Klarinet Archive - Posting 000195.txt from 2001/11

From: HatNYC62@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 4 Nov 2001 21:15:01 -0000 Issue 3434
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 11:30:05 -0500

In a message dated 11/4/01 4:12:04 PM, klarinet-digest-help@-----.org
writes:

<< But in case what he writes doesn't speak to your particular case,
perhaps I might be able to provide another sort of incentive. (People
have suggested related things in previous posts, of course.)

The truth about me is that when I was young, I really didn't want to
practise, even the half-hour a day that I was supposed to, at the
beginning.

My parents said, though: if you don't practise, we'll *sell* it. And I
didn't want that.

But, why?

Well, because I enjoyed *playing* it, even if I didn't enjoy practising.

What I remember of my early days of playing the clarinet was the joy of
reading through wind quintets with friends on Sunday afternoons; of
bashing through the cl/pf repertoire after school with my schoolpal (we
got as far as the Ireland Sonata eventually); and playing in local
orchestras, Gilbert and Sullivan, and so on....

In the end, I practised only in order to be able to *play* better. And
that wasn't demanded by anything other than that the music just didn't
sound good enough, to me and other people, if I didn't.

I still don't practise very much unless I have to play something. You
might be the same.

If you are, the answer is to organise yourself some more interesting
stuff to do. (Actually, looking back, IMO that's the best reason of all
to practise.) Surely you can do that.

I do have to say, by the way, that you're living quite dangerously if
you practise just in order to practise. Because what makes someone a
good player in a group is that they *understand* what they're doing.

Just being able on the instrument doesn't cut it, whatever is said here
from time to time. And the only way to understand is to *do* it, and to
*keep on doing it*.
>>

Tony has, as usual, made some terrific points that I failed to think about
while I wrote my post.

My comments were related to someone who is learning to play in a sort of
vacuum, in other words at a school where the opportunities for truly first
class performances is limited. Northwestern, where I went, was in many ways
such a place. Other schools are even more limited.

It is so true that understanding intellecutally what playing music is all
about is as important as being able to play an instrument flawlessly. This
point is very important to understand and think about. I would hope that
every student who studies music at the college level can identify (presumably
from listening to recordings, using the score as well is a plus) all of the
Beethoven and Brahms symphonies and concertos just by hearing a few measures.

Once understood, technique must be applied to the instrument. The better
facility and control you have of that instrument, the more of your ideas will
become actually audible.

So I was speaking only to the technical side in my post. I did this mainly
because the younger a student starts really applying himself to the heavy
technique, the more that practice pays off per hour.

Playing scales and arpeggios ad nauseum is not my idea of fun. I do it every
day because I know if I spend an hour every day doing it, there will be few
works that I won't be able to simply sightread when they are placed in front
of me. The amount of time I have to practice a work of repertoire is very
small compared to when I was much younger. Spend some time in one place to
save time in another.

In fact, I have never enjoyed practicing much either.

For those of you who have heard my cd, you understand the difficulty of the
works I recorded. Understand that it was recorded in about 7 1/2 hours. The
consistancy required to do that came from many hours over many years of
scales, arpeggios and (most obviously in the one Jettel etude) articulation
exercises.

Finally, it is important to understand this: the ones who really go the
distance in music are not always the very talented. The ones who succeed are
usually the ones who are willing to spend A LOT of hours practicing things
that others consider too boring. I have seen it over and over and over and
over.

David Hattner, NYC
www.northbranchrecords.com

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