Klarinet Archive - Posting 000315.txt from 1995/05

From: Laurence Liberson <hardreed@-----.COM>
Subj:
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 06:37:51 -0400

>Last week in rehearsal of the Dvorak No.8, the principal clarinet and
>I inadvertantly could not see the conductor when he sat down during
>a very exposed clarinet soli. Since I couldn't see him, I followed
>the principal through the soli section, hoping to, at least, stay
>together. Boy, did we get reamed. What should we have done, according
>to list protocol. It's time to light the fire again. Please save me
>from getting burned twice.
>
>Nancy
>zneb@-----.bitnet
>

Aren't conductors just wonderful human beings? <gaaagggg>

If you want to be the least bit tactful and diplomatic (was I just
redundant?), you might--with the first clarinet player in tow--*privately*
talk to the conductor and ask that he remain in a position to be seen during
those "touchy" passages, since you were otherwise in each other's view. The
operative word is *privately* here--not in front or within earshot of your
colleagues in the orchestra.

Of course, if he objects to this or is otherwise belligerent, you might just
tell him to f*ck off! (Just kidding, Nancy!)

A similar thing happened to a friend of mine who plays first trumpet in a
well-known orchestra. When, during one of the opening trumpet solos in "El
Salon Mexico," things fell apart in the orchestra...When angrily asked by
the conductor "What's going on back there?" my friend nonchalantly came back
with "Sorry, I looked up!"

Larry Liberson
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
hardreed@-----.com