Klarinet Archive - Posting 000513.txt from 2002/12

From: B0Rite@-----. Write)
Subj: Re: [kl] Problem
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 18:47:40 -0500

Rebecca, perhaps this post is inappropriate; but since it happened today
and I feel it very strongly, here goes....

===============

I just returned home from picking up my daughter at public school. She
sings in a "junior' choir that is conducted by a teacher whose "senior"
choir has won 1st place national awards for several years running now
and is usually invited to tour Europe during the summer (including this
forthcoming summer).

....so what goes on inside an award-winning program like this, to which
my daughter may graduate next year? Is it the same sort of tension
that you are feeling?

My daughter (sophomore) was beaming when she got into the car today.
She has friends, but she is not the "prom queen" sort of girl. When I
asked her why she was bubbling over today, she explained that the
teacher organizes an extended 'Secret Santa' activity each year for both
choruses and the jazz orchestra combined. It lasts for 10 days and
occupies about 10 minutes of each day's classes. My daughter had some
trinkets under her arm, and she told me that a boy had asked her to pose
for a photograph ("but he's not the most handsome guy, Dad"), and she
got a kick out of a humorous lyric that the teacher taught them today.

So what does all this have to do with music?

It's just one more example of how music should be a pleasurable
experience. Pursuing music for the sake of its pleasures **does** pay
big dividends in the quality of performance.

I'm not disparaging hard work and concentration and practice and quest
for excellence. Definitely not. They are required for achievement.
But music **is** a social pleasure-seeking activity at its root, and
this aspect of music must not be allowed to disappear.

Happy Holidays to everyone on the list,
Bill

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