Klarinet Archive - Posting 000265.txt from 2003/03

From: Deidre Calarco <dleigh@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] The amateur's dilemma
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 14:14:13 -0500

Classical music is a difficult profession. Many more people have it as a
vocation than can possibly succeed at it, and therefore the standards are
insanely high. This is doubly or triply true for wind players. The biggest
problem is, since recorded music is so readily available, there's little
demand for amateur performance, especially for those of us who aren't
involved in a church.

I'm thinking about boning up on my sax playing and joining a rock band...
Or maybe Klezmer clarinet? Possibly an umpa band? Or, maybe I'll record
myself and manipulate it into something interesting on my computer. :-)

There are always community bands, I guess, but that would be like being back
in high school. I could MAYBE get to where I could compete for a community
orchestra seat, but those are usually held by young professions, and they
usually need the job. Hum... Maybe I'll try to resuscitate some of the
other lapsed musicians I know and start a chamber music club.

Any other ideas? What do all of you other amateurs on the list do for
performance and ensemble playing?

-Deidre

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