Re: Re: Re: Re: High Range: Drawing lips toward teeth?


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Posted by Mary Ann on January 28, 2003 at 11:44:41:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: High Range: Drawing lips toward teeth? posted by And....? on January 27, 2003 at 17:04:07:

You wrote:
Focusing on results is, I'm my (and a host of other people's) opinion, the most productive way of teaching. If I had a session with a teacher who suggested I'd missed a high note because I didn't rotate my lips 2.43degrees toward my teeth or acheive an air speed of 5.02metres/second, I'd be at best, confused. If that teacher took the problem note and probably the surrounding ones and used them as an excercise - I might have a start-point for some work. Have you heard of paralisis by analysis?
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This is precisely where we differ. Some people cannot learn if they have to analyze what they are doing, others cannot learn UNLESS they analyze what they are doing. I assure you, I analyze the hell out of my violin playing, and I play at a professional level. If I cannot be totally aware of how I am doing something, how can I repeat it again? I wonder if it is the definintion of "analyze" that is at fault here. To me, "analyze" does not mean: "tell me the names of all the muscles and the chemicals that make them function." What it does mean: "Here, do this with your muscles, along with this use of air, maybe this slight change in how you form your embouchure, and you will get the result you are seeking."

For me, "teaching" that says: "you know in your mind what results you want; just let go of your brain and your body will do it" is an example of someone who is stealing money from people who are misled in thinking that they are being taught, when they are only being encouraged. Teaching that helps me to do the physical things that will get the result I hear in my head, is worth paying money for. I want to pay for teaching, not encouragement. I don't need encouragement; I supply that myself.

If a teacher told me what you said above, I'd have somewhere to start, although I'd have to translate his millimeters and degrees into what action to take. If he merely took a section I could not play and told me to work on it, I'd have nowhere to start except the incorrect way I was already doing it, so I could practice that some more and continue to do it wrong. What is the point in that?

I didn't reply with technical advice to the person making the request, because I'm pretty much in the same boat he is, although maybe a little farther along because I do play the horn reasonably well on occasion. I agree that people expect too much from the board, but those who know nothing should not be handing out advice as if they were experts. The real experts who occasionally visit forums like these, find that their excellent advice is overwhelmed by the advice of the know-nothings, and they give up in disgust.

MA


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