Klarinet Archive - Posting 000985.txt from 2001/10

From: The Guy on the Couch <jnohe@-----.Edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Band vs orch eefer range
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 20:21:49 -0500

On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Luby D. Jackson wrote:

> play a part that no one plays. You have to realize that eefer was with held
> from me for over 14 years of my clarinet career because conductors wanted to
> exploit me for their purposes. They stuck me on 1st/solo Bb clarinet or
> tough bass parts to benefit their own acclaim and not allowing me to really
> shine on the eefer, which I was ordained to play.

Even though I'm not a music educator (I teach privately, though), I find
this statement just about offensive. You blame someone else for
squelching your great talents? What rubbish! Exploitation? Hardly! No
one held a gun to your head - you could have walked away at anytime. Did
they threaten to destroy you if you had taken up Eefer on the side? I
would hardly think so.

I don't blame my shortcomings concerning saxophone on my high school
conductor, who kept me on bass clarinet. I blame myself - there was
nothing to stop me from practicing my brains out with the saxophone on my
own time, and who's fault is it that I didn't? MINE, not his. If you
didn't spend any time playing Eb clarinet during those horrible, horrible
14 years, it's YOUR fault, not your educator's. They don't dictate what
you do at home, on your own time. If you had wanted it half as bad as you
make it seem, you would have played Eefer of your own attrition elsewhere.
Don't seek to lay the blame on an educator who's at least partially
responsible for where you are today.

Such ungratefulness is the opposite of professionalism.

J. Shouryu Nohe
Grad Assistant, New Mexico State University
"I think we have a ghost in our house." - Kaycee Nicole
"I should probably be playing Buffet." - Steve Moore

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