Education Initiative Workshop
Dr. Larkin Sanders - Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, Executive Director of Taneycomo Festival Orchestra, D’Addario Woodwinds Artist
“Increasing Efficiency in Practice: Daily Routines and Fundamentals”
Dr. Larkin Sanders' daily fundamentals method, The Olympic Clarinetist, establishes a daily routine to enhance technical facility in clarinetists of all ages. Institutions such as Florida State University have adopted the method as the standard for scale juries and other technical requirements. During this presentation, Dr. Sanders will work with high school students to establish their technical routine and discuss the importance of fundamental study. Books will be available for purchase before, during, and after the presentation.
Dr. Neal Postma - Winthrop University
“Developing your saxophone tone and vibrato!”
What does it mean to play with a “good” sound? When auditioning for all-state, what are the judges looking for in your sound quality? How do we conquer this “vibrato” that everyone is talking about. Come join Neal Postma and discuss the intricacies of the saxophone sound and learn how master your saxophone sound and use your vibrato to be as expressive as possible.
Dr. Jesse Krebs - Truman State University
"Yass the clarinet is lit! Rediscovering how to play your bae using analogies and similes."
Arnold Jacobs once said that the focus of our teaching should be on training the performer’s brain, not the muscles. With this in mind, whether teaching young clarinetists the basics of playing technique, or more advanced clarinetists musical concepts, I find it helpful to incorporate analogies, similes, and visualizations. In addition to the standard physical descriptions like “Take a big breath,” “Sit up straight,” or “Keep your tongue position high,” examples of mental imagery can be integrated to help students’ understanding of the concepts. These include both phrases that Dr. Krebs collected over the years from teachers, master class clinicians, and books, and ones that he invented. In this way, analogies and similes can used to enhance students’ comprehension. This workshop will focus on the basics of clarinet playing (breathing, posture, embouchure, articulation and phrasing) but in a way that provides high school students with fun visualizations to better understand how to do them correctly. Dr. Krebs will demonstrate each one with my clarinet and have a handout available for the attendees.
Dr. Xin Gao - Truman State University
The Saxophone is a newer instrument when compared to others in an orchestra and has a fingering system that is relatively easy to understand. Also, the saxophone is one of the easier of the woodwind instruments when it comes to producing the tone. However, these conveniences may cause one to overlook on some of the main challenges of the saxophone, such as controlling its tone color and intonation. I think it is important to form a good expectation in one's mind regarding tone quality and intonation. This may be more important than remembering details of embouchure, breathing and fingering. My workshop will focus on the fundamentals of a daily saxophone warm-up routine, and demonstrate the relationship of practice methods and one's mind.
“Increasing Efficiency in Practice: Daily Routines and Fundamentals”
Dr. Larkin Sanders' daily fundamentals method, The Olympic Clarinetist, establishes a daily routine to enhance technical facility in clarinetists of all ages. Institutions such as Florida State University have adopted the method as the standard for scale juries and other technical requirements. During this presentation, Dr. Sanders will work with high school students to establish their technical routine and discuss the importance of fundamental study. Books will be available for purchase before, during, and after the presentation.
Dr. Neal Postma - Winthrop University
“Developing your saxophone tone and vibrato!”
What does it mean to play with a “good” sound? When auditioning for all-state, what are the judges looking for in your sound quality? How do we conquer this “vibrato” that everyone is talking about. Come join Neal Postma and discuss the intricacies of the saxophone sound and learn how master your saxophone sound and use your vibrato to be as expressive as possible.
Dr. Jesse Krebs - Truman State University
"Yass the clarinet is lit! Rediscovering how to play your bae using analogies and similes."
Arnold Jacobs once said that the focus of our teaching should be on training the performer’s brain, not the muscles. With this in mind, whether teaching young clarinetists the basics of playing technique, or more advanced clarinetists musical concepts, I find it helpful to incorporate analogies, similes, and visualizations. In addition to the standard physical descriptions like “Take a big breath,” “Sit up straight,” or “Keep your tongue position high,” examples of mental imagery can be integrated to help students’ understanding of the concepts. These include both phrases that Dr. Krebs collected over the years from teachers, master class clinicians, and books, and ones that he invented. In this way, analogies and similes can used to enhance students’ comprehension. This workshop will focus on the basics of clarinet playing (breathing, posture, embouchure, articulation and phrasing) but in a way that provides high school students with fun visualizations to better understand how to do them correctly. Dr. Krebs will demonstrate each one with my clarinet and have a handout available for the attendees.
Dr. Xin Gao - Truman State University
The Saxophone is a newer instrument when compared to others in an orchestra and has a fingering system that is relatively easy to understand. Also, the saxophone is one of the easier of the woodwind instruments when it comes to producing the tone. However, these conveniences may cause one to overlook on some of the main challenges of the saxophone, such as controlling its tone color and intonation. I think it is important to form a good expectation in one's mind regarding tone quality and intonation. This may be more important than remembering details of embouchure, breathing and fingering. My workshop will focus on the fundamentals of a daily saxophone warm-up routine, and demonstrate the relationship of practice methods and one's mind.