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Claude and Beginners



 
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EricV
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Joined: 28 Jul 2011
Posts: 227
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:35 pm    Post subject: Claude and Beginners Reply with quote

I was listening to the ITG lecture that Claude gave on Jeff Purtles web site with a trumpet playing friend, and my friend asked if Claude taught beginners as he refers in the lecture to very young students a few times, and i think i have read that he would take anyone on if he had time and they were prepared to work hard.

I decided to ask the question of the forum as i really dont know. My guess would be that as his teaching developed and got very busy he may not have had time for beginners plus the material other than Physical Approach would not be suitable.

Any of the CG teachers know if he did or not?

Cheers

EricV
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Jeff_Purtle
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Location: Greenville, South Carolina

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I studied from Claude from 1984-1994 and during that time I knew of him teaching at least 2 kids that were maybe 10. I started at age 16 and think Matt Graves started around the same time and is about my same age. There were several teenage students.

Guys like Tony Horowitz I think started around 10 along with Paul Cacia a few years before my time. I think Bob O'Donnell started around 18 or in his early 20s. Bob was room mates with Tom Holden and John Rosenberg and the three of them started with Claude around the same time.

I do remember one beginner coming for a lesson right before my time slot with his mom. It was kind of obvious at the time that the boy didn't really want to work and he didn't last long. Claude would take anyone that wanted to do the work and follow his direction. He had a waiting list and if a student didn't practice the way he assigned he would give them a warning and drop them.

Claude also had some older adults that were absolute beginners. I will never forget one guy named Bill. I heard his first lesson before my time slot and he sounded pretty raunchy. I remember how nice he was and we talked briefly. Then, I heard him one year later at a CG Brass Camp and Bill sounded a million times better. I got to talking with Bill and he had started trumpet at age 58 because at that time United Airlines would retire pilots earlier. Bill would take his fluegelhorn with him and practice the CG routines on his 747 when they were loading for the next trip. (He eventually bought a trumpet and practiced on that.).

We had a small BBQ at Claude's place in Big Bear and I saw Bill about a year before Claude's death. Bill told me that he was retired in San Francisco and played jazz combo gigs and had a business flying WW1 biplanes with his wife. Bill had gone from a totally non musician to a gigging music in about 5 years.

In Claude's pedagogy class we talked about starting beginners and all agreed that it is much easier to start someone from the beginning than someone that has a bunch of bad habits and confusing ideas in their heads. That for me is the most challenging part of teaching to selectively address only the most critical items and avoid getting side tracked by all the nonsense trumpet and brass players get into.

The magic of the Claude Gordon concepts is really learned when you experience it through a practice routine that takes you systematically through various books and retrains how things work. I find that most students that study with me at least 90 days see the value of it and then want to continue. However, most trumpet players jump from thing to thing and never experience how playing can be easier than ever imagined.

Jeff
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nobozo
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Joined: 21 Dec 2020
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know Claude taught beginners because I was one when I started with him in ~1964. My dad, who was a semi-pro drummer, had somehow heard of Claude and contacted him about lessons for me.

I remember going to his house on Winnetka Blvd in Woodland Hills for lessons. I stuck with him through several moves, with the last being behind a cheap gas station on Vanowen (?).

I remember how excited I was when I could finally play a G above the staff.

(I used to login to this forum as jlforrest but I somehow lost the password).

Jon Forrest
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Jeff_Purtle
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jon,

That’s very cool. How old were you? What do you remember? What did he first do with you? What books do you remember using?

Jeff
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JayKosta
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Joined: 24 Dec 2018
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Location: Endwell NY USA

PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 6:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nobozo wrote:
I know Claude taught beginners because I was one when I started with him in ~1964. ...

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It would be interesting to know what you recall about CG's 'teaching methods'.
E.g. Was there much in the way of 'instruction' about the mechanics of how to play? Lips, embouchure, mouthpiece pressure (upper & lower lips), breathing & blowing, etc. Did CG demonstrate things for you to emulate?

My recollection from early private lessons (in Cleveland OH area) was very little actual 'instruction' about 'how to play', or what is good technique.

Of course back then I was a 'dumb kid', and it's likely that I missed or ignored a lot of things.

The content of my lessons seemed to be primarily 'stepping through' the sections of various method books - at a pace controlled by my being able to play the current assignment 'reasonably well' and then moving on to the next. I don't recall much (if any) emphasis on my being able to perform the assignment 'really well'.
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KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
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nobozo
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Joined: 21 Dec 2020
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If my memory of the year when I started with Claude is correct, I was 11. He had several other students who were about the same age.

Unfortunately, I don't recall much about the lessons. He did write out everything by hand. Somewhere I still have what he wrote. If you search for "jlforrest" in this forum you'll see what I wrote about the books and lots of other things about Claude. (Sadly I can't find those books anymore but when I do I'll let the forum know).

I used Arban, Clark, and St. Jerome.

After high school I went into the US Navy music program. I stopped playing after that. In retrospect I don't think I was that great a trumpet player, but that was my fault, not Claude's.
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