Klarinet Archive - Posting 000987.txt from 2000/12

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Performance
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 05:18:39 -0500

On Mon, 18 Dec 2000 12:01:13 -0800 (PST), leupold_1@-----.com said:

> And yes, to my mind, "mastering" a skill means not only that the
> desired effect is 100% replicable, but that producing it is effortless
> (or nearly so). Go ahead & get pompous about the supremacy of musical
> considerations over anything technical, if you must, but if you have
> to constantly struggle against yourself or your equipment in order to
> meet the demands and artistry of the music, something's not right.

I'll ignore the 'pompous' bit; but yes, something's not right if you
have constantly to struggle against yourself to meet the demands of the
music. And actually, your way of putting it here says it all.

The technical advice giver is rather like a remedial speech therapist.
You might want to interact in a very detailed way with someone whose
speech production mechanism isn't working, and who can't produce the
words they want to produce. But you don't go on about the ease of
production, the effortless mastery of the lips, tongue and vocal tract
in a normal speaker -- even though all those things are miracles indeed.

What you're interested in is *what they say*, and the nuances of how
they say it, in context, and the effect that has on what's around them.
And, unsurprisingly, that's what they're interested in too.

I post here at least as much technical stuff as musical stuff, because
I too am interested in people not having to struggle to express
themselves musically. I'm very careful not to say things that aren't
true, and very careful not to be prescriptive when someone's following
the prescription might be counterproductive in a musical situation.
There is quite enough thoughtless, so-called 'good' playing around for
it to be worthwhile reminding ourselves that our job is not only to
produce people who can blow and finger a clarinet, even effortlessly.

The fact is that in an orchestra, I would much sooner have someone
sitting next to me playing second clarinet who understood and was
concerned with whether what they were doing was appropriate to the
music, than someone who was concerned with the ease and joy of playing
the clarinet effortlessly -- and that might be true even if the second
person were a better player technically. Some quite well-known people
might fail this test.

Someone once said to me, as I went onstage, "Enjoy yourself! That's the
important thing!" Well, I'm always willing to enjoy myself. But
sometimes I don't, and that fact doesn't seem to make a great deal of
difference to the result I produce, judged by people listening. In
fact, there is some evidence to say that when I 'enjoy myself', the
result may be less satisfactory. I and others have discussed that
phenomenon here before.

Ultimately, of course, I enjoy myself, otherwise I wouldn't be doing the
job. But interimly, it may not be so easy. Any good player will say
the same.

> What is more fulfilling for the player, the audience's pleasure
> notwithstanding: making good music while struggling and straining, for
> lack of attention to the intricacies of technical development? Or
> making good music effortlessly, such the the music is the only thing
> of which we are aware while we play? It's possible to get there *and*
> serve all of the musical considerations involved.

Unless it isn't.

You do all right, Neil, despite my little rant at you a few weeks ago.
But you do sometimes come on rather stronger than is appropriate for the
substance of what you say.

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

... Our Standard: Excellence; Our Goal: Perfection; Reality: Murphy.

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