Sax and clarinet pedagogical lineage

In the history of saxophone pedagogy in the US, there seem to be two main lineages, stemming from Joe Allard (1910-1991), and Larry Teal (1905-1984). I was wondering who their respective teachers were, and interestingly, both Allard and Teal had been students of Merle Johnston. Here are a few words about Johnston from the Jazz Lives blog:

I haven’t found out much about Merle, except that he played clarinet, alto, and tenor, was born in upstate New York, and lived from 1897 to 1978, and was a renowned saxophone teacher…Merle’s students included Larry Teal and Joe Allard (each became a highly influential saxophone teacher in his own right), as well as famous players such as Buddy Collette and Frank Morgan. His legacy is probably more lasting as a teacher than as a player or bandleader! 

Merle’s recording career…ran from 1923 to 1930, with Sam Lanin (alongside Red Nichols), Isham Jones, Seger Ellis, the Ipana Troubadours, Jack Miller, a young fellow named Crosby.

As many saxophonists are aware, there are differences between Allard's and Teal's approaches to embouchure, and I'm sure on other musical topics as well. It would be fascinating to know what each of them got from lessons with Merle Johnston. Obviously, both Allard and Teal would also have had many other influences informing their approaches, including other teachers, colleagues, and their own independent studies and experiences. I was able to trace back another of Teal's teachers (see below). Allard also studied clarinet with Gaston Hamelin and saxophone with Lyle Bowen.

Personally, I have benefited second-hand and third-hand from both schools. I've learned some things about Allard's teaching via workshops and publications from David Liebman and Vic Morosco, as well as conversations with my friend Bob, another former Allard student. From Larry Teal, there is his very useful book The Art of Saxophone Playing. Although I took lessons with Joe Henderson, who was proud to have been a Teal student back in Detroit, it’s hard to know specifically what Joe got from Teal - certainly, at least some sort of organized approach to saxophone technique. Reed adjustment? Maybe; Teal discusses reed adjustment in his book. Joe never showed me anything about reed adjustment.

This led me to wonder about my own pedagogical lineage. My clarinet teacher from fifth grade through high school was Paul Pone. Here's a previous post about Paul's early days in the US.

Paul Pone was a student of Gaetano Labanchi (1829-1908) at the Naples Conservatory. Labanchi wrote an influential method book, as well as etudes that are still used today. 

Labanchi was a student of Ernesto Cavallini (1807-1874). Cavallini served as principal clarinetist at La Scala, and taught at the Milan Conservatory.

Cavallini was a student of Benedetto Carulli (1797-1877) at the Milan Conservatory. Carulli was principal clarinetist at La Scala until 1840, and wrote chamber pieces that are still played today.

Carulli was a student of Giuseppe Adami (b. 1762). Giuseppe was the first clarinetist at La Scala, and the the first clarinet teacher at the Milan Conservatory.

Giuseppe Adami was a student of his father, Vinatier Adami, a player and teacher in Torino. Vinatier Adami wrote a clarinet method that appeared around 1802.

I found much of this information in this essay by Michael Thrasher.

With all humility, I have to say that I am a pretty unworthy recipient of this ancestry. Maybe if I had been aware of all this as a kid, I'd have practiced more…Or maybe not.

With regard to saxophone, here's a previous post about lessons with Joe Henderson.

Going back to Joe's teacher Larry Teal, Teal studied not only with Merle Johnston, but also studied clarinet with Alberto Luconi (1893-1984). Luconi played with the La Scala orchestra under Toscanini, and emigrated to the US in 1922, settling in Detroit. He was a professor at the University of Michigan, and also taught at Larry Teal’s music school. Teal stated that the musical skills he learned from Luconi on clarinet carried over into his saxophone playing.

Luconi was a student of Aurélio Magnani (1856-1921). Magnani was the author of a clarinet treatise, and composed a number of clarinet/piano pieces, as well as clarinet duets that are still used in teaching.

Magnani was a student of Domenico Liverani (1805-1877) and Alessandro Busi. I haven’t found anything about Busi. Liverani taught at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna, was a friend of Rossini, and wrote some works for clarinet, including a clarinet concerto. He was a student of Pietro Avoni (d. 1839).

There seems to be quite a bit of Italian clarinet history in all this lineage.

So what could we say is actually transmitted down through the generations? Maybe it’s not so much about specific information. Every individual along the way will take different pieces of knowledge from their teacher, learn from it or perhaps reject it or ignore it, and augment that with experience gained elsewhere in their life. Instrument design goes through changes, and styles change.

I’d like to think that what is transmitted is more a general sense of musical professionalism - high standards, artistic/expressive approach, focus, love of knowledge, love of music.

Addendum: I ran across this discussion on Sax on the Web. It’s a project to catalog the teachers of (primarily) contemporary classical saxophonists. The result of the project is in a downloadable PDF in the last post, #82, on the 5th page of the thread.