Klarinet Archive - Posting 000014.txt from 1998/07
From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] what am I going to do?
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998 12:34:06 -0400
Jennifer--
I'm sorry to hear about your school problems. I had similar problems as an
undergraduate--people often just run out of money. I ended up having to
sling hash in a restaurant for a year before I could get the scratch up to
go back to school. (I then had to keep cooking for a living full time while
finishing up, but that's a different story). I now have 2 undergraduate
degrees, a JD (what lawyers get) and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School--the
detour did not hurt me at all in the end.
>From 20/20/20 hindsight (that's 20/20 hindsight after more than 20 years),
it really wasn't such a bad thing. I actually had a fair amount of fun
being a working stiff for a while. I met a lot of people who weren't on the
education train, who I probably otherwise would not get to know. (I also
managed to drink a vast quantity of beer, and basically finish up my
childhood.) Remember--it's perfectly OK to be sophomoric if you are in fact
a sophomore.
As far as the playing goes, you should be reconsidering the desire to be a
performing clarinetist anyway--the market is small, the pay is bad (except
for the dream jobs that are so extremely hard to get) and the prospects
statistically not good. This does NOT mean that you should stop playing,
however--playing clarinet is the single most important thing I've ever done
academically (I'm serious about this). It also keeps me sane, and let's
face it--it's a hell of a lot of fun.
If you are worried about having to put the horn down for a while, don't.
The single best thing I did for my clarinet playing was to stop for the
first 3 years I was out of law school. When I did pick it up, there was
rust--but I also was able to excise the bad motor habits that had been
ingrained, and within 2 months was playing much, much better than ever.
I'll wish you luck, although I bet in the end you won't need it.
Best regards,
kjf
-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer McKenna [mailto:mai_lin@-----.com]
Subject: [kl] what am I going to do?
I'm in a real pickle here people...I need some good advice, and a little
bit of motivation mixed in.
I had a great year at University of North Texas, and was all set for an
equally great summer. That was until my father told me that he didn't
have the rest of the money to pay off the semester, and wouldn't have it
for a long time. So he told me that I was going to have to take the next
semester off....then my ONLY friend down there (i'm from massachusetts)
told me she was changing her major to accounting and transfering to some
school in colorado....so I was not going to go through another horrible
year of no one to talk to.
So I decided I was going to transfer to a school closer to home...only
problem is I can't even get my trnasfer in until I have texas paid
off...great...and then other problems happened...and I was kicked out of
my house....so now I'm feeling pretty down on myself and have found it
impossible to concentrate on anything, and have now gone a week without
practicing and at least two weeks before that with out anything
productive coming out of the times i did practice. I have lost alot of
my motivation...but I know this is what I want to do....i just can't
concentrate now, and I know that its becuase of whats happening in my
life, i just need new direction...i hope someone has had something
similar to this happen in there lives at one point...any suggestions
would be great....thanks in advance.
jennifer mckenna
mai_lin@-----.com
university of north texas
music ed major/clarinet concentration
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