ClarinetMike’s Clarinet Teacher Tips: “Feed The Rhy-No!”

“Dynamics are yummy! FEED ME!”

It was a dark and stormy night and I was practicing Robert Fruehwald’s Andy and Me for an upcoming recital. I was getting sleepy, so I went over to my nearby couch and took a nap. I had the most amazing dream. In the dream, the Practice Rhy-No came to me. Below is our brief conversation.

Practice Rhy-No: “ClarinetMike, Feed The Rhy-No!”

ClarinetMike: “Who are you?”

Practice Rhy-No: “I’m the Practice Rhy-No that you blogged about!”

ClarinetMike: “Uh, do you want some plants to eat? I have some used clarinet reeds.”

Practice Rhy-No: “NOOOO! I eat DYNAMICS!!!”

ClarinetMike: “What????”

Practice Rhy-No: “Yes! My food is Dynamics!”

After that, I woke up from the dream. I realized that when doing the Practice Rhy-No Practice Technique, you must always add dynamics.

ClarinetMike says, “Feed The Rhy-No!”

NOTE: The above image is from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ceratotherium_simum_kwh_2.jpg

[The above is a very slightly revised version of previous post.]

About ClarinetMike

American clarinetist MICHAEL DEAN performs and teaches internationally and across the USA to consistent praise such as "world-class clarinetist and pedagogue," "consummate performer," "inspirational," "outstanding teacher," "super," "brilliant performer," and "one of the best clinicians I have ever seen." His career is headlined by appearances at Carnegie Hall, ClarinetFest, NACWPI, Eastman School of Music, and Royal Northern College of Music with recent recitals and master classes in Canada, Italy, Spain, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, and Texas. In July, he returned to Vipiteno, Italy as Clarinet Artist Faculty in Residence at Orfeo Music Festival 2018. He is featured on 5 commercial CD's and on New Media, such as YouTube. He is currently preparing another new clarinet CD, Postcards from Silver Lake. He's performed with the Southwest Symphony, Nevada Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic, Southeast Chamber Players, Red Mesa Trio, and Duo 35. He performed for 11 years with the Paducah Symphony. His articles appear in journals such as Southwestern Musician, WINDPLAYER, NACWPI Journal and The Bandmasters' Review. As "ClarinetMike," he writes for his widely-read ClarinetMike Blog, clarinetmike.wordpress.com-viewed in 150 countries on 6 continents. He was recently a tenured Associate Professor of Clarinet for 11 years at Southeast Missouri State University. He returned to his native Texas in 2012 due to family concerns. He is a past president and former National Board officer of the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors (NACWPI). Dr. Michael Dean studied clarinet performance at Texas Tech University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas at Arlington. His teachers include Robert Walzel, Phil Aaholm, Carol Jessup, Jess Youngblood, Bob Ackerman, and Pam Youngblood. His web page, clarinetmike.com, features video of his teaching and performing as well as information on his CD's and other publications. He is a BG France Performing Artist.

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