two. Hello and welcome to the clarinet ninja podcast. My name is Jay Hassler.
As always, I'm doing my best to bring you the finest in clarinet education and
entertainment. Playing us in today is Mr. James Dander. If you like what you're hearing, go ahead and check the
show notes or the description to get more information about where you can find James' music. Don't forget to leave
a comment. Uh maybe give us a rating, like and subscribe if you're on YouTube.
The thing that I would love for you to do more than anything else is be inspired. Uh have some thoughts about my
thoughts and uh take this your own way. And in doing that, maybe pass this along
to somebody else. I would love it if my joy for the clarinet could spread to more people and uh build a larger,
stronger, more robust community. Today I'm I'm going solo and I want to talk to
you about something that I've been thinking about uh for a month and a half now and that is what does it mean to
have a broken foot? Because I've had a broken foot and I've been in the middle of learning what actually it means to
have a broken foot. And before I go any further with this, I want to just acknowledge that I have just an inkling
of an idea of what it means to live with mobility challenges, with physical challenges. uh that I know a lot of
people live with full-time. And I do want to just say I recognize the privilege of being able to be sort of a
tourist in this arena, get some insight, and then get back to normal. And that's
something that I know a lot of people don't have. A lot of people have challenges that are chronic or
permanent. And I'm not saying I know what that's like. All I know is that I'm saying I know what having a broken foot
is like for the length of time I've had it. The insight I have to give is not so much about that. It's about the specific
experience of having a lifestyle change, the things I've seen differently, but most importantly, how does that relate
to learning the clarinet? I broke my foot about 6 weeks ago. I had surgery and uh I've been sitting around because
that is the process to get the outcome that I want. And it's all about the process to get the desired outcome. And
that is something that with a broken foot, it's pretty easy. You do what the doctor says and the the protocol in the
process is the same for everybody. You don't you don't put any weight on that foot. You let the bone
heal. You take an X-ray and when the bone's healed, you can use it again. Pretty simple in its application. Uh you
know, the surgery itself, I wouldn't call it simple. More on that later. But my point is this. It's the same process
for everybody and hopefully the same outcome for everybody. And that's something that is significantly
different than the process and outcomes of learning the clarinet. Uh number one,
we're all radically different people. And the process of learning the clarinet is going to be different for us cuz some
things are going to for whatever reason land with people easier than other people. It's usually not all of playing
the clarinet is easier for one person than the other person. Although there are cases of that and I think some of those cases are very famous and those
people play the clarinet extraordinarily well uh from an early age and continue on doing so. But I'm not talking about
that. I'm talking about the average sort of group of people that are learning the
clarinet. And so just keep in mind you could pick up the clarinet the same day as your neighbor. You're going to be in
different places. And here's the interesting thing. Where you are after one week does not imply where you're
going to be after one month. One month doesn't imply where you're going to be after 6 months. 6 months does not
necessarily imply where you're going to be after a year. Uh after that point, you start to have a trajectory that is a
thing. But prior to that particularly, there's going to be a nonlinear rate of
change. And a lot of that has to do with how well you practice, how well you take
information. And here's the thing. How well do you deal with insecurity and
uncertainty? Cuz there's a lot of that in playing the claret. That's the thing, right? That that is different about
healing my foot, which is simple. Sit and record podcasts, right? Sit and, you know, write write stuff for your
clarinet ninja dojo. You listen to music. You can even play the clarinet. I can do these things, right? But what I can't do is go out and be in the world.
I've been told that it's a bad idea for me to go out there and experience the world the way that I used to. Here's the thing. I do know. I do know I'm doing
the right thing. And I do know the outcome within a certain percentage of,
you know, these are the outcomes. A foot foot is healed by this time and or, you
know, foot isn't healed by this time. And there is a defined way to determine that outcome. You take an X-ray and you
talk to the doctor. Right? So it's it's checkbox, checkbox, checkbox, and then you're done. That outcome is going to be
largely the same from person to person. Playing the clarinet is not like that. We have a process, but that process is
different for everybody. The length of time for that process is different for everybody. And the outcome is different
for everybody. But even more than that, the desired outcome is different for everybody. Right? So it's kind of the
opposite. It's all over the map in terms of how long is this going to take? What's it going to take to get there? And what is what is it even that I want?
And then add in this idea. What you want at the end of the process might not be what you thought you wanted in the beginning of the process, which is all
different than I want my foot to be able to to tolerate uh walking. Totally
different. And that one of the things that is also different is how does it feel? What is the emotional experience
of dealing with not being able to do something? Like I know for me, I've been sitting here with my foot and I've been
feeling, you know, at times a little frustrated with the fact that it's difficult for me to go out. I'm not
leaving the house to go to work. And that is something that I'm I I guess it meant a lot more to me than I thought.
Uh cuz because I' I've been really really wanting to go back and work and
and do things uh that that feel productive and alive in that way where there's other people around and there's
other people doing stuff and I get to feed off their energy to my benefit cuz I'm selfish like that as we all should
be and uh you know we and we you know and go on like that and it's been difficult for me to try and generate the
energy to be productive in a way that fits what my limitations are right
And you know speaking of it that way I hadn't actually this is struck me right now. We all have limitations as
clarinetists you know in where we are learning the clarinet and that is okay.
Part of what we need to do in terms of learning is understand our limitations
to figure out what we're working on within those limitations but also how to change those limitations so that they
don't continue to be our limitations. That's deep stuff I just thought of right now. The other thing
that is, you know, let's go into what I'm calling courage in the unknown. Like
we have to face this sort of idea of being okay with being uncertain. Like I
know intellectually speaking that the doctor said, "Okay, well, I'll see you on the 27th and then we're going to take
X-rays and then here's what's most likely to happen." It's known what traditionally happens, but my experience
isn't that of telling somebody what's going to happen. My experience in this situation is feeling how important it is
to me that this all works out in that way. But I don't have any experience in
this, right? And there's no way that I can know something like that. I can believe something like that, but that
that is no substitute for the direct experience that the doctor has of how this is going to work out, but he is not actually having the direct experience
while he's telling me that. So, it's an interesting way to think of how it is
that people are having this this emotional response to this thing. And that gets more complicated with the
clarinet because hopefully you are getting advice from an expert. There's
multiple ways to get advice from an expert. Wouldn't you know it, one of the ways you can get advice is through the
clarinet ninja dojo. That way, you get advice from me. My advice, I would say,
is good. But here's the point is that you can have a private teacher or there's ways I wouldn't suggest it being
the only way of watching YouTube. I made a lot of YouTube videos. I think they're great. But what they are not is
personal. They are general, very good, I believe, uh, ways of talking about how
to play the clarinet and ideas that you can add into what you're already doing. But that what you're already doing if
you're learning the clarity should be somewhat supervised at least so that you know that you're headed in the right
direction because doing it on your own without an expert that uncertainty
is very very uh I I would call it dangerous that leads into what I'm
talking about the courage of the unknown like for me with the foot the unknown
is kind of in the abstract because intellectually speaking I guess it's all abstract but intellectually speaking
I know what is going to happen. Like I know that my bone's going to heal. It might take more than I wanted to. It
might be I might have may have a lot of feelings along the way, but the doctor has told me percentage-wise what the
odds of this happening are. What the odds of it rebreing is I get it. I can
understand those numbers. I basically intellectually know what's going to happen. But that does not mean that I don't feel things along the way. I feel
a lot of things emotionally speaking. Uh cuz I I follow the the doctor's advice. cuz I haven't put any weight on this
foot. Feels fine at the moment. You know, I know when I'm going in for the X-ray, I know likely what his response
is going to be. Okay. But it's still I'm still kind of alone in my emotional
response to all this. With the clarinet, there's more unknowns. And that that's why it kind of is more important to have
somebody shephering you through this. We're going to get to that a little bit more later, but I want you to think about the hero's journey and what the
behavior of a hero is. It is facing uncertainty. It is going into a situation where there's no defined
outcome and finding a way to navigate that journey heroically and with courage. And there is a there is a lot
about learning an instrument where you are you're venturing into the unknown. It's not unknown to everybody. It's just
unknown to you. And I laugh because I still feel like that with the clarinet.
And that's actually one of my favorite things about it. And I and I want everyone to sort of like pick that up,
like have that be your favorite thing. I like like like I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen next. That that
is kind of the fun part about it. And and it is fun to be a hero in that way, right? to have the courage to face this,
you know, with joy and a spirit of exploration and enjoying the journey and
enjoying the process and recognizing that yes, I'm taking this very
seriously. I'm taking this journey very seriously. But at times, it's important that I don't take myself very seriously
with this. And that's something that that's gotten me through a lot because I I take the clarinet and learning the clarinet and playing the clarinet very
seriously. But boy, I don't take myself that seriously while I'm doing it. And I think that that's an important thing,
right? To have courage in the unknown parts of all this. In order to help you with that courage, in order to help you
with that journey, it is important to have expert guidance, right? Someone needs to tell you what to do. Someone
needs to help you assess because a lot of what needs to happen is develop an ability to self assess. But that's a
lifetime journey for everybody. And I still go play for people and they tell
me things and I take that in and I use that as a tool to refine what I think is
already a pretty refined ability to self assess because it never ends. It it can't end otherwise this is no fun
anymore. Right? This this is an infinite uh process which is quite a bit
different than the process of having a bone heal. In the idea of having expert
guidance, it is important that that expert understands what it is that you want. I don't think any expert should be
teaching a person based on some sort of abstract idea of what it is that
everybody wants in the clarinet. Everybody wants something a little bit different, right? Everybody wants to use
this in a certain way. Everybody has a particular challenge that might not
exactly be the same challenge everybody else has. And the expert needs to be able to look at that and figure out what
is it that this person needs to do as a clarinet player to get the desired result that they want. You know, if they
want to play in their church in an orchestra, what if they want to like go to jam sessions and play the clarinet and play jazz? What tools do they need
to use to build their clarinet playing and their musicianship into those
skills? And I think that that's a really really important part of finding the right expert for you, right? his
personalized help matters. I did not go to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor
because I broke my foot. They would probably have some good information for me, most of which would be go see a
doctor that specializes in this, but they would they would know a lot of they would know something about it, right? They've been to medical school, they know something about this, but they're
not going to be able to help me in that way. And I think that that's an obvious one, a very noticeable one. One of the hurdles that adults have is a
well-earned belief that they can learn things on their own. And I don't want to dismiss that as a as a grown-up person,
you have done amazing things. I don't want to get all self-help, but you've done amazing things in your life. You have, and you should feel proud of those
things, and you should. Uh, but my my point is this. That does not necessarily mean you should take this on on your own
and believe that you and your intellect can translate that intellective understanding into ability. Uh, and
there's a number of reasons for that. I've made a lot of YouTube videos. I think they're all great and there's a lot of YouTube there's a lot of great YouTube videos out there. But the here's
the thing. Number one, without experience, you can't determine for yourself whether that's really good
advice. Number one, a lot of it is. That's actually not the biggest problem here. Not the biggest challenge, I
think, is the better way to say it. But the biggest challenge is knowing when to employ or deploy perhaps is a better way
to say it any of these skills or exercises because these are for particular places at particular times
when a particular thing is trying to be learned and and you you may this may be too remedial for you. Most of the time
nothing's remedial when learning the clarinet. You can go back to lesson one and still find a reason to do it. But
this might be too advanced. This this might this might require things that you're that you don't quite have aligned
yet. And that's totally fine. It's totally fine as long as there's someone there to say, "Hey, yeah, not not yet.
We're going to get to that. Not quite right now." And the expertise it requires to be able to guide you in that
way is something that's significant and takes a long time because like I said, you know, there's a lot of moving parts
in this and someone needs to be able to assess all those moving parts all at the same time to say yes, right now this is
what's going to build your plane the way you want it to right now. The particular break I had in my foot I don't think was
that personal. I think it was pretty common. the solution was a common solution and that's something that is
quite a big difference. It does. It does take an expert because I don't, like I said, I I I I don't I don't want an ear,
nose, and throat doctor operating on my foot. And nor would they, let's be honest. But my point is this. Even if
they would, I don't want it because that's not the right person at the right time. You know, speaking of the process
and the guidance, even with great guidance, there's only so fast one can
learn the clarinet or any other instrument. It does take a certain amount of time. And there and it's it's
like terminal velocity. If you drop like if you drop a penny off the Empire State Building, it will only go as fast as the
resistance that the air will let it fall. That's an important thing. I I
can't speak anymore about terminal velocity. And if I've said something wrong, uh please accept the general notion of that idea, right? Which is
there's a fixed amount. You can wish all you want that that penny can fall faster. It cannot. And uh that's the
point that I'm trying to make because, you know, when it comes to my foot healing, it's only going to go as fast
as nature allows my bone to heal. And there's nothing that I can do about
that. By and large, I'm sure that there's maybe some sort of supplement I could take that could speed that up. But
here's what's not going to happen is the doctor's not going to the doctor's not going to take an X-ray before the time he says is the right time to take an
X-ray. And he's not going to okay any of this. And because I'm trusting the expert guidance, I need to do what he
says. And that's how long it takes according to him and or her. And in my
case, it does very literally happen to be a him. I don't mean to make gender a thing, but I did want to acknowledge
that I said him. And maybe that's not cool, but in my case, it actually does happen to be a him. So speaking
literally, that's what happened. So I do have to understand like I can't make my bone heal faster. And clarinet playing
can only be learned at a certain speed. You can improve as fast as someone can improve playing the clarinet, but that's
all you can do. And and it may not seem fast enough for you at times. And it may seem that that's unfair and that you
should be able to do something about it, but but you cannot. the the thing you can do to make it go the fastest is get the right expert that can look and and
uh look at what's happening, hear what's happening and has, you know, a lifetime
of experience knowing how to, you know, tell you what it is that you need to do
right now. And and then again, that that that's that's the fastest way, but it's still very much couldn't seem like it's
not fast enough. And that is a feeling I know really really well. It's funny like when I stop and I think about and I've
had a lot of time to think and I've I've done a lot of thinking about my own playing. I've done mostly thinking about how to help other people and
particularly adults learn how to play the clarinet. But I've done a lot about my own, you know, I've sat and thought about, you know, lots of different
performances, lots of different learning that I've done. And to think like, geez, how could I have made that faster? And
honestly, this is the truth. The only way I could have made it faster
was get a different expert. And there are certain experts that I can I know
when my plane had its nonlinear growth where it just exploded. And I also know
the moments where things got got held back and that really has to
do with the particular expert. And I'm not going to name names. I will not do
that. There is a lot of feedback that comes when you play the clarinet. And it does take an expert to hear that and
then tell you what to do. And so that expert is doing two things, assessing and uh giving directions. And it's
really important, it's really important that that expert be skilled at those things. I know someone that's really
good at it, me. Another one of the main things that I see with um all people learning
how to play the clarinet or or do anything, and I'm thinking of myself when I am trying to learn how to do things, mistakes are learning
opportunities for sure. Mistakes are only really a problem if you are doing a
performance. Even then, our performances are part of our learning. That like that's the thing that's different about
the clarinet is that there there almost is no there is no final stopping point.
Our performances are miniature stopping points where we stop and have like a moment of sort of deeper assessment of
where we are and what we're doing. And it's a it this is a a share out with the world, but it's not necessarily
something that um it's not the end. We're gonna play again. And we take what what we did in that performance and we
learn from it. And that's an important thing. But let me get back to my main point, which is that the the best thing
that can happen to you honestly is if you go to your expert, you go to your teacher and they can see what's going
wrong. We all want to play really really well in front of our teacher. I know that experience very
very well. One of the things that happens is if we are able to hide our deficiencies in front of our teacher,
our teacher doesn't get to hear the deficiencies in a way that they can help the most. And so what you want to do is
you want to go play your best and if your best includes problems, even better
because then then that way your your chos your chosen expert can help you solve those problems. Keep that in mind.
mistakes are what they show us what we need to learn and they show our teacher or our expert instructor what it is that
they need to help us with. And I think that that's an important thing. Every mistake you make is really an
opportunity for future improvement. It's not more than that. It's not less than that. It is just that learning is being
able to identify something that you want to change and then developing the skills
to change that thing. That's it. There's a lot of moving parts to it. I mean, that's just like the general overview of
it, but that's really what it is. And then you open the hood and then you start then then you see this complicated
engine with lots of hoses and stuff and then you that that's where the expert is important, right? Uh to be able to help
work that out. to use that analogy. One of the things that is important in all of this is kind of bridging the gap
between the desired outcome and the real outcome. That's something that never really changes. That like like I was
talking about earlier, that is the horizon that that extends one step further. When you take a step, your horizon extends one step. And that's
something that never goes away. I want to tell you a brief story about a luminary player that I studied with in
Los Angeles. I was I I was studying jazz at the time. This is a person that you've heard them play in the movies.
I'm not going to call them out who they are, but they they are they are big in the commercial music world and in the
jazz world. And one of the things that that he said, I I would hear them play on the radio in the car, you know. So,
I'd be listening to Ken 88.1 jazz radio. And I I loved it. And you get to hear
all sorts of music that I wouldn't have selected for myself, but I was really glad to hear. So, I would I would hear I
would hear uh I would hear Gary play on the on the radio and uh I would come in to my lessons very excited like, "Hey,
hey, Gary, I heard that that album that you did with so and so and so and so and so." He goes, "So, where did you hear that?" I said, "I heard it on the radio." He goes, "Well, how did you know
it was me?" And I said, "Well, cuz clearly it was you cuz you know you can hear it was him." And he and he said to
me in one of these conversations, he says, "You know, Jay, sometimes I hear myself play and I
can't believe I played something that stupid." And I thought to myself, "Oh my god, I guess this never ends, right? I
guess there's never a moment where you get to feel like, oh yeah, kind of
nailed that, right? Cuz then the learning stops." And that's that that's the cycle of this, right? is like if the
learning stops really this is done right then what are we doing here and but this
person played so well such a wonderful really wonderful jazz player famous jazz
player and still his selfassessment was I can't believe I play something I
played something so stupid so just keep that in mind there is always going to be a gap between your desired outcome and
your real outcome in that moment and this is pronounced you know from a learning standpoint you Kids, number
one, kids don't have a particular desired outcome when they're playing the clarinet. They're familiar with the real outcome, but mostly in comparison to the
person sitting next to them in band that their scope of what they're looking for is pretty pretty small. Their clarinet world is small. They know what they can
do. They know what the person sitting next to them can do. So, they don't really have that much of a desired
outcome. But adults do because adults have they're coming to this because they've heard something and they want to
be able to do that thing. That gap can feel huge in the beginning stages for adults because there is this sort of
dissonance between what it is that they know can happen and what it is that they're able to do. And it's it's it's a
very frustrating uh thing, right? And so we have to look in the progress, you know, from that. And I should I should
attach this to my foot. But I haven't talked about my foot in a while. That's not even really a part of the process of
getting better with my foot is that my desired reality is to walk again. The
process interrupts the ability to check that reality, right? Because if I do, I'm going to maybe potentially break my
foot again by walking on it when it's not completely healed. So, I cannot have that reality check. So, that that's this
is sort of null in in the foot world. But, uh I'm enjoying talking about the clarinet. you know, where does progress
come from when it comes to learning the clarinet? The more clearly we can identify what we want to sound like. And
and that seems like it should be easy, but it's not. And it does take actually learning the clarinet to help refine
what it is that you want your clarinet to sound like in a very detailed way. We need to be very specific about what we want the clarinet to sound like. We need
to hear our tone. We need to hear the dynamics. We need to hear the phrasing. We need to hear all of that. One of the best ways to do that is start to play
the clarinet and then hear those things. It really opens our ears to hear those things in other people's playing. It can
make listening to recordings a much much different thing. Going to a live performance a much much different thing
because we have a much different insight into that. Right? And because the the whole idea is to hear it in your ear
before you play, right? And and that's something that that's really really important. You know, getting back to how
kids learn, their motivational things are generally speaking external. The primary one is their mom or dad wants
them to learn this instrument. Then the next thing comes in how are they doing uh in comparison to their peers and we
set that up in the educational world a lot right because I mean there's all state there's all city there's you know
soul and ensemble festival and here in New York we got that's called NISMA and so there's ways for kids to get graded
and in school you know like my school happens to be a pass fail but a lot of schools actually have grades you know so
there there there are ways in which there's an external motivation Adults don't have the external motivation most
of the time. Well, there there is external factors but mostly it's an internal pull and that's something that
is really uh important. And the other important thing is in this learning process is that the intellectual
understanding while it doesn't on its own translate into ability it can accelerate the learning. Again, going
back to the idea of having an expert that understands how to leverage understanding into ability because it
won't happen on its own and it's very hard for even a very smart, very intellectually, you know, gifted person
to take the information and then develop a skill. There's too many moving parts for that. I want to address something.
I'm acting like you just said something to me and you probably didn't. I mean we talk about learning clarinet as an adult
is something that's difficult and that's somewhat true because there is one part about this that's difficult and that's
kind of our motor skills our motor skills you know and sort of our language center I think maybe maybe I've talked
myself into two things I mean because playing music is somewhat similar if not totally similar to learning a language
and our ability to learn a language is definitely more honed as a child than it
is as an adult and our fine motor skills are a little bit more challenging to develop if we haven't developed them in
another arena when we're learning the clarinet as an adult. But those are the only two ways in which this is more
difficult. And I and I would say in terms of the associating this to language that that's where the
understanding can be leveraged right in in in a very very particular way that's too pedantic and detailed to talk about
right this second. Your ability to understand as an adult is actually a point of strength that can
outweigh the challenges that adults tend to have learning music. It is important
to put your trust in somebody else because there is a certain amount of giving giving uh and trusting and being
vulnerable in a situation that is different than we're used to as adults. And that and that goes again directly
into the next thing I wanted to talk about which is not doing this alone. There's two things like you can't do it alone and that you need an expert to
guide you to get your best. There's another way of not doing it alone which is community. Kids don't learn alone.
They learn in a group. They learn in band and then hopefully they go practice on their own at home. They don't usually
but uh that that's the idea. So but a lot of their learning happens in a group. And when I was thinking, not even
just thinking, but living this experience of having a broken foot. I, you know, I elected to get surgery on my foot. And uh it was interesting to me
when I talked to the person they called the day before the surgery and you know, here's what you need. You got to have
this, got to do this, got to be here this time, blah blah blah blah blah blah. And then you're going to need someone to pick you up afterwards. And
I'm sitting there on my couch, foot up as instructed. And I just thought to
myself, I don't have any friends to pick me up. I I don't have anyone to come pick me up. Like I literally almost
started crying cuz I I didn't think that I had that particular support system set
up. They said, "Well, you're going to need someone to come pick you up." And so I said, "Okay, well, I just hope I can work that out." So I hung up the
phone and I sat I sat there by myself for a second on the couch and I thought, "What am I going to
do?" I I thought, "Well, maybe I should just cancel the surgery. Maybe I should just because there there is a there is a
world in which this will heal on it on its own." I think it's was it was a higher chance of failure, which I didn't want to take. Anyway, long story, not
important to this, but my point is this. I I didn't I didn't know what to do. I thought about people that might be able
to come get me. I thought of four people that might be able to come get me, but you know, some of them I hadn't even
talked to in over a year. And I texted them and they all said yes. And uh I was
overwhelmed with what that support meant to me. Uh, and as it turned out, uh, I
selected my friend Frenchie of of the four people that were kind enough. I mean, some of them couldn't come till
later and some of them lived further away and and quite honestly, there was a couple people that I know would have
gone way out of their way to come get me and I didn't even ask them cuz it would have been such a colossal pain in the butt for them. Uh, but my friend
Frenchie came. I haven't seen Frenchie in like a year and a half. I can't tell you what it meant to me to have a
friend. I didn't know. It was my first surgery. I didn't know what a big deal it was. I didn't know my leg was still going to be slightly numb. I didn't know
like what kind of position I was going to be in. I I had been immobilized basically for a couple weeks at that
point, but this was still seemed somehow another different. I had a cast in my foot. Thank god Frenchie came and picked me up and uh we had a we, you know, had
a coffee and and and sat and talked for a while and then I got an Uber and went home. My kiddo came over that night and
uh and sat with me and we played some video games. It was super fun. Uh but without that
support, you know, that that's an isolating thing and this this is what this is what I want to get to that that
really struck me like I needed my expert to do the surgery and to guide me
through what it means to heal this bone and I needed the support of people that cared about me and cared about my
progress and cared about the process of this. That was the whole world to me and
that's something that kids have when they play the clarinet. Adults traditionally don't have that with the
adults tend to learn in isolation. And there might be a band that they play in, but it's not a band of people that are
all learning the clarinet together, all learning their instruments together at that same point. It's not a learning
opportunity collectively like that. That it's the idea is to put on a performance, not necessarily learn in
that same way. And so that's one of the things that I think is really uh special
about the clarinet ninja dojo is that it's a community. Our meetings are all together and to see the support that is
given and accepted and what that means to see somebody struggle and
overcome and then the support and excitement that comes from the community. But then you know what you
what do you get from watching somebody overcome something that was a challenge for them? Well, you get to see that this
is a challenge, right? and that there's no shame in that challenge because I've got to tell you
there is a certain amount of shame that I think a lot of adults feel in not being good at something. My therapist
the other day told me shame needs an audience and you know if you have a community around you the shame goes away
because you see that that the person that that is has a challenge and overcomes should feel no shame. And then
when you can identify that that's you, that's powerful. And then and the people
that have shared these challenges, have shared this this progress together, it takes on a life of its own and creates
bonds that are are really amazing. And I didn't know that this kind of thing existed until the pandemic and we had to
start teaching online. And now that I see the power of it, I see what what an
amazing thing it is. And let me just keep plugging the ninja dojo for a second is that you can take private clarinet lessons and still be a part of
the dojo. Or you can have the dojo work on its own. It works great on its own if you're a media thought as well. I've
already got a teacher. Cool. The dojo doesn't mean you need to stop that. It's just another way. I mean, you know, like
you can have a a private archery instructor and still go to community groups and classes and celebrate and
learn and and do your archery in other in other places. It's all very very possible and probably good for your
education. So sometimes like if I'm at the clarinet convention, somebody will say, "Hey, I saw one of your videos. I
want I want I want to get your input on this exercise." And so I'll I'll listen to play the exercise. And I'll think to myself, "Yeah, that's not it's not quite
it. Let me tell you a couple things." And then when I tell them those things and the light bulb comes on and they get
a personal response to what it is that they're doing to with the exercise, all of a sudden it's it's like they have
just it's like when Popeye eats the spinach, right? And then all of a sudden he's got muscles, right? Cuz all that work that they've been doing that was a
little bit not right on the exact right track, all of a sudden they see it and
they can feel it and they can do it. And and that's something that is amazing because then all of a sudden that's one
of those nonlinear moments where all of the sudden something just gets unlocked and appears as if from nowhere. Those
are special moments and but it comes from somebody getting frustrated, right? It comes from somebody trying to do
something and not quite having the ability to self assess and identify what it is that they're doing and what it is
that they should be doing and this and what ultimately is a very small difference between those two things. And
that's that's one of the things that good expert instruction gives you. Uh
because it is definitely hard for people to assess what they need in a moment. Consider the idea of a support system.
The healing of a bone for me definitely took an expert. Definitely took a community uh to help me. The community
is is a powerful thing. So let me just go ahead and finish the plug since I started it. There's there's two groups
in the clan ninja dojo. One is for people that that are just getting going, just coming back or are in the sort of
beginning to intermediate stages of the clarinet. And then there's one for people that are playing like rosetudes
or Cavalini or ool any any of those etudes. If you're playing a vber conerto, you know, like that people that
can read music very well, that have played the clarinet for a while that have, you know, studied it maybe very seriously at some point in their life.
Uh someone like that. So that there are two different classes. the the advanced class only has 12 possible seats in it.
It's not full. Go to clarinet ninja.com. Check out the dojo is the button you click. Check it out and see what you
think because I will tell you that uh good advice and good community is going to work out well. Just like you know,
I'm hoping that in tomorrow I get to start walking again. That's that's my uh
that's my date to get my uh x-rays and I'm excited about that. To just tie this up, it's been an interesting thing for
me to sit at home for six weeks basically so far. The only time I've ever sat at home like this was March
2020. And we all did to a certain degree. The quietness and inability to
do the things I normally do really showed me what was missing out of my
life and what that meant to me and and what's meaningful. And here's here's what's what's wonderful. and and I I I
feel kind of proud of this and I feel very happy for myself. So, good for me. The thing that hasn't changed in my life
is I can sit in front of the computer and work with the dojo. And that community also helped me persevere
through all of this. It's something that has a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. And and that's a
really really special thing. And playing the clarinet has a a sum total that is greater than the than its parts as well.
There's really nothing that can mimic what it means to make air vibrate.
That's what sound is. It's air vibrating. What does it mean to make air vibrate in alignment with
others or even on your own? That's it's like doing magic. And it's it's a it's a
it's an amazing thing. And it brings a joy and literally and figuratively a
resonance that has meaning. And it's something that when you have the experience, you get it. You know, and
with that, you know, there is frustration. Let's not deny that. We've all had some frustration playing the
clarinet. And the thing that I want to pass along to people that are adults learning the clarinet is I'm here and I
will be able to help you get what it is that you want out of the clarinet. I've played the clarinet a lot of places.
I've played the clarinet at the Metropolitan Opera. I've played the clarinet at Lincoln Center. I played the clarinet with the Philadelphia
Orchestra. I have played the clarinet on Broadway. I was the clarinet player for the producers on Broadway for six years.
I've subbed on 25 to 40 Broadway shows. I have played at Radio City Music Hall.
I have played the clarinet. No doubt about that. Uh but in addition to that, I have also done a lot of work learning
how to be a fine educator. And in that I have taken a lot of important classes
and had a lot of important experiences learning how to teach kids. And now what that has done for me is allowed for me
to take that framework and that process and translate it into h what what do
adults need to learn? Because the question that I asked myself was how is
the learning profile of an adult different than that of a child? is one of the things we talk about is
differentiation in the classroom and what do different learners need? And so what I did was I simply applied that to
well what if what if one of these learners is 70 years old and has a lot of
intellect you know and what do they need that's different than what these kids need and the answer is it's actually
quite a bit and so that in addition to the things that I've done actually playing the clarinet are the things that
I have to offer you that I think is unique to me and something that I think people should take full advantage of. I
hope hearing me talk about this stuff does sort of highlight how that can work for you. I can't wait to walk around and
uh have my life change back to what it was. Hopefully, we'll be walking around the International Clarinet Association
Clarinet Fest 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas, July 9th through the 13th. Uh if you
haven't checked that out, you should check that out. And uh if you come and
if you see me walking around, come up and say hello. check out how well I can walk on my new foot. Uh but that but but
then like keep in mind also that outcome is fixed. That outcome has happened. But you know what I'm still doing after more
than 40 years is learning how to play the clarinet because that that that process never stops. And it doesn't stop
for me and it doesn't stop for you. So keep that in mind. Keep playing the clarinet. And if you have any questions,
I'm here. Email me. I will respond and uh I'll do the best that I can to to
give you whatever information might help you with what it is that you're trying to accomplish with the clarinet. Thank
you for being here. Thanks for indulging me in letting me talk to you about this. Let's listen to a little bit more of
James Dander as we uh find our way back into the regular world outside of the
podcast. So uh keep playing the clarinet and uh I will see you and hear you soon.
