Klarinet Archive - Posting 000316.txt from 2004/10

From: "Keith" <100012.1302@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Differing skill levels
Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 05:07:15 -0400

Well, Zelig, you played pretty damn well when we were playing together. If I
dragged you down to my level, I am flattered!!!

Of course I love to play with great players (basset horning with Dan and
Forest last year was a lifetime high spot for me). But I agree with those
who find pleasure in community bands and orchestras at any level. There is
always something you can learn, and also teach.
My usual challenge at community orchestra is playing bassoon parts on a bass
clarinet at sight. That is quite enough stretch of the mind!

The question, as has been said, is finding out how to inspire people to
improve. If there is a local professional symphony, it may be possible to
(pay for and) get a number of players to come and coach each section and to
play with them. Our "Cobweb" community orchestra does this one weekend a
year with the Newcastle-UK based Northern Sinfonia. Those are great
sessions, eagerly awaited, and always inspiring. In the Lone Tree Symphony
in Colorado, we did something similar with the Colorado Symphony.

The lead has to come from the top - the conductor, the music committee or
whatever. If they do not set a standard of continual improvement, and create
this atmosphere in the group, there is little hope. In that case, get a
one-way ticket out of Dodge.

Keith Bowen

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 13:51:16 -0700
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
> Subject: RE: [kl] Differing skill levels
> Message-ID: <FJEKIMDEOJFJPBKBMDOPKEKFCLAA.dnleeson@-----.net>
>
> 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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