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From: Steve & Anne Price
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 14:22:50 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: breathing

On Wed, 16 Oct 1996 JfGindi~ol.com wrote:

> Mike Curtis said:
>> Being a tone-freak, anything that adversely affects tone is an anathema to
>> me.
>
> Mike, I too am a tone freak. Having good tone is the single most impt. skill
> for enjoying your harp no matter what level of skill you're at, no matter
> what kind of music you play. If I thought
> playing with the nose open thinned out tone, I'd sell my students
> clothespins!

> My point is that I haven't sacrificed tone in my teachings in order to get
> success, at least not intentionally, and I never would. *Tone *is* success.*
> Jon
>
My experience is closer to Jon's than to Mike's in terms of nose
and breathing, both for myself and for my students.

Additionally, I have examined Jon's teaching materials for their
appropriateness in recommending them to my students, and I am convinced
that they are thoughtful and accurate and appropriate for beginners. I
am rather shocked by Mike Curtis's implication that by teaching
techniques that work Jon is somehow giving short cut solutions that are
inaccurate or wrong. I don't believe for an instant that Jon is
miseducating his readers. Mike's claim that he is a perfectionist and
therefore would never teach the way Jon does is nothing short of
insulting. There is nothing inaccurate or wrong or a quick fix in the
technique Jon recommends, and I'm rather astonished that Mike Curtis
suggested it. If it doesn't work for him, either as a player or as a
teacher, very well then, don't use it. I believe that letting air in the
nose to not bend 2 draw for beginners is the right way to go. If it is
not ultimately the technique they employ for that note, I do not believe
it is a bad habit to unlearn so much as a technique that affords them
experience with learning the properties of that reed (or reed
combination). If it is ultimately an intermediate step I don't think it
is a wrong or bad or inappropriate one anymore than playing violin
without vibrato is, or playing scales although a performance isn't
likely to include the recitation of scales.

Steve Price