Klarinet Archive - Posting 001356.txt from 1998/03

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: Studio playing
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:37:41 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-klarinet@-----.us
[mailto:owner-klarinet@-----.us] On Behalf Of ryan Lowe
Subject: Studio playing

1) I am in a show right now playing reed 1 (Clarinet, Alto Sax, Oboe, Alto
Flute, and Bassoon). Many of the other players double the part that I have
or play some sort of counter-melody. There is one player in particular that
does not know their part and when I took them aside to tell them what was
wrong, they said not to worry about it because it was just accompaniment
anyways. I am of the opinion, however, that because they are accompanying
ME, the conductor will think that I am responsible for their bad playing.
As was said in a previous post: "A second player can make or break a
first"... Am I in the wrong for taking them aside and pressuring them to
learn their part? I would just like to know some opinions on how other
professionals deal with this.

If this is, as I suspect it is, a free-lance job (as opposed to an annual
contract) you may at least make sure by doing this that the other person
will never again accept another job on which you're also playing. Thus, you
may at least avoid this particular problem player in the future. Of course,
YOU may find it hard to play THIS show with four teeth missing. In my
opinion (having played in lots of sections where someone else was klutzing
up his and my parts), this is the music director's job.

2) Several collegues (sp?) of mine and I were discussing the difference
between a musician and a clarinetist. I am of the belief that a TRUE
musician is able to do anything with any instrument or musical device, while
a clarinetist plays only the clarinet.
Ryan A Lowe

This is so totally unrealistic, I can't believe you haven't left out some
kind of important details that could make this argument even remotely
defensible. Or you've so completely redefined musicianship that the word has
become meaningless to people outside the discussion you were having. You've
dismissed most of the world of orchestral performers (certainly of the top
orchestras) and probably every "classical" concert soloist from at least the
18th century to the present. Besides, I've played in theater sections with
lots of doublers who played every instrument in the part and probably would
have also played the brass and percussion parts if they'd been paid to - all
MISERABLY. Some of these players actually couldn't claim anything remotely
approaching MASTERY on ANY of those instruments (their "major" one
included). Where is the musicianship there? It's very hard to hear among the
out-of-tune, technically clunky, rhythmically inaccurate, fuzzy-toned sounds
I hear from nearly every one of those guys.

Karl Krelove

   
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