Klarinet Archive - Posting 000091.txt from 1993/11

From: 00smgeidel@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: OK!! I'm ready.
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 09:00:33 -0500

Greetings!

Dan Lesson offers for discussion:

>>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.

This may indeed be true for those who aspire to join the ranks of
professionals. But music is larger than the profession.

Music welcomes into its world all those who care to seek any manner of
relationship with art, be it formal or informal. Some of happiest, most
fulfilled musicians I know are those who participate from the standpoint
of the true "amateur;" the "lover" of music who is a part-time devotee.

The playing may not be of the first rank, it's true.
Yet the personal rewards and insights achieved by these individual bring many
benefits to their inner lives. They seem to find a source of joy that many
professionals miss, all in the name of excellence and perfection.

Professionals certainly need to strive for the highest standards. But, is there
really "no room" for anything other than excellence? Excellence is a vehicle to
attain meaning and satisfaction for some; and surely professionals need to
aspire to lofty performance goals. But "no room?" Again, most "amateurs" I
know achieve far more meaning and satisfaction from music that most
professionals.

Comments?

Stan Geidel

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Dr. Stanley M. Geidel
University Libraries
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
(317) 285-5143
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