Klarinet Archive - Posting 000834.txt from 1997/09

From: DYungkurth@-----.com
Subj: Performance Anxiety (was vibrations - oh not again!)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 12:14:03 -0400

Daniel Meirsman wrote:

The point I wanted to make is that musicians (clarinetists) have an audience
and

they should realize their perception is different from that of their
audience.

They (the musicians) perceive subtleties in their tone production that
no-one in

the audience will notice. However, it is important they have an instrument
they

feel comfortable with.

The reason I brought up the point is that very often musicians, and reed
players

in particular, will find themselves in situations that the instrument they
are

familiar with does not seem to respond as usual (the acoustics are lousy,
the

reed seems to be crappy,...). When musicians start to realize that their

audience does not necessarily notice any sound difference they might develop
an

attidude that is less stressing in a performance situation.

As an example, consider flute players: In my experience they are by far not
as

much affected by bad acoustics of the hall they are supposed to play in.
They do

not rely on a reed and are much more confident about their tone quality. We
as

clarinetists will blame our reed and be very worried and nervous, with
adverse

consequences on our performance.

I find it interesting that Daniel feels flutists "are much more confident
about their tone quality". I read "Flute" as well as "Klarinet" and get the
distinct impression that flutists have a lot more performance insecurity than
clarinetists, in spite of the lack of reed problems. Either that or they are
just more likely to talk about their problems and anxieties. I know there
are others on this list who also read "Flute". Any other opinions on this?

Don Yungkurth (DYungkurth@-----.com)