Klarinet Archive - Posting 000929.txt from 1997/09

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: RE: Well, here we go again
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 19:15:54 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.24
> Subj: Well, here we go again

> I'm riding the fence on this one. Where as I believe we should try in every
> instance to play the instrument intended by the composer, I also know that
> most of us cannot afford to purchase the entire family of clarinets. I have
> an Bb and A of course and also an Eb and Bass. The bass is not a low C bass
> (which is problematic) and it is pitched in Bb, not A. There have been some
> instances where an A bass clarinet was needed; I transposed the part.
> Though I am first and foremost a clarinetist and I love to play and oddly
> enough practice, I cannot justify, with my present income, the purchase of
> an A bass clarinet, an A sopranino, a C clarinet and/or a D clarinet. Does
> this make me a villain...I don't think so. Does this mean I do not want to
> play the instrument intended...I don't think so. Most of us are caught
> between a rock and hard place. This is not a justification to play the
> "wrong" clarinet, merely an observation.

To answer your specific question, yes, you are a villain.

Now with that out of the way, let me tell you about an oboe player
with whom I once worked. He never, ever used a good reed for
rehearsals. He was always saving his good reeds for performances.
As a result of this decision, he simply never played well during
rehearsals and he was equally lousy at concerts because he had
not prepared himself properly.

He simply did not understand that one has to play one's best at
all times, not just during concerts.

It is the duty of a professional player to adopt that attitude
and not to set up straw men which allows him or her to say why
they cannot achieve a certain goal. The price of being a
professional player is the cost of purchasing whatever equipment
is necessary to play one's best, both physically and
intellectually.

If you don't have enough money to buy the needed equipment, I
can understand that, but it will act as an impediment to your
career. It requires sacrifice and discipline and energy to
work as a pro. It's simply too easy to say, "It costs too
much and I can't afford it so I won't do it" because the next
thing out of one's mouth is "And it is really not necessary
either." I know you did not say this, but that is the
direction you are heading because you must justify your
action in every possible way, and that includes eliminating
as an argument that it is a requirement of the music to do
exactly the opposite of what you are doing.

It is the musical equivalent of my youthful years when I
would try and kiss a girl and she would not let me. So the
first thing out of my mouth was "well, she probably would
not have been a good kisser, anyway."

In the extreme case, it is called "sour grapes."

You have an A. You have a bass and you realize that it
is an impediment that it does not go down to low C, but you
excuse your way out of this. And then, after the first sin,
the next come very easy.

Think about it.

>
> Steve
>
> Steve Prescott
> Instrument Rep.Tech./ Clarinetist
> Indiana State University
> mipresc@-----.edu
>
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================