 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Melissa
Date: 2003-01-27 17:46
Peter the quote you said what does it mean when it says reowned performer?
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"If you want to play the part of the renowned performer, you have to sell your soul to the practice room;
If you want to play the part of the starving musician, you have to sell a leg, maybe occasionally something else to the practice room;
If you want to be a music teacher, you have to, perhaps, donate a little blood every now and again."
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-27 20:13
I don't know where it originated or who might have said it, aside from that it sat on top of my grandmother's piano, I assume, as a motivating saw, but I always thought it meant that, as they say where I come from, "If you want to run with the big dogs, you have to learn to p--- on the tall trees."
Or as in the case of the guy who was lost in Manhattan and asked a pedestrian how to get to Carnegie Hall, and the pedestrian responded, “Practice, practice, practice!"
Basically, if you want to be a world-class musician (and play his/her "part" of the music?) you have to dedicate your life to the development of the talent it will take to compete with others who will also apply for those positions, and to be chosen over those others.
And that if you don't put in the practice time to achieve that high degree of proficiency, you just might have to accept joining the ranks of the ones who wanted to make it, who might have made it all the way to the top, but didn't.
That, of course, doesn't account for people who just want to gig on the side or teach subjects unrelated to serious performance, etc. It simply refers to the ones who want to make the big performance leagues.
I don't believe it means to say that if you want to do something other than perform in the big leagues, you shouldn't put in enough practice time to become as proficient as you want to be, but rather that if you don't put in the practice time, you'll probably have to settle for something other than performing in the big leagues, if that was your original goal.
Take my son, Daniel (please, and return him after college!) We thought he wanted to perform. Then he wanted to be a music teacher. Now he's changed that to musicologist. He used to practice a great deal, now he plays only at school, during wind ensemble practice and couldn't be bothered at home. He has “better” things he'd rather do. So…so much for a career in performance for him!
I don't know how proficient you have to be to do either of those jobs, but I would venture to say that someone playing in a major symphony orchestra would need to have a much higher proficiency level with their instrument than someone who becomes a musicologist and teaches and/or researches music history.
And before anyone else asks, the chicken lays an egg, and keeps on living, therefore it is involved in the making of breakfast, but the pig dies to make the ham to go with the eggs, therefore being totally committed to that breakfast.
So, I guess it all means that if you want to be able to compete with the top guns, you have to choose whether to "live" (your life doing other things that infringe on your music practice) or "die" (sacrifice and set aside many other things in your life) for your music future.
Marcellus had it down pat when he said, as Hat quoted in the other post, to paraphrase: That you can have all the talent in the world and get beaten out by someone with less talent, but who put in the time to perfect his/her art.
And that’s just to be able to get in on the competition; in the end, there are no guarantees as to who might win or who might lose. After all, like beauty, art is in the eyes (or ears?) of the beholder!
Remember, also, that music is not an exact science in the respect that you can acceptably play the same piece in different ways and it’s still the same piece, but you will lose your embouchure, finger agility and tonguing capabilities if you don't continue to exercise them, etc., while in math, you can safely assume that 2+2 is always going to equal four.
So while an engineer (like me) can get by for years with a good knowledge of a math that is not going to change from when he learned it years ago, a musician's life has to be dedicated to developing and maintaining his/her proficiency at what he/she does, or lose it. Often within an unbelievably short span of time.
Or something like that.
Peter
P.S.: This “essay” was 717 words, including this little note!
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Author: Benni
Date: 2003-01-27 21:30
Melissa -
Add an 'n': "renowned"
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Author: Melissa
Date: 2003-01-27 22:27
Renowned performer, ohh now I see where I went wrong I thought it was reowned performer and I was thiking "what? a previously used performer? what the heck is that". It's kinda funny how one little quote can bring up a 717 word "essay" it was very good though and I plan to use this quote, maybe even get it framed and have my teacher post it on the classroom wall. It might get some of my other classmates practicing more then once a month when all they talk about is how they wish to perform in a major symphony orchestra.
Melissa
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-28 04:15
Well, you now the old saying: "He who laughs last, didn't get the joke!"
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