Klarinet Archive - Posting 000287.txt from 2003/09

From: "Noel Taylor" <r.n.taylor@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinetist/Musician
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 12:13:16 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Wolman [mailto:kwolman@-----.com]=20

The world of classical singing, especially opera, has been replete with
people with wonderful voices who nevertheless could not read a note of
music. Enrico Caruso was one. More recently Franco Corelli and Luciano
Pavarotti were and are part of this contingent. They had to be taught =
their
roles by a coach and learn them by ear. They played no instrument =
(piano is
usually the obvious choice). I don't know about Caruso, but Pavarotti =
and
Corelli both commit unmusical errors: missing entrances, screwing up =
dynamic
markings, stepping on another singer's lines because the only music =
they've
committed to memory is their own, and that by rote. Great voices or =
not,
these are not musicians--they're simply great instruments. By =
comparison,
Placido Domingo is transitioning as his voice fades into a conductor =
because
he studied conducting and piano at the conservatory in Mexico City years
ago.

Ken
--

******************

You go too far, Ken. What about all the centuries of music making in
countries with a purely aural tradition rather than a tradition of =
notation
- what, they never had a single 'musician' in all that time - they were =
just
'great instruments'...? I don't think so.

(Declaration of Interest : I am a lousy sight reader)

Noel Taylor

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