Klarinet Archive - Posting 000667.txt from 1997/09

From: peter.stoll@-----.ca
Subj: Re: Jack Fetherstone
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 22:47:49 -0400

The retired second clarinet of the Toronto Symphony has been mentioned on
the list a couple of times recently, in perhaps not the best light
(stories about forgetting music and supposedly picking up a dropped mpc
cap and putting it on another player's stand (I've heard that one but
with the cap going the other way before!), but I've always thought him
symbolic of part of an earlier generation of clarinetists not always in
"the limelight". If I remember his bios from the TS programmes, he was one
of those musicians who grew up before a full-time symphonic or teaching
career was commonplace. I believe he trained as an electrician, and
actually served as such (or a bomber pilot) in WW2. I've heard that unlike
the stars of the time like Bonade and Bellison, and in contrast to our
conservatory-trained expectations today, many major orchestra players in
the earlier part of this century only regarded this as part time work, and
had other jobs to "go back to" when the musical work dried up on occasion.
While this is still the case for many musicians, it seems that the
salaried jobs in the major symphonies and universities, with benefits and
paid vacations is a relatively new thing, and that us younger players
might not be aware of this corner of the history of our music. Anyone
care to elaborate on this?

BTW, I heard several extras for the Tor.Sym. say that hearing Jack
Fetherstone's hilarious warmups, where he'd take one of that concert's
prominent tunes and then contrive to make it "resolve" into some distant
key, were "worth the price of admission" on their own! I saw Jack in the
lobby after a TS concert, shortly after he'd retired, and although I
didn't know him went up and said hello and asked how he was doing. He
was very friendly, and said he missed "the gang". Makes you think about
what it's like after many years of weekly concerts, suddenly being on the
other side of the stage.

Peter Stoll
Instructor of Clarinet and Chamber Music
University of Toronto