Klarinet Archive - Posting 000394.txt from 2002/09

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Ego and Bravado
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 08:07:35 -0400

Two things:

(1) Being adept at the craft of an art does not equate to being good at the art.
One can know all of the rules and exceptions of theory, be fully versed in
history and performance practice, and receive guidance from the finest known
living composers in the world. Guess what? With all of that information at
one's fingertips, the music itself can still suck. It's like being a tech-
nical wizard on the clarinet -- a Charlie Neidich/Eduard Brunner type -- and
yet severely lack the ability to make "music." All of the technique in the
world, whether as an instrumentalist or a composer, will not automatically
imbue your work with artistic merit, regardless of who is willing to testi-
fy to the merit of one's *craft* in the art.

(2) Before one is anything else -- composer, athlete, professor, etc. -- one is
a human being. Generally, even those who are acknowledged to be talented in
their fields are less appreciated -- even shunned in spite of their talent --
if they are asses on a personal level. Once people get a whiff of conceit
or self-importance, respect evaporates rather quickly, replaced by disdain
and distaste, and general avoidance out of a desire to keep obnoxious people
like that out of their lives.

Neil

--- MaisondeHadley@-----.com wrote:
> In a message dated Thu, 19 Sep 2002 7:07:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, charette@-----.org
> writes:
>
> > As to whomsoever thinks you're a fraud - where did >you get that idea? Not from anyone I know.
>
> Mr. Charette and other esteemed listmembers,
> I believe Mr. Woodson was implying me. Just this evening I received an email from him,
> which among other things, contained the following statement:
>
> "My accomplishments as a composer are readily
> provable to any scholar in my scores. This isn't
> bragging. These are facts that cannot be denied on
> paper. Many members of the Viola and Horn Lists
> have seen the proof. They had their doubts at first
> too, as anyone should, but now they know. A few
> people on the Klarinet List already have copies of
> my "Suite for Two Bb Soprano Clarinets" and "Trio
> for Flute, Oboe, and Bb Clarinet". Ask them if my
> music seems naïve, obvious, simple-minded, petty, or
> mediocre in any way.
>
> If Mozart Hindemith or Zwilich make big claims,
> no one gets offended, because they are proven names.
> But if an Unknown Composer makes big claims, it
> is reasonable to ask questions. But it is not fair to
> "hit and run". Now you get to explain a few things
> to me, in front of everyone. I can verify my claims
> in my scores, but when people criticize, and can't
> justify their motivations, now who's "tooting your
> own horn"? "
> He also decided to throw in a heap of personal insults. As to 'my explanation,' which I
> would assume he intended as a public apology after my initial post: after what he said to me in
> that email, the only thing that comes to mind is a French expression. However, seeing as this
> is a public mailing list, and that I was taught to show some amount of respect to my elders even
> when they act like infantile school children, I will refrain from saying what that particular
> expression is and its equivilent translation in English form.
> Even after all of this, I still agree with Mr. Charette: in my eyes the extent of bragging
> done by this individual makes him appear nothing more than a common braggart. I do agree as
> artists there is a certain amount of ego involved. But at the same time, after an event
> commemorating the death of so many US Citizens lost on September 11, 2001, I felt that the
> important message was lost amongst mountains of bravado and ego.
> What was the point of his post? To mention that a few thousand of our fellow countrymen
> were lost that day and remembered a year later by a group of dedicated musicians, or to push his
> music and the fact that his work has the first triple fugue for clarinet sonata in world
> history?
>
> Je m'en fous!
> Joseph Stevens
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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