Klarinet Archive - Posting 000009.txt from 2005/03

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Expectations for professionals
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 10:41:27 -0500

At 09:40 AM 3/1/2005 -0500, Vann Joe Turner wrote:
>Even though I've learned from both of you, I expect more of professionals
>than you two display. I think this list deserves apologies from you.

I have been very privileged in my life to have spent much time with many of
the top professional musicians in the world. A turning point in my life was
spending time with the Australian clarinet virtuoso Andrew (now Andy)
Firth. Let me first say that Andy is one of nicest, most down to earth
people you will ever meet. I was at a point of my life where I was trying
to decide if I wanted to be a true professional musician. That is, to make
the move from a percentage of my income being performance based to the next
level of only working as a performer.

Imagine Andy, myself, and a bunch of friends (almost all of whom play
clarinet) sitting and hanging out. And yet all throughout our time
together, he was constantly wanting to practice (and trust me, he was the
last person in the room that needed to be in the practice room!). My
impression was that to Andy playing the clarinet was as important to his
existence as drinking water is to my existence. He didn't practice because
he wanted to, he practiced because he *had* to practice.

This kind of passion is required to be professional musician, particularly
at the top levels. This kind of passion, by its very definition, is not
rational (and please don't take away a negative connotation from this
sentence). I realized then that I didn't have the needed passion for
performance and no amount of dreams would change that. I practiced so I
could pay my bills and I could see my future in 20, 30 years as a washed up
never really was musician. My passion is as a teacher, something I had
denied within myself for much too long a time. That, however, is a story
for another time.

Tony and Dan both display this passion about music. This does not make them
bad people, just passionate people. Dan is one of the foremost scholars of
Mozart on the planet. Mozart is not a hobby for him and I don't blame him
for being occasionally frustrated with those who would look on Mozart as a
hobby or casually. Tony is one of the most important musicians on the
planet, I don't blame him for being occasionally frustrated with those that
would look on playing the clarinet (or, better put, playing music) as a
hobby or casually. This does not make them right and everyone else wrong,
it just makes us all human and imperfect.

I myself am occasionally frustrated with people who look at teaching as
something of a hobby. This is my passion and I have no doubt each of us has
our own passion. Each of us has our own days of frustration with others who
neither share nor appreciate our passion. With the exception of love, I
don't think there is anything one can be more passionate about than music.

With passion comes conflict. I can honestly say I envy both Dan and Tony's
passion for music, but to quote the great sage Popeye the Sailor Man "I yam
what I yam".

-Adam

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