Klarinet Archive - Posting 000620.txt from 1997/05

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: yikes !
Date: Sat, 24 May 1997 16:47:20 -0400

Don,
Love your e-mail address, BTW. My reply was not to a "stupid"
question. It was to a person who seemed to me to be asking us to do his
work for him. His request was, "Where to get this piece?". To paraphrase
another on the list, "Hasn't he tried a music store?" I love questions
which I feel especially qualified to answer and the uninteresting (at
least to me) ones (about which strength of reed to use, etc.) I ignore.
I'm reminded of little children who ask, "Why..." just to get
attention. If you actually tell them to "look it up" they usually get the
message that these kinds of questions are not particularly edifying for
anyone except to pass the time. This is basically what I did (in my own
sometimes un-tactful way).
It may be true that "there are no stupid questions" but there
*are* time-wasting, annoying ones.

Fred Jacobowitz
Clarinet/Sax Instructor, Peabody Preparatory

On Sat, 24 May 1997 netwitt@-----.net wrote:

> Yikes.....this was my 1st day to subscribing to the list, and I'm reading
> all these replies, statements, etc. about asking stupid questions.
>
> As a public school band director (and a trumpet player !!), I guess I'll
> really be hesitant to ask my --almost for sure-- 'dumb questions'.
>
> I got on this list for just that reason--to ask what was obvious to
> clarinet players, but not to me.
>
> Don Witt (.)
> netwitt@-----.net
>
>
>