Klarinet Archive - Posting 000647.txt from 2002/09

From: "Daniluk, Bill" <bdaniluk@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] FW: [kl] Bb/A Conundrum
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:05:26 -0400

Since "Some parts sound much better" implies a comparison to some personal
standard of judgment, how could it ever be construed as anything but an
opinion? There's an exercise in high school English in which the student is
given a list of statements and is asked to determine whether each is 'fact'
or 'opinion'. It is not only the items that start out "I think..." or "In
my opinion..." that are the opinions - it is also the "That one is prettier"
or "This tastes better" types of statements which imply a comparison to a
standard that fall into the category of 'opinion'. As with any statement of
subjective criticism, I would think that the value of the judgment would be
based on the credibility of the critic. In this case, a respected player
thinks that something "sounds better" (to him) - which suggests that other
respected players might make a similar judgment. Or not. In any case,
unless the author of this statement is one of those people who think that
their opinions have the weight of fact, I don't think he is stating a fact.
Just an opinion.
BD

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Leeson [mailto:leeson0@-----.net]
Subject: Re: [kl] Bb/A Conundrum

....
There is another items in Duques' note I want to highlight. He writes:
"Some parts written for C clarinet sound much better played on the A
than on the B clarinet. Typical examples are Smetana's Moldau and
Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture."

Now Duques was certainly allowed to have any opinion he likes, but when
asserted as a fact as is the case of the above paragraph, it is no more
than pontificating.
.....

---------------------------------------------------------------------