Klarinet Archive - Posting 000923.txt from 2003/02

From: "John P. Varineau" <jvarineau@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Shepherd on the Rock
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 22:09:06 -0500

Well, as long as we're sharing Shepherd on the Rock stories . . .

My story is a nightmare. Many years ago, a soprano friend of mine was
asked to present a recital at the Pratt Institute in New York. She very
kindly asked me to perform SotR with her. The day of the performance,
Sunday afternoon, it was pouring rain, and unbelievably humid. The key
word here is sticky. Anyway, we showed up to play the recital and . . .
no audience! We waited . . . no audience. Nobody, not even the
committee that hired the soprano to sing the recital . . . nobody. What
to do? We were getting paid. Should we play for nobody and collect the
check (from whom?) and go home? Or should we simply go home? We waited
. . . nobody. Finally two friends of the pianist show up -- about 40
minutes late for the recital. Now we were really in a quandry. Should we
perform for them, or just say we did and go home? We decided to perform
for a sum total of two people.

It was a good thing, because when it came time for SotR, it was a
disaster. Remember I said the weather was sticky? It was so humid that
my left hand thumb ring mechanism stuck, thus turning every single open G
in SotR into an F-sharp. Every single one, and those of you who have
played SotR know how many there are. If you want a real laugh try
playing SotR and play an F-sharp for every open G.

Needless to say, the initial shock of the first F-sharp completely erased
any thought of a musical performance. From then on I was trying to
unstick that key while I was playing.

Afterwards, when I told my friends about the experience, they assured me
that it couldn't have been that bad. Then I played the tape I made of
the performance for them It was every bit as bad as I described.

I have since had many satisfying (for me) performances of SotR.

John Varineau
Associate Conductor, Grand Rapids Symphony

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