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Roseau
Feb 11 2009, 08:55 PM
QUOTE(stevensfo @ Feb 11 2009, 08:44 PM) *

QUOTE
My daughter's clarinet teacher maintains that the British are the best sight-readers in Europe!


I'll reserve opinion till I see some proof. What I do know is being absolutely amazed my first few months in our italian wind band when, every time our conductor brought new pieces to try, everybody played them perfectly.

What made it worse was that I honestly thought I was a very good sight reader.

Steve

Are you sure they were new?

In the windband I go to every week nearly all the pieces are ones they have played before. Sometimes they have been played five or six years before and at first I thought they were new pieces as the conductor was giving out copies to everyone. As the only oboe, with no one else playing the same part to help out, I have found this quite hard-going. I have found it particularly hard when I've been given a piece just before we go on stage for a concert and have been expected to sight-read it during the concert ohmy.gif

Almost a month ago, I was asked if I wanted to join a departmental (county) wind band which meets for two days once a month. The music they play is much, much harder BUT (even though I missed the first day) it was genuinely new for everyone and it is a completely different experience when everyone is sight-reading (and this is where I amazed a number of them with my sight-reading).
Violinia
Feb 11 2009, 09:03 PM
QUOTE(jenny @ Feb 10 2009, 08:23 AM) *

QUOTE(Halka @ Feb 9 2009, 10:16 PM) *

My daughter's clarinet teacher maintains that the British are the best sight-readers in Europe! I've no idea if he has any scientific basis for this.


I know that in some other European countries there seems little emphasis put on sight reading and scales. I remember a prominent British brass player visiting Norway when I lived there and being astonished that the music students in the Conservatoire weren't used to either playing scales or sight reading!


So could we have it all wrong here in the UK with our emphasis on scales and sight reading? Are Norwegian musicians less musical? Less proficient? Less anything? I saw the Tord Gustavsen (jazz) Trio last year, all presumably classically trained and they were no less than amazing.

I inherited a student a while back who'd been taught in France before; her technique was beautiful - she was about Grade 3-4 standard when I took her on and she didn't have a clue what a scale was.
Digby
Feb 11 2009, 09:18 PM
QUOTE(jenny @ Feb 11 2009, 09:28 AM) *

QUOTE(sbhoa @ Feb 10 2009, 09:41 PM) *


Have you tried accepting that they like playing around with the music but then asking that it's first played as written?


Yes, I've tried all sorts of things. His problem has always been that he doesn't read carefully enough and just plays what he thinks he's read. We've talked about this a lot and I've been very patient and made him slow things right down to make sure he plays what's written. That usually works. But it's when he says that he likes his version better (as with Top Cat) that I start to get annoyed. He's a really nice boy and I'm a very kind, patient teacher, so I don't like getting annoyed! Even my husband occasionally asks about this boy and if he still thinks he knows better than the composer. smile.gif



My usual response to this is, ok if you want to play it that way, then we have to do another one for the exam, so which is it to be?

Oddly they then usually play it my way!
jenny
Feb 12 2009, 08:56 AM
QUOTE(Digby @ Feb 11 2009, 10:18 PM) *

[

My usual response to this is, ok if you want to play it that way, then we have to do another one for the exam, so which is it to be?

Oddly they then usually play it my way!


Which is why I took the piece away from him. Just wanted him to realise that with an exam piece, you have to agree to play what's written. I gave him another piece in its place, which he doesn't like as much as Top Cat, so at his lesson this week I gave Top Cat back to him, saying that he might like to have another look at it! We'll see what happens next week. smile.gif
plonkee
Feb 12 2009, 01:03 PM
QUOTE
So could we have it all wrong here in the UK with our emphasis on scales and sight reading? Are Norwegian musicians less musical? Less proficient? Less anything? I saw the Tord Gustavsen (jazz) Trio last year, all presumably classically trained and they were no less than amazing.

I inherited a student a while back who'd been taught in France before; her technique was beautiful - she was about Grade 3-4 standard when I took her on and she didn't have a clue what a scale was.


Possibly, but one of the problems with the assumption that sight reading is important is that it means that you are expected to be able to sight read, and in a group situation you're probably going to have to do it a fair amount.

Scales are probably a different discussion topic.

I'm sure there are things that British musicians can't typically do, that they can do in *insert country of your choice* but I wouldn't say that on average British musicians are worse than musicians from France / Germany / Italy / Norway etc and vice versa. Different training perhaps, but not worse.
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