video from 11/29

Here's a segment from my lesson with HLS on Nov. 29 - our last lesson of the semester! In this clip, HLS is playing her "etude of the week" for me, and following that she plays one of her previous etudes in a "mock jury" situation in preparation for her first end of semester jury on Dec. 6. :-)

busy weeks and moments of progress

The months of November and December are tricky ones for teachers and students alike. Just when you're getting back in to a normal schedule after fall break, suddenly it's Thanksgiving break, and then all you can think about is Christmas - but not before surviving juries and exams! It is so difficult to feel like you accomplish anything during this time.

Which is perhaps why it is even more sweet when you realize at the end of the semester that you have actually accomplished a lot. There were two weeks that I didn't not teach my students in the last month, and many of them have had their last lessons for the semester in the last couple of days. Including our little guinea pig of the semester, HLS. We spent most of our last lesson running the material she has prepared for her jury on Tuesday and talking about the jury process, what to expect, etc.

She was dealing a little bit with the "I didn't practice over Thanksgiving break" syndrome, but it was great to hear her easily refocus her sound or sharpen her technique with only a simple reminder. She has made great improvements in her embouchure, tone quality, and air use over the semester. In my next post, I'll include a video clip from this last lesson, and hopefully you can hear the same improvements between our video early in the semester and this one as I do.

And now I get to think about what repertoire we need to start working on next semester. It's time to start playing with an accompanist! Yay!! :-)

reaching plateaus

We're in a very interesting point in the semester, it seems. There is a trend setting in with my students that has caused me to seriously contemplate what direction we should go in next. The trend: reaching the dreaded "plateau."

There always comes a point when we are learning new concepts and techniques that the initial burst of improvement and understanding levels off, and we hit this phase that I call a "plateau" - improvements slows down dramatically or stops all together, and we are left on a new level (hopefully higher from where we began) that probably isn't quite where we want to ultimately end. I've experienced these moments several times, and have found only one similarity amongst them all: I broke out of the plateau without realizing it, and often as a result of persistence as opposed to some amazing revelation or sudden change in thinking.

Which leads me to my current dilemma: HLS has reached a plateau. Our lessons are still going well, she is still practicing consistently and productively, and we have many things to work on; however, the level of improvements from lesson to lesson has shrunk from what it was in the beginning of the semester. This is stressful for me because this is the first time I have encountered this as a teacher, and not a student. Do we continue addressing embouchure, air use and finger technique, as we have, or do I need to shift in to a "reminder" phase regarding these topics and start introducing other areas of focus into HLS' work - hoping that by not forgetting those concepts while focusing on something else helps her break out of this trend independent from me? I'm not entirely sure yet, but that is the route I am leaning towards. Our next lesson is tomorrow, so we'll see what I decide by then!

In other news, my "top ten" assignment from a few weeks ago seems to have resonated with most of my students (all but "student M" really - of which I'm saddened, but not surprised). Each of the kiddos has demonstrated a renewed interest in going to concerts and in applying what they hear and learn in different situations to what they are working on with me. This has ended up serving two purposes: a reminder for them as to why they are students of music, and a personal boost for me as to why I love teaching. How lovely. :-)

lesson updates 10/21

October 21! Where did this month go (and can I have some of it back?)?! Wows.

It was so nice to finally be back into my normal routine, and to see my students again. I missed them! Student M reappeared after weeks of being a flakey student, and he accepted my "laying down the law" without resistance. (Not what I expected.) And he actually opened up a little bit about some of the root causes behind his problems - I won't go into them here because they are very personal - and he promised he would be a better student. We'll see if this change of heart sticks for the rest of the semester.

More importantly, back to HLS. We had a great lesson this week! We started in on some new repertoire, and I'm interested to see how he it progresses. Her embouchure has become a much more habitual thing (I'm having to remind her about it less and less every week), and her technique is continuing to become more natural and refined. In working on producing a fuller, rounder sound, I've asked her to play everything mf or louder - and it's helped a lot! But now her playing has a very static quality to it. It may be time to start reworking dynamic contrasts and phrase shaping into the music, and I'm hoping the new sonata we're working on will be a good tool for that. My fear is that in playing more expressively, old habits will kick back in. Great diligence is in our future!

The end of the semester will be here before we know it. Keep practicing! :-)

mid-semester frustrations

Can we have another fall break now? I missed the first one, and am running out of energy...

... and so are my students, apparently.

Last week I did not teach any of the kiddos because I was inhabiting one of the "isolation booths" (yes, that is what the sign on the door actually says) in the computer lab taking my comp exam. But I gave them all an assignment based on their all around rather poor showing in our previous week's lessons.

I sent them an email about how to be an effective music student. It's a top ten list put together by the tuba professor at the University of Georgia and that Dr. Dennis AsKew shared with me at the start of last year. The top ten list is as follows:

1. Take your classes seriously, including theory, ear training, and music history.

2. Listen to as much music as you can.

3. Learn and know your scales and arpeggios, they are the building blocks of western music.

4. Schedule your practice time as though it were a class, and make yourself a tough attendance policy.

5. Go to concerts!

6. Embrace what technology has to offer us in developing as musicians.

7. Be curious! Strive to know the repertoire for your instrument.

8. Play with your peers.

9. Be serious about your pursuit of excellence. You owe it to yourself to be the best musician you can be.

10. Know that every great musician in the world still considers himself or herself a student of music.

I then asked them to spend the next week seriously contemplating this list, analyzing how successfully they have implemented the suggestions in this list and what they can work on. Before their lessons with me this week, they all have to write a blog post about their musings.

I'm hoping that this will serve as a mini "wake-up call" for each of them, in different ways. And that they take this assignment seriously. But we'll see. :-)

a weekend of revelations

Howdy, readers!

Well... the past few days have been great. Many little events have shed fresh light on my teaching and the hamsters in my head are working extra hard to churn out new ideas to keep up. ;-)

The first moment occurred on Friday when the student you have been reading about so far (HLS) gave her first rep class performance. She did great! One of her major goals for the semester is to work on her technique, and she has made tremendous progress already. To focus on technique, we've been working on a Stamitz concerto (early classical, not too difficult harmonically but with lots of sixteenth note passages that need to be played even, light, and fast). She did a great job keeping a steady tempo, and playing the technical passages evenly and without missing accidentals. There are other concepts I've been mentioning but haven't started really bearing down on yet, like the angle of her clarinet (she likes to keep it pulled down close to her body). During Dr. Burke's "masterclass" time with HLS after her performance she mentioned ALL of these other things that I'm referring to. It was excelled! Hannah totally understood (because she wasn't hearing anything knew) and at the same time realized that she hadn't really been thinking about them as she should (because we were focusing on technique). It made me realize that while we needed the weeks of focused study on technique (and learning to practice regularly and adjust to college life and all those other things freshmen face in the first few weeks of school), she is ready to handle more than one thing at time now. I can't wait for our lesson tomorrow!

The other "lightbulb" moment I had this weekend happened this afternoon. One of my other students, I'll call him M, has really been struggling. And I mean really struggling. Since classes started he has already missed two lessons and had just a half lesson one week. We have had no consistency and absolutely no sort of routine established - it's frustrating because he just doesn't get it. But that's where my heart bleeds for him... he doesn't get it because he doesn't know what he is supposed to be getting. Honestly innocent ignorance. So I was just about ready to start giving up on him, after weeks of trying to help him out and offer as much advice as I have to give... until today. I had the honor of performing a concerto with the University Band today, and M happens to be in that group. He wasn't playing on the concerto because the group was reduced in size so today was the first time he had heard it. After the concert he purposefully sought me out (I could tell he wasn't just passing by!) and said that he was "blown away" and that he had no idea the clarinet could sound like that. He sounded so excited! I really hope that I was able to give him a glimpse into what he can do if he works at it and doesn't give up on himself. I'm really starting to think that a lot of his problems are self-confidence related (even his trying really hard to appear confident on the outside), and he needs to know that I believe in him and want to help him. If he can get his act together and actually come to a lesson this week, I've got a great plan for him! I hope that in some small way I was able to help him find some inspiration and a goal to work toward. If I can do it, then he can too.

I don't envy these freshmen one bit! It's easy to forget just how hard that first year of college is, and how important it is for us to be the best teachers we possibly can be for these students - they need us.

video from lesson on 9/16

I think I finally found the time to edit and convert a video file to upload here! Now... I just have to hope that as I write this the conversion actually shrinks the file down enough that it will fit on this blog. :-)

This is a clip from my lesson on September 16 with HLS take from minutes 10 through 25 (approximately). If you go back and read my post about this particular lesson, you will recall that I was struggling with not talking to much - or so I thought. After watching the tape back, it doesn't seem like it was much of a struggle at all. I was concise with my words (mostly!) and HLS seemed to be receptive towards my comments and initiated the types of changes I talked about.

Our biggest concerns on this day were technique and air. I chose this particular video excerpt because it is from my typical first part of a lesson - scales (to warm up the student and get them focused on playing clarinet, since most of them come to their lessons straight from sitting in a classroom) and then the infamous etude of the week ("fundamentals" time). I try to use this time as an opportunity to introduce new ideas or as a refresher on a concept that needs renewed focus or energy. The students learn this pattern of playing scales then an etude in their lessons and this consistency allows them to focus in more directly on whatever topic is being addressed that day, and it gives them a specific drill or passage of music they can then use during the week to practice said concept in an isolated manner. In this clip, you'll hear us talk about "bouncy" air versus continuous air flow and how we can use our air as a foundation for fluid finger motion. This theme carries on through the entire excerpt, and it continued for the entire lesson.