Klarinet Archive - Posting 000062.txt from 2004/02

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] looking for a place to practice in Reston VA USA
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 10:31:48 -0500

George Kuhner wrote:
> I don't know if it is allowed in the US to play
> on the street. I did this when I was younger
> and needed practice in front of some people.

I live in Northern Virginia, just off Rt. 7, the same highway that goes to
Reston. (I'm in Falls Church, about half an hour closer to Washington, D.
C. from Reston.) Reston is one of those meticulously planned communities,
a suburb built around a town center. The guiding principle of the place
seems to be institutional terror of nonconformity. Residents must get
permission to paint their houses, and have to choose paint from the
officially approved list of a few shades of Neutral, Bland and Blah. Never
mind what it takes to get a building permit for anything truly radical,
such as widening the porch or adding a window. Reston lands in the news
regularly (on days when there isn't any real news) because somebody got
cited, fined, threatened with eviction, placed in the stocks, etc., for
having the unmitigated gall to string up a clothesline in the back yard, or
hang a flower planter from the window sill, or some damned silly thing.
(Okay, okay, I'm lying about the stocks. They haven't gotten around to
erecting a pillory yet, either. Probably tied up in a planning committee
quarrel.)

In short, my guess is that busking without a permit in Reston would
probably get you pounced on and fined, approximately a nanosecond after you
opened your clarinet case, and my further guess is that the High Mugfrumps
in Reston don't give permits for busking and probably fine people just for
asking. If I had to go stay there, I'd follow up on the suggestion to
locate a synagogue or a church -- if you can manage to distinguish those
buildings from the other buildings built in rigid obedience to the plan! --
and beg nicely.

Lelia Loban
E-mail: lelialoban@-----.net
Web site (original music scores as audio or print-out):
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/LeliaLoban

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org