 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-05-09 20:47
I am majorly considering going into music professionly (im in 11th grade, but have only taken music seriously for about a year now), but i don't know if im just good enough. Of course ive pretty much always been 1st chair at both middle and high school levels, but that doesnt mean much. In terms of "All-state" and other state wide comepetetions, i usually place well, or at least i have ever since i have been taking music more seriously and since i have started to love playing my clarinet more so....but......there are still plenty of people that re better than me that have been practicing for much logner than i have and are so much farther ahead than me.
So i was wondering if it is possible for people like me who havent been truly competetive for more than 2 or three years and only have one more year in high school, i was wondering if it is reasonable and rational for me to continue wanting to pursue music in college?
btw, please feel free to ask me any more questions if u think i have not said enough for u to give significant advice.
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Author: n_hanson12
Date: 2004-05-09 20:59
My advice would be to play in college no matter what, even if you're not majoring in music. Just keep playing!
~Nicki
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-05-09 21:15
Pursuing music in college for the purpose of eventually teaching in the public schools can be a wonderful career choice. Many of us have done it and would do it all over again.
Pursuing music in college for the joy of learning more about it, with an eventual eye towards a different career path, can also be a wise choice.
Pursuing music in college for the purpose of eventually earning a living performing at a professional level is extremely difficult. Be aware of the success/failure rate.
Who will be footing the college tuition bill?
That answer may have an overriding influence on your choices...GBK
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-05-10 00:32
In the grand scheme of things, All State doesn't mean much of anything, beyond the experience and perhaps some personal connections.
While motivation toward a goal can be important, I find a personal attitude toward the clarinet more important. Rather than "I'm playing because I want to make a career out of it," I prefer the attitude of "I'm playing because that's just what I do, and I will continue to play because there is always something more to make of it." With that attitude, you are less likely to be upset when things don't go quite your way, and, I find, you are actually more prone to become a better musician.
"Because that's the right way to play it" trumps "Because I want to be paid for it" in my book any day. Whether or not that leads to a professional career, of course, depends on the individual situation.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-05-10 01:23
Thank you alex. Thats probably the best advice I've received and is really the way I feel about this matter, but I was not sure if that was a realistic view point. But now that i see others also feel that way, it seems to be more of a possible reality to me.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-05-10 02:41
Chris --
I have another piece of advice for you re: your concerns about whether or not to pursue music in college/as a career, and that is, don't talk yourself out of it based upon your fears of not being "good" enough.
I know you've probably heard the old saw about success being 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, but there is considerable truth to that. Past a certain basic talent level (which I would guess that you meet handily), the difference between a pro and an amateur is YOUR decision to be one or the other, and your behavior consequent to that decision.
During my first year of college music theory, I had done particularly well on a complicated composition assignment, so I asked the professor for whom I had done the assignment if he thought I was good enough to have a career at this.
His answer was dead on, and without hesitation: "If you want to." Period, end of paragraph. I didn't understand what he meant, then. I do now.
Best wishes,
Susan (an amateur)
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-05-10 06:50
mkybrain: Interesting that you already knew your own feelings, yet you didn't grab onto anyone's comments until Alex told you what you wanted to hear. That doesn't make it great advice, it's just consistent with your own opinion.
Hey, Alex's comments may be the greatest for you, but then again you should recognize the hazards of professional performing. Any performing field has them. How many waiters are there in Hollywood? None. They're all actors.
If this is the path you can't avoid, well, do your best by deciding early on exactly what you want to achieve, then do everything in your power to get exactly there. Being the best in your neighborhood is a fine start.
But, oh by the way, teaching is not at all bad. Many teachers perform, too.
Regards,
John
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-05-10 13:01
Intersting that u feel a point on judging whether or not what someone said is advice, but, i felt his "advice" was good b/c he said basically that i should pursue music if i want to, sort of like what Susan said. Which at first, like Susan, was not exactly what i wanted to hear, but it makes sense to me now.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-05-10 15:21
Perhaps I failed to make myself sufficiently clear: Alex's comments really resonated with your thoughts, which made it obvious that this is what really hits you the best. If you really want to be a performer more than anything else, you shouldn't be talked out of that.
If you were independently wealthy and would be willing to pay someone to let you play Clarinet, by all means try to make yourself good enough so someone else would pay you, instead. Do that and you'll never work a day in your life; it'll all be enjoyable.
But while you're at it, I do suggest you consider the additional effort required to pick up a credential to teach music in public schools. If you have such a piece of paper, your horizons are much broader. Furthermore, unless you become one of perhaps the top 50 or so Clarinetists in the country, Principal in many smaller orchestras won't quite provide a really good living. Supplementing your income by teaching, either public school or privately, can help do the trick. That sort of activity also keeps you close to music, if you wish, through contacts in Colleges and Universities and all that sort of stuff.
Regards,
John
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