Klarinet Archive - Posting 000706.txt from 1999/05

From: "Gary L. Smith" <garysmith@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] blow out, tone, tyros
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 18:12:53 -0400

At 05:00 PM 5/14/99 -0400, you wrote:
>For the first time since I began with clarinet, I am playing with other
musicians in a community orchestra. I have been (what seems to me) that
most disliked of entities by professional players: the amateur, the tyro. I
sit in a small section (often just two of us) next to a young woman who
uses her clarinet almost like a weapon.

A few points, seemingly at random, from a fellow, uh, semi-professional, as
I prefer to style myself, since I *did* have significant income (net of
expenses) from playing and teaching last year, even though I didn't quit my
day job.

- there are professionals at many different skill levels, just as there are
amateurs at many different skill levels. Benny Goodman was a professional
clarinetist. So is the hack in the hotel lobby wearing a 30-year-old tux
and playing 40-year-old arrangements of 60-year-old tunes. The cretin I
hired for my last recital was a professional pianist. Despite the fact that
things like ballet rehearsals put groceries on the table for him, he was
quite candid with me that he just doesn't show up if he doesn't feel like
it. If he worked at a Radio Shack, he would then be a professional store
clerk, he would no doubt display the same work ethic in that job, and he
probably wouldn't last long. BTW, he hasn't gotten rich doing music yet,
and somehow I doubt he will... I wish I had gotten an amateur who cared
about the music.

- some professionals seem to have a problem with the fact that
amateurs/semi-pros exist, others don't. This is largely a personality
thing, but there does seem to be a correlation between the professional's
security in his/her accomplishments and lot in life and his/her acceptance
of others playing the game. The woman you described seems to be trying
really hard to convince everyone (and herself) that she's the real thing.
Playing higher/faster/louder than everyone else in warm-up is the sign of a
hack, in my book. I think you'll find more acceptance among the ranks in
general than you may now realize. As you develop a reputation for playing
reliably (with an ear for ensemble blending that it sounds like she lacks),
and most importantly, showing up, I think you will gain the respect of most
reasonable people you get around. I asked a friend of mine, a trumpet
professor at a local college, what the criteria were when I had first
gotten back into it. His answer was real complicated. "Can you play?"

This is a sore subject with me, since I lost nine years of playing time
because I convinced myself that unless I went out for a degree and a
full-time job in music, there would be no opportunities. Once I decided
that playing was something I *had* to do, even if I ended up doing nothing
but playing in my living room, I found there are more opportunities in a
medium-sized city in the s.e. US than I can get around to. Once I figured
that out, I quit worrying so much about what people think of me or what to
call myself.

-------------------------------------------

Gary Smith

garysmith@-----.com

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