Klarinet Archive - Posting 001307.txt from 2000/10

From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] A curricular issue
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 17:18:39 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subject: RE: [kl] A curricular issue

> 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 remember my All-State Band so very many years ago. Almost none of the
participants were planning to major in music in college yet they would
almost certainly have succeeded in auditions for the ensembles. In more
recent years, I have known some college players. In one case, the first
chair clarinettist was a vet med student and in addition none of the music
majors were able to secure first clarinet seats but all were 2nd or 3rd
clarinettists.

>
[SNIP]
>... 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?
>

Outstanding point here. Students in all curricula are required to take
courses outside their majors to get a well rounded education. If a
non-music major has the ability and desire to play in the wind ensemble then
they should be allowed to do so.

> 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.
>

Sometimes these students, although loving music, simply feel that another
field will hold more long term interest for them as a career apart from any
monetary issues.

> 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?
>

Very well put.

At least one school that I know of has a setup something along this line.
1. Top wind ensemble - must audition to get in.
2. 2nd wind ensemble - available if you don't make the top but still must
audition to get in.
3. Community band sponsered by college - students not making either of the
above ensembles can join this without audition (there are no quotas) and get
college credit for it. This ensemble tends to be somwhat unbalanced in
instrumentation but that gives it a particular value in the learning
experience.

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