Klarinet Archive - Posting 000185.txt from 1996/02

From: thehat@-----.ORG
Subj: John Paynter's death
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 19:30:38 -0500

Id> Dan P.S. I'm sure there are many of us out there who at one
Id> time or another were part of Mr. Paynter's love of music and wind
Id> bands. He will be greatly missed.

I played in the Symphonic wind Ensemble for about 1/2 of my 4 years at NU.
Panter was a great educator and, at his best, gave the players in the Wind
Ensemble a good notion of what is expected in a professional situation. I
remember my freshman year when he had to rehearse a group of us for a Lecture/
Performance of the two versions of the Stravinsky "Symphonies of Wind
Instruments." We managed to prepare both versions (which are quite different
in detail, though they sound much alike) in just a few hours, mainly because
of his professional attitude toward rehearsing plus his thorough study of the
material.

He could be very hard on those who disappointed him and was overly sensitive
to criticism of the band as a musical format, but he also rarely forgot to
praise those who put out exceptional efforts. He also went out of his way for
his conducting students, whom he was very hard on but whom he would defend
against anyone.

Although I now think that the wind ensemble and concert band are doing more
harm than good in the educational world, I respected John Paynter very much
and will miss him. The world of wind ensembles will be hard pressed to find a
stronger advocate with finer skills to replace him.

One last reminicence: I remember one of the many times he talked about going
to the '49 Rose Bowl game with the band (as a student). He said "We went once,
we won once and we're not going back." Well, though NU lost the game, I am
sure that John Paynter was probably one of the happiest man in Pasedena that
day. It was probably one of the things he wanted most to happen during his
lifetime.

-David Hattner
clarinetist-at-large, NYC
-> Alice4Mac 2.4.4 E QWK Eval:04Feb96
Origin: Hat's Nut House