Klarinet Archive - Posting 001293.txt from 1998/04

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: U.S. orchestras, etc.
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 03:53:23 -0400

How nice to get back to barrels and mouthpieces! Being a non-American
non-professional, I found three messages on the "subject" just about
enough. However, something in one of the messages* I ploughed through
yesterday rang a bell - something about players who can get all the
excerpts right some of the time, and have about an 80% hit rate on THE
Beethoven 8 (?3rd movement) solo. That sounds like about my own standard,
except on very good days, and I would never dream of trying to get into a
professional orchestra in this country - nor would I ever get an audition.
How is it that so many players apparently no better than me can envisage
being pros in the U.S.? Of course, there are far more orchestras than in
the U.K., but nevertheless this seems to be saying something rather
disturbing about American education.
* This may have been from Dan Paprocki.
Roger Shilcock