Klarinet Archive - Posting 000210.txt from 1996/02

From: Gary Bisaga <gary@-----.ORG>
Subj: Re: Preaching/having fun/love hate relationships
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 17:16:24 -0500

Dan Leeson writes:
>Well, I never thought that my off-hand remarks would get to this.

Doesn't everything that gets posted to this list? Actually, I should
not say "everything," as you noted, Dan. It's really what people feel
comfortable with talking about. I go along with the other poster who
said that I don't feel myself qualified to make worthwhile comments on
professional player X's performance style of a particular piece of
music. This reticence on my part is, frankly, largely due to Dan's
rebuke that comments made should deal with specific quantifiable (or
at least comparable) points. I'm not saying that Dan was wrong in
making this rebuke; in fact, he has made me think twice about what I
like or dislike about a particular performance. And for that (as for
many other things) I am in debt to Dan. After several years of this
type of thinking, I may consider myself qualified to make comments on
postings related to clarinet performance or musical styles.

>That doesn't mean that I did not enjoy it when I was doing it. Rather,
>that the approach was invariably serious. I had been given a great gift
>by God; i.e., the ability and desire to play serious music and I was not
>going to allow it to take on the same level in life as a Knicks basketball
>game. That was fun. Mozart was not fun. It was a hallowed gift from
>one of God's most favored people to me and the world.

Not wanting to argue theology, I'll not comment on the last sentence.
But I do want to make the comment that Mozart is serious to you and
the Knicks are not largely because you are not a Knick! To paraphrase
Andy Rooney, is there any reason to think that professional musicians
are, in general, any better at playing music than professional
basketball players are at playing basketball? I am more than willing
to grant that a particular musician (say, Dan Leeson) may be much
better and, more to the point, more serious about honing his God-given
talents than a particular basketball player. But I think that has
more to do with the person than with what they're doing. If Dan could
make 3-pointers and dunk the basketball I have to believe that he
would still be on the court practicing until midnight every night.
And, just as you noted, I think professional athletes enjoy what they
are doing even (perhaps "especially?") when they seriously approach
their sport. After all, how many professional athletes have you heard
-- I'm talking about the ones that you know are not just cruising on
their talent but are seriously striving to perfect their game -- give
as their reason for retiring "The game just isn't fun anymore."

Oh shoot, did I do it again -- make the reply comment more serious
than the original statement warranted? If so, my humble apology.

Gary Bisaga