Friday, March 5, 2010

A Different Kind of Beautiful...explained

The first sounds, and even into the first several months, or a young instrumentalists playing career can produce a relentlessly outlandish array of sounds. These are almost never as difficult on the student as they are on the parents and all others in the household. It is important to get said parents on board with the importance of practice, even if this practice significantly breaks an otherwise tranquil and peaceful evening.

"I don't know if I can take this squeaking clarinet much longer," they often say, only half-jokingly. My response to them, and my mantra, is that it really is "a different kind of beautiful."

Maybe that doesn't always work for them. I know it, in my own heart, to be the God's honest truth.

2 comments:

  1. My jazz mentor has this story about teaching at the Aebersold jazz camps...other instructors say, "Song For My Father" with an implied "ugh, not again", while he says, "Song For My Father" with an implied "yes!".

    ReplyDelete