USM Clarinet Studio Policies
Dr. Thomas Parchman, Instructor
Applied Clarinet at USM is taught to a variety of students with widely varying goals. For most Music Education and Performance majors, it is a seven-semester sequence whose purpose is to broaden the student’s musical knowledge, expressiveness and technique, to study historical styles through performance, and to prepare the student for a Senior Recital.
Required materials
A clarinetist beginning study at the University of Southern Maine will need a professional quality Bb clarinet and mouthpiece. Other related materials, such as reed tools and a metronome, will be needed. As the student progresses, advanced studies and orchestral excerpts will require the use of a clarinet in A. Students in the Bachelor of Music program will generally have both instruments before beginning their freshman year. The student is responsible to maintain their instrument to the highest possible standards.
Lesson Policy
Students receive 12 lessons each semester. There is an expectation that the student be on-time and prepared. Lessons missed without adequate notice or justifiable cause will not be made up. Lessons will be scheduled week to week, although there will be an effort made to keep them at the same time each week. It is the student's responsibility to communicate with me if there are any questions about schedule. My schedule is public, and found via the link on the left.
The teaching sequence will usually begin with Baermann Book III, and the Rose 32 Etudes. Other texts, etudes, and solo materials will be assigned as required.
Jury Exams
The jury exams will be held at the end of classes of the fall and spring semesters each year. Students in the Performance degree are required to take them each semester, while Music Educations students are required to take only the spring jury. Bachelor of Arts candidates are not required to participate, but it is strongly recommended that all students take advantage of the jury experience each semester.
The jury panel will consist of applied faculty members, one of whom shall be a member of the full-time faculty. Whenever possible the applied teacher of the individual student examined should be present. The exam will be approximately 15 minutes in length.
The student should have approximately 10 minutes of music prepared. Students will demonstrate scales and technical studies currently in progress. Students will bring to the exam a list of repertoire studied at USM that semester. Freshman should also include major literature studied previously. In addition to scales and etudes, students will generally perform a work with an accompanist to show musical growth and ability to perform chamber music etc.
Grading
Grades at the University are given in terms of letters. A student's work will be graded as follows:
A High Honors
B Honors
C Satisfactory, successful, and respectable meeting of course objectives.
D Low level work
F Failure to meet course objectives.
Criteria for the determination of grades for applied lessons in clarinet will include the following:
1) Performance in lessons and Juries. A high level of preparation is expected each week.
2) Public performance - Each student will (after the first semester) perform in public at least once a semester. Bachelor of Music candidates will perform at least twice per semester.
3) Ensemble and Chamber music performance and participation.
In general, a student who is making a satisfactory, successful, and respectable meeting of course objectives will average two hours a day practicing their instrument.
|
