Klarinet Archive - Posting 001301.txt from 2000/10

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] A curricular issue
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 13:02:37 -0400

Karl Krelove wrote:

<<<These must be very good non-major flute players (or to keep it more
list-specific, let's change it to clarinet players). I can imagine this
happening in the abstract, but I'm having a hard time with the thought that
it happens often in the real world, unless clarinet (flute) #18 out of 20
really isn't at an appropriate level in the first place for the program
he/she was accepted into.>>>

Karl is absolutely right . . . this never really happens. Unless, of
course, it does. At the universities I attended it happened all the time.
I don't think it's a statistical anomaly for these schools; I bet this
happens more often than not.

I have a well-balanced view on this subject (i.e., a chip on both
shoulders), having faced all kinds of discrimination for not being a music
major. Unless you have a program like the Eastman school that won't let
non-majors from U of R into their ensembles and that precisely controls the
number of admissions for each instrument based on ensemble size, there is
inevitable tension within the music department. Teachers want their
students in the performing group; conductors want the best performers in
their ensemble. Often these are not the same people. (As both a teacher and
conductor, Roger must hate himself!)

You can think about this as the "Charlie Neidich problem." What do you do
when an anthropology major strolls in to your band room and blows the socks
off every other clarinet player in the school? Or the "Kenny Gorelick
problem" -- you're Roy Cummings, running the Studio Jazz Ensemble at the
University of Washington, and an accounting major (now known as "Kenny G" to
you and me) shows up and blows the *faculty* away? What do you do if you're
the wind ensemble conductor and the 2 of the best clarinet players you
audition are both in their first year at the law school? (An aside -- this
actually happened at SUNY Buffalo in 1983. Hi Stan!)

. . . or even worse, what do you do with instrumentalists whose services
aren't needed so much? If you have 4 jazz ensembles at the school (which
would be a sizeable music department), do you admit only 4 jazz pianists?
Guitar players?

It's one thing to limit enrollment in a conservatory; quite another at a
music school that is part of a larger [public] university. Music majors are
*required* to take classes outside the Music Department -- and they do
indeed push history majors out of required history classes! (That's why you
often see seniors taking intro history classes, to fill out the requirements
of their degree). If the university as a whole has an open admission
policy, what is so freakin' special about the music department that it gets
to be an exception?

The problem here is really an abundance of riches. Secondary schools in
this country are pumping out a lot of talented young people who go off to
university to check out the world. Many of them are accomplished musicians,
and don't want to stop developing as a musician. Many don't want to teach
for a living, and don't see performance as a viable career, so choose a
different major.

Should the performance major be upset? Of course. Hopefully, upset enough
to wise up and choose a better career path. If you are serious as a
performer, you should practice and win the audition. If you can't win the
audition over an engineering major, how are you going to win an audition for
a job?

My $0.02, anyway.

kjf

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