Klarinet Archive - Posting 000086.txt from 1993/11

From: Claudia Zornow <claudia@-----.COM>
Subj: Excellence in music
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 12:15:36 -0500

Dan Leeson writes:

> I just celebrated by 50th anniversary of playing the clarinet and,
> in about two years, I will probably retire from active, professional
> playing. How sad it will be not to be able to play the Gran Paritta
> any longer. But as you get older, you lose your ability to play as
> well as you once did, and there is no room in music for anything other
> than excellence.

I'd like to take issue with the above statement, at least
in its current general form. Perhaps there is no room in
*professional* music for anything other than excellence.
But I believe there is room in "music", at least amateur
music, for all abilities; the desire to play and the
enjoyment of playing are what matters.

If someone told me that I could never play the Gran Partitta
again until I can play it excellently, I would ignore them; I
plan to keep playing this piece and having fun with it despite
my less-than-excellent abilities.

Dan, did you mean "in professional music," or were you really
generalizing?

Claudia