Klarinet Archive - Posting 000217.txt from 2005/02

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] That was hard work!
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 08:35:07 -0500


Rien Stein wrote,
>This is was a project from a very high level
>amateur windband. They had asked three Dutch
>composers to write a new work especially for this
>project.

How encouraging that an amateur band asked for new compositions! That's
one of the ways classical music stayed alive in earlier centuries. Is it
common for Dutch amateur bands to perform new music? I have the impression
that here in the USA, amateur bands rarely premiere new compositions.

>Next day I got a telephone call: "Do you think you
>can sit first chair?" Confidently I said that I thought
>I might do the job.

>But boy, that was hard work!
[snip]
>But it was a really beautiful weekend. I had for the first
>time in many, many years the feeling I played in an orchestra
>of my own level.

That sounds like a terrific experience.

I've found that my best way to advance is to work on something that seems
too difficult for me, but it's been many years since I've played music with
other people. Do you find that playing difficult work, with people who
play better than your usual music partners, raises you to a new level that
you can sustain afterwards?

Lelia Loban
"There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish
together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between."- Sir
Thomas Beecham

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