The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: wyatt
Date: 2004-01-14 19:33
with your playing ability or are you still trying to improve?
i know that I'm not, but I'm an intermediate.
For you at the top of your game is there still a goal?u
bob gardner}ÜJ
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Author: n_hanson12
Date: 2004-01-14 21:50
PERFECT
something that is impossible. We all strive for something
~Nicki
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-01-14 22:20
If ever I become satisfied, there will be nothing left to accomplish. So that's when I might as well die.
Regards,
John
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-01-14 22:28
I think many of us who majored in clarinet in college and became music educators, reach our technical peak during those years.
After that, as we embark on careers and we deal with time constraints, we desperately try to hang on to as much technique as possible.
For myself, I may have slightly less technique than I had in college, but I now possess a far great insight and understanding in both the mechanics of clarinet playing and interpretive insight for the literature.
I listen to tapes I made in college and I can clearly see how my interpretation and playing has greatly matured since those undergraduate years...GBK
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Author: chuck
Date: 2004-01-15 02:12
I'm still looking for improvement despite the fact that after working many years in the business and retiring--sold all my horns ten years ago--I went back to it two years ago, bought another clarinet, and now play pro bono on a regular basis with like-minded contemporaries. Our audiences are shut-ins: convalescent homes, hospitals, etc. But the effort to make every perfomance worthwhile is still there--and the satisfaction we have in walking off a stand after a good performance is still a part of the equation. In the days between playing, I do some wood-shedding, we rehearse, and strive to make the next performance better. In my case, I would like to think that I'll get back to how well I tell myself I used to play. Chuck
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Author: Pam H.
Date: 2004-01-15 02:42
I'm never totally satisfied. I'm learning to have more fun with it though and not sweating the mistakes as much - maybe gradually I'll not make as many by being more relaxed when playing.
I guess I'm not at the top yet though. ;-)
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-01-15 10:48
When I was in high school, I was satisfied with my playing. Now that I'm back into it (much more seriously) I realize I need a lot of work. At least now I realize my shortcomings and am motivated to try to overcome them.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-01-15 13:55
It's a delicate balance.
Being too satisfied with your playing means you're smug. You refuse to learn anything new, either from being a genuine insufferable know-it-all (a minority), being too blinkered to understand what you are missing, or being too insecure to challenge yourself with something you cannot do (dilettante!). Eventually the oversatisfied player becomes stale, stagnant, defensive, and often quietly hopeless. They can of course also become, by and by, unsatisfied.
Being too unsatisfied with your playing means you put no value on your achievement. You take no pride in your improvement. Milestones zip by unrecognized as you play into the wind. You either get fed to the teeth (quitter!), soldier on bloodied but unbowed in faith of a distant reward (sucker!), or oscillate between periods of intense playing and equally intense anti-playing (surprise! dilettante again!).
Most of us are a mix, somewhat smug about our strengths, too unforgiving about our inabilities. If you're neither, more than likely you're a machine.
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Author: William
Date: 2004-01-15 14:25
Never satisfied and still working to do what I do better. I hope that my last note will be my best.
Vince Lombardi (Legendary NFL Packer football coach, "Strive for perfection, knowing that while it is impossible to attain, in its' pursuit you will achieve excellance."
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-01-15 17:16
"...in its' pursuit you will achieve excellance."
That about sums it up right there. ;-)
All kidding aside, William, when you say "never satisfied," I'm going to assume you mean "never complacent." That's good; if you were truly never happy, you'd either be nuts or have some very distant, saintly goal in mind of which most of us have no inkling.
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2004-01-16 22:24
I'm satisfied with where I am considering the length of time I've been playing (one year), but I want to continue to improve. In other words, I'm not where I want to be, but I think I'm where I should be for the amount of time I've spent.
Leonard
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2004-01-16 22:37
The key is to develop in such a way that learning is embedded and performance is natural and unforced
scary part is that this means a life time of work
David Dow
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-01-17 18:15
I would echo GBK's comments. Having left college, I do find some satisfaction with my playing as I spend more of my practice time striving for goals derived from my own ambitions and curiosity. If I were pursuing an orchestral job, I would be a basket case!
Allen Cole
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-01-17 19:22
(D Dow) >>The key is to develop in such a way that learning is embedded and performance is natural and unforced
scary part is that this means a life time of work<<
...a lot of it neither embedded, natural, or unforced.
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Author: krawfish3x
Date: 2004-01-18 01:56
im satisfied with where i am right now because of all the work i put into it, but i never want to stop improving.
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