Klarinet Archive - Posting 000448.txt from 1994/10

From: Lew Bowling <LBOWLING@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Another Introduction
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 09:52:00 -0500

Greetings to the List,
Since so many of you have been sending out introductions lately, I'll join
in. And I'd like to make this intro a plea for all of you (especially
younger) clarinetists out there to take the instrument seriously (the instr.,
but not yourselves).
I had about 3 months worth of lessons the summer before high school back in
1955, then played alto cl. in band for a year before switching to bass cl.
This led to two years of all-state band and picking up sax, trumpet and drums
on my own. In college, I played a semester of 2nd cl., 1 1/2 of bari sax,
& a year each of tenor & alto sax, after which I became a H.S. band director
for 7 years and a college band director for 11. In grad school, I played both
alto and contra-alto in band, bass cl. in orch. and sax in jazz band. Since
then I've played bass cl. with the Greeley (CO) Phil. (semi-pro) and the
Lincoln (NE) Community Orch. and 2nd Cl. with the Lexington (KY) Comm. Orch.
with a lot of sax and a bit of cl. jazz work on the side. I'm now the Music
Librarian at the Univ. of KY and V.P of the Central KY Clarinet Soc.
The point of all this? I'm basically self-taught on both clarinet and
sax and have done fairly well on both. However, if I had ever concentrated
on really studying either or both, I think I could have been a good player.
It's not completely too late, but family and work don't give me the time I
would need to develop the way I would like. Anyway, if you've got some
talent, find a good teacher and work on it.
By the way, I'm still having fun, even if my fingers get tied up from
time to time.
Equipment: clarinets--Selmer 10S, Bb and A
mouthpieces--Selmer C85 115
barrels--Lee Springer
ligature--Rovner
reeds--Vandoren

It's great to have this list, and I'm enjoying it very much.

Lew Bowling