Submitted by Paul Jennings, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Idea posted July 8, 2003
Hi, gang...I hear your pain and have been there with classroom and band students. (Beginning clarinets may well be the worst.) But I wanted to share Teresa's approach in the studio. Kids are kids, even when they are wee professionals, and when we pass out Boomwhackers® or kazoos, attention spans go away, and it is hard to move forward.
Teresa tells them to pick up their instrument, then gives them a couple of minutes to do whatever they want - much craziness ensues... then she has them lay the instruments down, and we start to learn the song in question. Sometimes it is just letting them get their curiosity satisfied and that urge to play fixed. Or maybe its just letting off steam. It works most times.