Klarinet Archive - Posting 000065.txt from 2004/10

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinet popularity was: [kl] Re: Another Clarinet Faculty
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 15:08:04 -0400

Forest,

At 11:52 AM 10/4/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>It is very true that we are awash in clarinet players. The average
>technical facility is staggering compared to what was considered virtuostic
>one hundred years ago.
>
> I'm not so sure about this....

Well, there certainly are a lot more people with equal ability, perhaps my
statement was exaggerated. I attribute this to the availability of
recordings, among many other factors.

>We are awash in clarinet players, I'm not so sure we're awash in musicians.
>I find it very difficult to find clarinet players who can play a melody
>with true beauty.
>
> Where are you looking?

Well, I spent about 10 years working with most the clarinetists in the
Northern California Bay Area (although certainly not all of them). I've
spent many hours talking with Vincent Abato about these very issues, as
well as my own teacher (Victor Morosco) who among other things was at one
point runner up for the principal clarinetist of the Met and played with
the NYC Ballet as well as in the studios and on Broadway. His teachers
include Daniel Bonade, Vincent Abato, and Joe Allard.

In the past two years I've visited and observed rehearsals and classes at
Eastman, the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, Ithaca College, the
University of Southern Florida and a whole host of state colleges. I've sat
in on lessons with Carmine Campione (an Allard, Bonade, Gigliotti student)
and was lucky enough to be at Cincinnati when they were auditioning for a
new clarinet professor. The applicant the week I was there was Fred Ormand
(a student of Marcellus), so I was able to watch him give "private" lessons
on stage.

I've recently heard the NY Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. I have to
say most of the players in these ensembles are quite able to play a
melody.. but that is, of course, why they're in those ensembles. Ricardo
Morales, in my opinion, stands way above the rest among currently active
players. Now there's a man who can play a melody and make you want to cry.

I may not be right, but I'd like to think I've at least done my homework.
It would also seem that I have no life, which just might be true.

> While I agree that there has always been a group of musicians hell
>bent on acquiring technique at the expense of "musical" skill, I don't find
>that this group of players 'always' prevail at auditions....and certainly
>not always in the real world....(job).

This is what I was trying to say, my apologies for being unclear. The fact
is they rarely prevail in the real world.

> And....knowing many of the fine players "no selected" I'd say that
>there are plenty of politics involved in the selection process. Players are
>often hired conditionally and many factors lead to an orchestra and player
>not matching up in the end. Very rarely is a player, selected through
>audition, let go because they "couldn't cut it".

Yeah, I'm all too aware of all the political nightmares. But I would point
out that the players let go never feel that they were unable to cut it. And
the management is never going to officially say they couldn't cut it. The
other musicians often say so, but I admit there are so many biases and so
much back stabbing that one can never be sure.

>It is hard to compare this to the "old days" because back then, as you
>well know, conductors could hire and fire players at will.
>
> Those were very "old days" indeed.

I don't mean to suggest that giving the conductor supreme power is a good
thing. I'm actually quite mixed on the pros and cons of such an approach. I
kind of depresses me that all the symphony orchestras are starting to sound
the same. I really don't know if that's a good or bad thing, though. It
just kind of bores me.

> We now live in an era of professional audition takers, many of which can
>play their excerpts blindfolded with one hand tied behind their back but
>don't have the slightest ability to function in a professional performance
>situation.
>
> This may be true for a few players....but not the majority...at
>least in my experience.

I suspect you spend more time with the successful players than the
unsuccessful players. I've been to a lot of state colleges where students
can't play a major scale in tune and certainly can't play a melody and yet
think Mozart and Rose Etudes are too easy for them. Bonade used to require
you to study Rose.. and then Rose again. My teacher had to all but beg to
study excerpts. Bonade felt that everything you need to know to be an
orchestral clarinet player was in Rose.

On the other hand, Bonade never had to play multiphonics or, likely, higher
than a double C.

>You have to be a professional audition taker to get the job and a
>professional musician to keep the job. Quite overwhelming, if you ask me.
>
> This is very true. A professional is a professional is a
>professional...whether taking auditions or performing after winning an
>audition. I talked to Bud Wright about this many times. He swore to me that
>if he had to go on the current audition circuit today, that he would never
>have gotten his position in Boston. (or in his first jobs as well). After
>serving on years of audition committees he knew what he would face. He told
>me many times that he learned how to play clarinet "on the job". I believe
>this to be true but only to a certain point. He was an extraordinary
>musician and would have certainly prevailed in the fiercely competitive
>orchestral audition world today as well as been a constant in the orchestra
>he played after selection.

I hear this more from flute players that clarinet players but the sentiment
is the same. Regarding the famous Faun introduction they (the flute
players, that is) often talk about how to play it in an audition versus how
they play in live. The first round of an audition is often who plays all
the note perfectly under the pressure versus who doesn't (or in the case of
Faun, who can do it without an extra breath!). The dual role of learning to
succeed at an audition while simultaneously being able to function as a
professional is more than I've ever been able to handle.

What I can say, and I would be curious as to your experience, is that often
these audition takers can't function in the freelance world. They've spent
so much time trying to learn how to win the audition they didn't learn how
to function as a professional musician. I used to sit next to people who
would tell me what orchestras they were auditioning for and how far they
had gotten in the various rounds and just shake my head.

Of course, the real problem is students thinking that playing in a major
symphony orchestra is the only way to earn a living as a clarinet player.
There are so many other things a clarinetist can do, if they can function
as a professional. Professional meaning more than just their ability as
clarinetists and musicians, I might add. Professional meaning showing up on
time, not wasting time, not asking stupid questions (ugh!), et all.

> Many times the colleges and universities work out a scheme to fill
>these positions spending the fewest dollars possible. Part time adjuncts are
>often the cheapest way to go because they don't receive benefits that full
>time educators would be entitled to in most settings.

And this is the least of the evils going on in collegiate education. Don't
get me started. My undergraduate institution had a bassoon player teaching
saxophone. Ergh. I started. Ok, I'll stop now.

-Adam

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