Klarinet Archive - Posting 000926.txt from 1998/12

From: Tony Pay <Tony@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Stolzman and opinions
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1998 04:19:07 -0500

In message <Pine.3.89.9812241105.A28390-0100000@-----.edu>
Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu> wrote:

> On Thu, 24 Dec 1998, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:
>
> > An opinion on Stoltzman (or anyone for that matter) should be
> > meaningful to the readers of that posting. One does not have
> > to agree but one must understand it.
>
> Interesting, Dan, that you couch your opinion in prescriptive terms,
> particularly after your rather verbose statement in support of Antony
> Pay's message of a few weeks ago. In that message, Antony indicated
> that contributors to the Klarinet list too often use verbiage such as
> "should" and "must" and other terms of definitude when offering up
> opinions in response to questions from other members. Yet here you
> are, expressing not only your opinion in such terms, but expressing
> that opinion about how others should express THEIR opinions. Does
> that seem a little hypocritical to you? It seems that way to me.

[snip of other controversies]

Though you and Dan may have other issues on which you disagree, I want
to make my own position a little clearer here.

I wrote, for example, to you:

> Admittedly it [my post "Should we?"] was attacking what I see as the
> general misapprehension that you can give technical advice
> independently of the context of the music, the student's physiological
> makeup, the instrument and so on, and it's true that the giving of
> such advice does usually characterise a rather opinionated style of
> post -- but it wasn't the opinionatedness that I was attacking. There
> are plenty of things about which opinionatedness does no harm
> whatsoever.
>
> I just think that it would be rather hard work here to challenge all
> the definite statements about what is and is not the way to play --
> where you 'should' put your teeth, how you 'should' keep your throat
> open, and so on, and I was putting forward the notion that it was a
> Good Idea to have a sort of mental alarm bell that would go off
> whenever you start a sentence that contains a 'should'.
>
> Particularly if you're giving advice to an inexperienced player.

I have made it clear several times that the 'should' that I was saying
we might be more careful about here refers rather particularly to
technical and musical advice given to another list participant. It
*might* apply also to one-to-one lessons, but that's up to the teacher.

If Roger Garrett had taken the trouble to read any one of my several
attempts to say this to him, he would probably not have forced himself
to unsubscribe from the list.

As I say above, there are many things about which opinionatedness does
no harm whatsoever.

And in point of fact, I happen to disagree with some of what Dan said,
and I may post some of my disagreements. But that's what the list is
all about, no?

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

"Believing Truth is staring at the sun
Which but destroys the power that could perceive."

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