Klarinet Archive - Posting 000262.txt from 2003/09

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinetist/Musician
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 17:19:00 -0400

Chantelle, it seems to me that you're trying to find a "minimum
requirement" for the title of "good musician". Probably we would agree
that a great composer who doesn't play any instrument at all
(skillfully) is nevertheless a "good musician" --- just as we would
agree that a virtuoso performer who doesn't compose is also a "good
musician" --- just as a deaf composer who can write the likes of
Beethoven's Ninth was still a "good musician" after he lost his hearing
and wouldn't know whether he was playing in tune or not.

My point is: the fact that a person does (or doesn't) play a
particular instrument has nothing to do with musicianship. Can an
accordion player or a bagpiper or a glockenspiel player be a "good
musician"? Certainly. The fact that he or she has chosen a
particular instrument is irrelevant.

What is more difficult (probably impossible) is to set the boundaries
for a minimum requirement. There are too many variables to consider,
and being a bit weak in one aspect or another may not disqualify a
"musician" who is superlative in other respects. Must you be able to
transpose at sight in order to be a good musician? What tempo must you
be able to achieve in order to be a "good musician"? How knowledgeable
of music theory must you be? Must you be able to improvise? Must you
be able to play reggae as well as a landler? Must you know who
Cartellieri was? And so forth.

In fact, can you even define "music", much less "good music?"

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