Klarinet Archive - Posting 000292.txt from 2004/10

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Differing skill levels
Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 16:52:34 -0400

I've had trouble with this subject because every time I tried to
create something to make a contribution to the discussion, I came
off sounding like a snobbish dilletante. I don't mean to.

I don't like to play with amateur or semi-pro groups, not because
I am so great that I can only achieve my nirvana when in the
company of the gods, but because I don't play very well when I am
not surrounded by strong players. In effect, their excellent
playing improves mine. And when the playing around me has
intonation difficulties, or rhythm problems, or sight reading
complexities, my playing ability goes down the tubes.

Do you remember Woody Allen's movie, Zelig, about the guy who
took on the physical and emotional character of his surroundings?
He behaved like and became an Italian when in the company of
Italians, he became Chinese when in that company. He became a
brain surgeon when surrounded by MDs, and a Nazi when surrounded
by Hitler and his minions. He was a man without personality and
so he absorbed the personalities of those in his company.

Well, that's the way my playing works. I suck when the players
around me are not pros. It is not that I feel superior. It is a
physical phenomenon in that I just can't work up the energy to
play when there are intonation problems. The worst are problems
of poor rhythm on the part of some players. I just go crazy and
lose track of what I am doing, and I wind up sounding like a
beginner.

Once I did first basset horn with what was the NY Philharmonic.
It was not called that, just that all the players in the
orchestra were regular NYP performers and hired by a contractor.
I got hired by the wonderful bass clarinettist only because I
owned two basset horns and he played one. His name is Steve
Freeman. Wonderful and exciting player. And Steve insisted that
I play first because he had not played basset horn is quite a
while and I knew the part. Well that night I played like a god,
not because of me but because I drew energy from these
magnificent players surrounding me. A week later I did the
Requiem again with a bunch of duffers in a NJ Church in Mahwah,
and I played like a pig because the strings were all duffers.

I'm a regular Zelig.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

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