answered for the student advances their knowledge and passion for music. Being able to play the clarinet or any instrument for that matter takes patience beyond many other areas in our everyday life. The time management skills, patience and reward are beyond measurable throughout the journey to making oneself better in the area of music. Therefore, I will focus on questioning throughout as my strategy for teaching clarinet playing technique. The different texts that have been selected, as I have mentioned before, are a universal language. There isn t one right or wrong way to perform music. Over time, music has evolved and so has the instruction of music. From back in the medieval era to the 21 st century music which most current day musicians perform, music has taken many different roles in people s life. There isn t one language, race, ethnicity or gender that music speaks to more. All are welcome to the power, majesty and tranquility that music has to offer which is why music is an absolutely amazing art to have. All of the texts I present don t speak to one race, gender, creed or class. All texts are for anyone who has had some form of musical background and can relate in some capacity to the emotion music has to offer.

2 Title: 24 Varied Scales and Exercises Author: J.B. Albert Publisher: Carl Fischer Age Group: Beginner - Intermediate This book covers all 12 major clarinet scales followed by each relative melodic minor scale totaling 24 scales. It is organized by the circle of fourths. I would have students starting out with private instruction in a book like this. The purpose of this book is to teach the clarinetist how to play scales and to get the different forms of scales under their fingers. This is a book that doesn t incorporate composition to it for better facility of learning; instead it has the clarinet at the students fingers constantly getting the student to understand more of the clarinet. This helps facilitate the student not just hearing about how to play the clarinet, but having the student actually play the instrument. At the beginning of the book it helps out with fingerings and other helpful charts if they are without the instructor. This book appeals to beginner or intermediate students due to its difficulty level. Essentially, this book was written to be a model and guide to help the clarinetist learn their scales. The book isn t a lyrical or technical book but one for facilitating the students understanding of their instrument on a fundamental level. If I am using this book for particular practice techniques I would use the questioning strategy Reading with a Question in Mind. With this technique I am able to ask students What do you do during your practice session? I would then have my students write down either in their book or on a separate piece of paper to give to me how they practice. With this strategy I would give them focus questions within the main question. Some questions would be How do you prepare for your practice session? and even to get them to answer some questions regarding their instrumental care with how well they take care of their instrument. This book helps with facilitating the Reading with a Question in Mind strategy by having the students read the book then ask themselves those questions then becoming their own instructor. The students will be able to come up with certain answers to their own questions as well as different ideas on the various practice methods mentioned before. Having the students coming up with their own answers to their own questions, they can then come to conclusions on their own. Most of the time they will need further guidance and assistance when it comes to setting up a practice schedule. The great outcome of this questioning strategy is that the students end up learning from their own experiences as well as their fellow students experiences as their peers go through their lessons.

3 Complete Method for Clarinet Carl Baermann Publisher: Carl Fischer Age group: Intermediate - Advanced The Carl Baermann Clarinet Scales method book is very commonly used with very advanced middle school student as well as more intermediate high school students and in many conservatories as well as schools of music. It is more of an advanced book. The Series, as a whole, is designed to encourage students to achieve proper hand and body positions, strong finger technique, agility and proper breathing habits. Each study focuses on a particular challenge. Featuring scale, arpeggio, interval and pattern studies in all major and minor keys, this modern edition of the classic Baermann method reorganizes exercises according to key for a more logical study sequence. In addition, certain patterns and contemporary chordal studies have been added to make the material more complete. This is another crucial step along the path for the aspiring professional clarinetist. Within the book, there happens to be a chapter that studies and focuses on technique completely. There are some lessons within this particular chapter regarding hand position, certain alternate fingers, how to properly produce sounds on the clarinet, etc. The book is very effective in teaching many musical solutions to technically difficult areas. For this book I will be using the The More We Learn, The More We Wonder strategy to express the difficulty as well as virtuoso that comes with the practice and performance of the clarinet. If I wanted to focus completely on how to produce a great tone on the clarinet from within the several chapters provided, I could utilize the student in playing a recording of someone of very high virtuosic stature such as Charles Neidich who is the primary clarinet professor for Juilliard School of Music in New York. I would then ask the student what they hear in the way of tone, the way they play and even the small things that could come up in conversation such as how did they tongue that really fast passage like that? I would then play for the student and ask them of the same questions that were presented previously to see what kind of response I get, which should vary a lot. Then I would ask them to perform. This will provoke many questions about their personal performance as well as practice regiment. With the The More We Learn, The More We Wonder strategy I hope the student will not only hope to sound like a professional in turn asking many questions regarding the steps to progressing in the arts. Some of the topics from within the section I would want to hear my students wondering are What makes one sound different from the next? Why did Mr. Hedrick play short and detached? and even some getting into a much deeper level of questioning themselves asking a question such as How do you get such a warm tone out of your instrument? These are all great questions to be hearing in this strategy.

4 Title: 32 Etudes for Clarinet Author: Cyrille Rose Publisher: Carl Fischer Age group: Intermediate Advanced Newly revised and corrected, the clarinet player now has a complete and versatile package of these essential etudes for study and performance. This book allows clarinetists around the world start to understand the many concepts behind performing lyrical as well as technical passage. This book allows for some flexibility in interpretation within the music which is something that most method or etude books don t allow. The student is placed in a performance position for each etude and is allowed to make their own personal decisions on how a certain passage is interpreted which is crucial to the questioning strategy I am focusing on. This allows the instructor to question the student why they feel they need to play a certain passage a certain way with their response being their own in the context of these etudes. This book contains valuable insight into both the original author Cyrille Rose and Franz Wilhelm Ferling, on whose music the Rose studies were based. With the student knowing who an author is can make a huge difference in how one interprets different musical passages. The accompaniments for these etudes further enhance the musical quality of these etudes while making practice and performance more meaningful. Many of these beautiful, melodic etudes are perfect for recital use as well advancing the student. In this source, due to its advancement in the profession of being able to perform on the clarinet, I want to use the Some questions are answered, some are not strategy. The reason why I feel this source to make full use of this strategy is due to its incredibly open ended music making experience. The entire book is very open to personal interpretation which fosters some questions are not answered aspect of the strategy. A student may have a particular question about a long passage that I as the instructor or another professional may not have 100% knowledge of as well as have many different personal opinions on the passage. This is also a great strategy that can lead into many other strategies such as having them seek the answer out for themselves if they really would like a solid answer. Essentially, seeing as the book is 100% music and zero text whatsoever throughout, it is my sole purpose and responsibility as their teacher in instructing the student on many of the topics and musical ideas they may not be truly grasping yet. The music may be asking the student to do something but they just aren t seeing what the music is asking of them which is where I would step in and reinforce what needs to be performed and how it should be performed.

5 Title: 30 caprices for Clarinet Author: Ernesto Cavallini Publisher: Lauren Keiser Age group: Advanced - Professional Cavallini wrote his 30 Caprices in five volumes, each including pieces for both technical and musical study. He was intensely interested that the Caprices be not merely technical exercises, but studies in style and phrasing: an introduction to the new expressive force of the new music of his time. With this in mind, he made numerous expressive indications in his etudes which went beyond the standard markings of crescendo, diminuendo, accelerando, ritardando. These markings have been restored in this edition and also include translations at the end of the volume. The noteworthy feature of this edition is the recording included with Charles Neidich's performances of the Caprices. Rather than clutter Cavallini's already expressively notated scores with still more markings, this edition offers the recording as a window into the "bel canto" style of the etudes and as models of the kind of performance to which the student should aspire. The students are able to enjoy what the etudes are meant to sound like while interpreting them on their own. This source will need the utilization of the Thick and Thin Questions strategy. Due to the etude books already rich text as well as virtuosic abilities it is asking the performer to acquire there needs to be great attention to detail within this particular book. As mentioned before, the book assists the performer in sounding like a professional and preparing the student for recitals with magnificent works. With this strategy in mind, it will assist the educator in differentiating between the larger questions and smaller clarification questions in relation to dynamics, articulations, tempo and even phrasing. Within this source there are many details that need to have focus and with this strategy, assisting the student with all of this detail is crucial to get these minute decisions made about what to do within a piece. With all of the other sources, this source requires something almost like a prerequisite to get into this book. Through practice of scales, use of other sources that utilize different areas of the clarinet, this source becomes easier to understand from a performer view point which in turn makes Thick and Thin Questions easier to come by for a performer. This is a stage where knowing the music becomes second nature and memorization becomes a much larger topic. You may wonder what a thick question would consist of in this source. The thick question for this source would be how do I go about memorizing a piece like this for a jury, recital or for a large performance? That is a great thick question for the instructor. Whatever the case may be for the student, people who practice the arts are all completely different and find their own methods for memorization. That s when informing the student to find a way that works for them in the big picture would be best with this strategy.

6 Title: 18 Advanced Etudes Author: Paul Jeanjean Publisher: Lauren Keiser Age group: Advanced - Professional Paul Jeanjean s etudes are highly developed concert works that can make for very impressive additions to recital programs. This edition's notes at the bottom of each page explain the various modern chords and scales (augmented chords, 9th chords, whole tone scales for instance) he used in each of his etudes. Just like many newer and more modern etude books, there are many different recordings provided mostly by the publisher. Therefore, rather than clutter Jeanjean's already expressively notated scores with still more markings, the recording offers, as a window into the modern, yet romantic style of the etudes and as models of the kind of performance to which the student should aspire. These 18 studies represent a revolutionary departure from present day clarinet music literature, because they prepare the clarinetist to read and execute various odd melodic chord formations and intricate rhythmic figures found in the symphonic works by the Modernists. This puts the musician on track to be the best they can be to becoming or continuing their professional clarinet abilities. Since this source is much more for professional musicians and clarinet performers, I have decided to use the strategy that would best suit the more advanced performers. When addressing this book I could only think of Share your Questions About Your Own Reading strategy. There are many times today that musicians don t utilize each other enough and think that our opinion is the only one when it comes to music. Within the strategy it mentions about your own reading. With this in mind, in music we don t think literally reading letters and creating sentences. Instead, we read notes creating phrases and passages. This isn t difficult for a professional or aspiring expert on their instrument. For the clarinet, I would use this strategy in or out of the classroom to see what others are thinking about certain passages, phrases, forms and even to the point of how one plays the clarinet. This source allows us to use this strategy really well because the pieces that are offered to us in the book are very interpretive and exposed pieces. They aren t the standard pieces in previous sources that would ask the performer to do certain things that only the author would ask for. Instead, this book asked the performer what they think about the piece as a whole and how they will interpret it into their own. This is a great strategy even for large classrooms that we may end up teaching multiple clarinet students. The reason being is that we may learn fifty things from the students that we didn t even think about that could potentially and more than likely influence the way we teach our next lesson to even the education of a certain topic to another student. This is a great strategy for all areas.