Klarinet Archive - Posting 000038.txt from 1998/10

From: "George Landis" <George@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] Enough with the Marching Bands, already
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 15:40:36 -0400

Normally, I "lurk" on the list and enjoy the comments of the different =
levels of clarinet players who are subscribed, but, sorry folks, enough =
about marching bands. They are not worth the bits, bytes and pixels that =
have been devoted to them.=20

We have a tendency in our democracies to think that any point of view or =
opinion is valid when in fact, many if not most are not. Just because some =
people say that the Earth is only 3,000 years old doesn't make it true. =
Just because some people feel that marching is a higher order musical =
activity doesn't make it so.=20

At the risk of igniting a flame war...marching bands serve two purposes: =
a) giving the troops a snappy tune to march to and b) providing a modicum =
of entertainment during football games (including the obligatory number =
for the drill team to shake their butts to). That's it. Nothing more.=20

Band directors try and make it into something more because most of them =
find it far easier to have a "good" marching band than to have really fine =
wind ensembles/concert bands. Most students, therefore, buy the notion =
that their marching experience is just as valid as playing in a fine band =
or orchestra because they have no frame of reference for thinking anything =
else.

DCI and all that stuff is just items a) and b) carried to an extreme.

Unless I'm mistaken, this is a list devoted to the clarinet and all things =
directly related to the instrument. Could we relegate MARCHING BAND to =
some other list, please???

Regards,

George Landis

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