Klarinet Archive - Posting 000241.txt from 2003/03

From: "Andy Raibeck" <cactus@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] anger and jelousy of a southern west virginian music student
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 00:40:36 -0500

Rebecca,

This will pass. I imagine that you just got a good dose of reality: that no
matter how good you are, there is always someone better. This certainly does
not make you inferior!

I do not like the the world Olympics events for several reasons, but a major
reason is the spirit in which people compete: it does not appear to be good
enough for these athletes to just make it to the Olympics, nor is it good
enough for them if they earn a bronze or silver medal. If they don't win the
gold, then they are losers. That is not my opinion, of course, but it is the
attitude that I sense when watching the post-event interviews. These people
dedicate their very *lives* for one goal, and one goal only: to win the
Olympic gold. If they don't win it, then their lives are finished. To peak
before you're 20? I find that sad, pathetic, and a waste.

Of course, you (or anyone else) should never make mediocrity your life's
goal. Keep your sights high and go for the gold! But at the same time, don't
let that goal overwhelm your life so much that any other outcome means
failure. It is just not realistic. If your life's goal is simply to be
number 1 (however you gauge that), and nothing else is acceptable, then you
will be miserable.

You should also not obsess about your "standing" in the clarinet world
(whatever that is). The only "enlightenment" you need is to remember what is
truly important: be happy with what you are; don't be unhappy with what
you're not. And as long as you do your personal best at whatever you set out
to do in life, the rest will take care of itself.

All the best,

Andy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rebecca Brennan" <rjbrennan1221@-----.com>
Subject: [kl] anger and jelousy of a southern west virginian music student

> Where I live I am good. I am the primo crop, the prodigy, the best! Then I
> step out of my little bubble into another county or state and I feel so
> inferior and angry! I have no idea what level the average American 17 year
> old clarinet student is on, but I think I am lower than that. Somebody
> please enlighten me on what I should be able to do so I know where I stand
> in the clarinet world.
>
> I love clarinet very deeply and I want to play clarinet for a living and
> major in music and be one of the great, but I am really starting to have
my
> doubts now.
>
> -Rebecca, just learned she is living a dream, not a reality.

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