Klarinet Archive - Posting 000199.txt from 2004/04

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <arlyss1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] re:Int'l Competitions w/out Int'l Jury
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 09:04:44 -0400

David Blumberg wrote:

>At the risk of offending any of our European members, the Judges were possibly inferring that your tone was too dark, too weak, too polite - who the hell knows....
>
> They really should have explained just what the heck they were
>referring to.
>
>But then again, we do have the "World Series" of
>Baseball..................
>
>

David, you make a very good point.

And considering what Mr. Crumpler wrote about this sort of subjective
commentary - i.e. his tone sounding "too European" - I'm surprised Dan
hasn't jumped in here and ripped the entire metaphor to shreds with one
fell riposte!

I have to say I'm in agreement with Dan Leeson when it comes to
utilizing such metaphoric descriptions for tone such as "dark, bright,
European, American, etc." when describing tone quality, especially in
such an arena. My reasons are that such descriptions do not tell a
player much in the way of constructive critique of his/her performance,
and as such, are basically useless for a means of examining one's
interpretation of a work.

Now, if the meaning of said metaphor is a SHARED meaning, say between a
student and a teacher s/he has studied with for many years, that is a
horse of an entirely different color! ;-) If two people share the
meaning of a term, then that term may be used in conversation and
instruction.

Sigh. I always have hated competitions. Hmmm, apples, vs. oranges, vs.
bananas. Which should I choose? Anyone got a grapefruit? How about a
papaya?

Patricia Smith

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