There must be between three and four dozen kids in the ensemble, and they have all manner of recorders: sopranos, altos, tenors, basses (but none of those monstrous great basses), and even a couple of tiny, little sopraninos. They are being accompanied by a girl on an electric piano set to sound like a harpsichord and another girl on a double bass. It's bloody hot and humid in the lobby, but they're are sounding really good this year. Usually the 10th grade music elective groups have a bad habit of, well, to put it frankly, stinking, but now they're playing together, balanced, and in tune. Add to that the pure, simple cheer of Vivaldi's "Spring", and you have a nice bit of musical entertainment for a sunny afternoon in the lobby.
However, just as I'm really starting to enjoy the performance, Mr. Ogawa stops it in the middle and starts lecturing the students. One of the parts has wandered a bit off tempo. Do it again, and this time do it right. As we used to say in the Oregon State music department, "Fix it! Fix it!"
As they say in Japanese, "Yarinaoshi!" (lit. a noun meaning "redoing")
Speaking of which...
The other day I finally asked Mr. Ogawa politely to give me some proper training on the clarinet. Judging from his reaction, I suspect he had always hoped I'd do so, but out of respect for my pride (and moodiness) he never said anything. The fact is that, though I've had a considerable amount of training and experience on the clarinet, I haven't been satisfied. For a long time now I've felt that perhaps I've been doing something not quite right. That feeling got even worse when I started playing principal with the Kashima Philharmonic Orchestra. Somehow my tone response, control, and quality just didn't seem quite right. I tried changing reeds, which helped a little. I tried working on my embouchure (mouth formation), which helped a little more, but it still didn't seem right for some reason. Since the Kashima Philharmonic has just started rehearsing our first Beethoven symphony (5th...which is technically easy but musically very difficult) I figured it was a good idea to learn from the master.
The first thing he did was ask me if I had a box of new reeds. I did. Then he asked me if I had tried all the reeds out and selected the ones I considered suitable. I had. Then he asked me to give him the ones I had rejected. I did. He then took a couple of my rejects, went at them for a while with his reed-shaping tools, and then handed them back to me, saying, "These are your training reeds. Use them when you practice." He then told me to get my clarinet out and put one of the "training reeds" on it. I did just that. Then he told me to play one long tone.
Oh, boy. The training reed was really sensitive, meaning I overcompensated immediately.
Mssr. Maestro Ogawa shook his head and sighed. "No. Wrong. Totally wrong. Your embouchure, your way of blowing, your way of holding the instrument...all wrong."
I was shocked. "But that's the way I was taught to do it! That's the way I've been doing it for more than thirty years now!"
Mr. Ogawa nodded. "That's the way people usually do it if they don't know any better. It's still wrong. Go to any music conservatory in France, and they'd get mad if they saw that. Now try this..."
And so it began. I am trying to unlearn fifteen years worth of training and more than thirty years' worth of experience. This is going to take time. I have to say that I've noticed some difference. My tone quality and response have definitely improved a bit. However, my mouth muscles are being used in totally different ways, so they are cramping up like they did all the time back when I first started.
I'm happy to be doing it, too. You're never too old to learn...or relearn.
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