 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2004-12-12 03:10
I have no proof, just anecdotal stories, really, that in general, studying music at college is putting more people off practice than it is inspiring young musicians.
I myself have experienced many slumps where I just won't touch my clarinet for days.
And so many other clarinetists find the same thing. It usually happens within the first year or two of college, and a few people I know who have potential have quit.
So what's doing it? Are college programs doing enough for it's students? Are they going about educating and giving experience the wrong way?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-12-12 03:22
LeWhite wrote:
> I have no proof, just anecdotal stories, really, that in
> general, studying music at college is putting more people off
> practice than it is inspiring young musicians.
The colleges don't pamper you, that's for sure. If students don't have the drive to get through a slump then perhaps a re-evaluation of their goals is appropriate. Music (or any of the arts) can at times be less than joyful; something a student might not expect or welcome.
Inspiration comes from your "soul", not especially from where you "are". Messiaen wrote the glorious Quatuor pour la fin du temps in less than glorious surroundings ...
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Author: Contra
Date: 2004-12-12 03:25
This is a problem I need to think about before college next year. I'm just hoping they have a place to practice.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-12-12 04:45
When I don't touch my instrument for days, I call it a break rather than a slump.
I attribute a lack of practice in college to a combination of many factors, which people may or may not agree with. These include but are not limited to (loosely ranked from most to least significant):
- Focus on technical accuracy above all else. A friend of mine was recently horribly upset after a concert, shrieking "I made SO many mistakes!", but the missed notes had been the least of my concerns.
- Lack (both real and imagined) of inspiring new repertoire, for which I place the blame on a variety of current and past sources that could easily launch a handful of topics.
- Focus on and limited breadth of "standard" repertoire.
- Fear of the instrument.
- War with the instrument.
- Lack of composition requirement for performance majors, and a related lack of appreciation for non-melodic function. The clarinet gets the melody just often enough that players sometimes love melody and hate all else.
- Personal complacency in an ensemble, believing that you can play the piece with technical accuracy and therefore don't need to practice.
- Obsession with, and a feeling of incompetence over, equipment. Other instruments have less to maintain (flute & brass), a large amount of personal control & responsibility (e.g. double reeds), or just don't obsess (saxophones).
- Unproductive methods of practicing that make it seem like a waste of time.
- Scales & exercises are especially irritating on clarinet. No octaves for free.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: joeclarinet
Date: 2004-12-12 05:06
Not practicing for any reason is just asking for long term unemployment....
There's just no excuse nor reason not to practice - Do your best job to get a job or quit. The field is much too competitive for excuses.
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Author: VermontJM
Date: 2004-12-12 05:20
I found that I really hated being forced to practice- I wanted to be a teacher, not a performer. By the time I was there five years, I was so sick of playing that I put my clarinet down and only picked it up for ensembles for the next year and a half.
Then, about a year and a half ago, I began to itch to play. I loved it. I was taking out my clarinet and playing but realizing that I had lost A LOT over the time I wasn't playing. I started practicing in earnest and have gone back for a performance major. I am really enjoying playing and practicing and can see marked improvement not only in my ability, but in my attitude. I think I just had to reach that point where *I* really wanted it instead of just my teachers wanting it. I am surprised with myself- where just a few years ago I had to force myself to practice and just put in the time, I now find that I just don't have enough time to practice and I am always wanting to play more!
I think desire plays a part- you either want it or you don't. I didn't. Now I do. And it's made all the difference.
Also... I have found most practice rooms to be utterly depressing and horrible. Honestly, a coat of fresh paint and some art work is not THAT expensive and does a lot for the soul!! (I am REALLY affected visually by my practice space- things need to be relatively neat, and be in some way asthetically pleasing...)
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Author: joeclarinet
Date: 2004-12-12 05:27
VermontJM, I agree. When I was in school I used to get to Class right when the School opened at 6:45AM and practice for a few hours in an open classroom. I hated to use the practice rooms as they were small and depressing. That meant getting up to catch a bus at 5:30 AM but it was worth it.
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Author: Alexis
Date: 2004-12-12 06:25
A practice room is always going to feel oppressive at times (no matter what the decor is like...). I think if you have a plan for your practice which you stick to most of the time your practice becomes more valuable. And if nothing is working, go and have a beer and try again the next day.
I have been to a couple of institutions and there are good and bad things about all of them. But, like most of the other posters have said, it basically comes down to the individual to drive themselves.
I am still continuing my degree because I have a very strong drive to succeed in this field (completely removed from the institution I study at) and I have dedicated a large portion of my life to music. If someone opts to drop out of a music degree, then that drive cannot be strong enough and it is probably for the best that they have decided to pursue other alternatives. Just my opinion though.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-12-12 07:27
Bummer about not liking the practice rooms. I find them somewhat friendly on their own. More than that, though, the atmosphere is usually pretty lively around the practice rooms at my university. We'll talk, have lunch, etc. inside or near the rooms all the time. If someone wants to concentrate, they close the door, but many people practice with the door open, or even outside near the rooms. After you get over the initial embarrassment (which lasts all of 10 minutes), it's very refreshing. While the classrooms nearby don't always appreciate the horn player practicing Till, I find it makes for a very conducive atmosphere. The practice rooms are a meeting place, and are conveniently available for practicing as well.
Practicing is how I calm down for the day. If my clarinet playing was focused toward a "drive to succeed," or to "get a job," I'd have given it up years ago. If I have any drive at all, it's to engage myself in the music.
Practice room prettiment can also go too far in the "decorated" direction, often nauseatingly so. A tasteful, happy medium is usually best, and the occasional quote from a recent graduate written on the wall adds to the charm.
Another thing to add to my list of why clarinetists don't practice in college:
- Focus on a career path, rather than the music at hand. Call me a stupid idealist, but I believe that the music should be an end in itself, not a vehicle for a career path. I'm not saying to ignore career opportunities, quite the opposite. However, focusing on playing a part "because if I keep doing this I'll eventually hope to have an orchestral gig" rather than "because this is how to do the music justice" causes more harm to the musician and the music.
The story is rarely, "We're going to play the Weber Concertino because it is a really cool piece," or even "We're going to play the Weber Concertino, and there is cool stuff to do in it," but instead is all too often "We're going to play the Weber Concertino because everyone plays the Weber Concertino, and everyone with an orchestral gig has played it at some time, so it's good for you. Besides, it has lots of really fast notes, and that's what clarinetists are supposed to be good at." That is what disturbs me the most.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-12-12 07:50
I find myself agreeing with what Alex has to say quite often, and his comments in this thread are no exception. When music stops being fun, what's the point in playing? It certainly isn't the money...
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2004-12-12 07:50
Yes, I agree with whomever said that if you don't have the drive to practice, a reevaluation of your career goals is in need. Music is about practicing. You can't learn a piece after the first rehearsal. It takes time, effort, and practice!
To answer the actual question at hand raised by the starter of this post, I think it's a matter of the students, not the institutions. First off, students have this expectation and attitude when they get into a college music program that they're the best when in reality they wouldn't survive a professional audition. Yes, the music that is studied in college is SOOOO limited but that's not necessarily the way it has to be. I went to a bassoon recital today and the senior played the Saint-Saens sonata, a Dutilleux sonata, a piece by Devienne and the Nielsen wind quintet (obviously with four other players, an odd selection in my oppinion for one's recital). The Devienne was very modern and I would say not so well known, unlike the other two pieces. With clarinet, colleges seem to be playing contemporary music, Tower's Wings and Those Harbour Lights, the Nielsen Concerto, Tomasi, Stravinsky, Gnarly Buttons, Penderecki's 3 Miniatures, Rozsa's Sonata and Sonatina, Cahuzac's Arlequin and Variations sur..., plus a slew of other pieces (Osborne's Rhapsody, Castelnuovo-Tedesco Sonata, etc.). But while they're playing this music, ALL THE COLLEGES PLAY THE SAME CONTEMPORARY MUSIC. Go to a college in Arkansas and they'll be playing the Krenek Suite. Go to a school in Phoenix, they'll be playing the Krenek Suite. This is what I've gathered through my travels and conversations with regards to repertoire. The colleges and universities these days, I don't think, are pushing they're students enough. I have a friend who is doing the Saint-Saens sonata for his junior recital. That's not a rediculously easy piece, but when you go to an audition and you're playing the Saint-Saens sonata and the guy before you is playing the Francaix concerto, you're going to look like a fool in the end (assuming that guy prepared the piece well!). The same pieces that many students play in high school (Weber Concertino, Saint-Saens, Poulenc, Muczynski, etc.) are being played in college as well, something that could also attribute to the boredom and inclination to quit.
As for the interesting topic of practice rooms, I definitely agree, practice rooms suck. The practice rooms here are SOOOOOOOO small that when you blow your horn you hear every inconsistency you play. This, for me, makes it VERY frusterating to play in them. I have resorted to practicing in my room, which adds a little too much reverb, but is nice in the end, I guess.
A little paint and a picture would indeed do wonders!
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-12-12 08:33
"...Colleges aren't inspiring practice..."
Perhaps it is because most music majors are finally coming to the realization that the chance of earning a sustainable (above poverty level) income strictly by playing your instrument are close to nil.
Oops, I almost forgot: "Follow your dreams".
Give me a break....
BTW - More bad news: Almost all of the contemporary concerto repertoire you learn in college, you will never be performing in the "real world", whether in front of a ticket buying, or free, audience.
In college, we all read through the Nielsen, Francaix, Corrigliano and works which are similar.
The music is still collecting dust in our studios...GBK
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-12-12 09:26
Personally, I find it a shame that it takes a few decades for any piece of music to be played widely, save for the select few composers (Adams et al) with enormous name recognition. It's a bit odd indeed that the Francaix and Corigliano are STILL considered "contemporary" when they are older than I am. (not to mention the Nielsen, from 1928)
I find it no big surprise that there is a very small non-musician young audience, as the music is all, well, old.
A hundred years ago people were playing Mahler because it was new. Today we somehow expect our audiences to attend it with the same ears as then. I'm not saying it shouldn't be played, but I see where the audiences are coming from.
Current composers seem largely to have gone to commercial endeavors or isolated niche scenes, and the music world complains loudly when someone "sells out" by "pandering", or writing something that might be slightly palatable to Joe Listener. We say that the audiences don't come as readily to new music, but I wonder any more who ditched whom first.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: joeclarinet
Date: 2004-12-12 17:51
But a lot of the Clarinet pieces that are contemporary and performed at the ClarFests I wouldn't touch with a 10 ft pole. They are just too avant garde and not pleasing to listen to whatsoever. I love the Corigliano, Tomasi, Francaix, Martino, Tower, etc but there are lots of "academic" compositions that to me just don't connect. Granted the pieces are hard as all he&&, but that still doesn't justify them to me.
And of course it doesn't have to!
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-12-12 19:01
Hence my point on the lack of inspiring new repertoire. There's an unfortunate belief, both real and imagined, in some academic circles that a new piece of music has to be hard in order to be good.
There's also the horrible misuse of terms, in my opinion, in the compositional world. If something is incredibly difficult and uses advanced techniques, it can automatically become "good" art-music if it's labeled avant-garde. This is odd, because the term "avant-garde" loosely means ahead of its time, and most so-called avant-garde pieces are entrenched in heavy academic tradition. "Avant-Garde" pieces have sounded about the same for the past thirty years, so I hardly think they are deserving of the term.
If a piece is horribly boring and goes nowhere, it can become a masterpiece by labeling it "Eastern." I do believe that there is a great deal of true, valuable music that follows Eastern traditions... however, I also believe that there is a great deal more music written by Westerners who want to sound educated and label it Eastern while only knowing the summarized McDonald's version of Eastern philosophy, and only as something they've read about, not experienced.
Writing something that the performer can play and the audience can listen to, I'd say, is currently the avant garde.
Personally, I'm fed up with today's academia, a large part of which seems to value high "artistic concept" (which, though sometimes genuine, is imho easily faked) over sound.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: smross
Date: 2004-12-12 21:36
I found this post extremely interesting and even helpful, being a sophomore music major in Arkansas. At least where I am, I feel like ALL the drive has to be from within, which can be difficult to muster during crazy or hectic times - when everything in the world seems to be working against you practicing, as ridiculous as that seems. I'm not sure exactly if more funding and support of music schools and departments is going to revolutionize very much, but it would certainly be appreciated...
-Sam
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-12-12 22:52
This COULD be looked upon as a good thing. A way to weed out the weak and be left with only the strong and dedicated.
Much like a "basic training" for musicians.
US Army Japan Band
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2004-12-12 23:09
Hmmm....interesting comments on contemporary music. I have to agree that in today's world people are expected to go to a concert of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven and Bruckner (God only knows why his music is as widely known as it is) and pay it the same respect as they did when it was premiered. But the 20th century hasn't always been like that...Rite of Spring, eg. Our contemporaries in the music literature dept's of most orchestras don't really give contemporary, lesser well-known, composers a chance. I think the best way to give "the chance" is a competition (it promotes a reason to write and also gives the chance of performance). But it truly is a shame that young composers who are emerging don't have the opportunities to have their music performed. I speak this from experience! Specifically when dealing with clarinet music, there is very, VERY little "contemporary" music that is easy that becomes repertoire. Exceptions can be the Ibert "Aria" or other similar pieces (Nelhybel's "For Kelly" is a beautiful, glorious slow piece for clarinet written before he died but it never got PR) but for the most part, newer pieces (yes, the Corigliano which is a bear, Gnarly Buttons, a slew of unpublished pieces which I could name but you wouldn't know, which furthers my point!) are hard and too difficult for the student clarinetist, and often times, for the professional as well.
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-12-12 23:42
At least concert band music isn't suffering quite as much. Composers like Frank Ticheli and Steven Melillo are still writing and are pretty popular. Can we count Alfred Reed and John Barnes Chance as contemporary as well? Songs like Blue Shades, Cajun Folk Songs, El Camino Real, and Stormworks were all written relatively recently (in the last 20 years) and are played quite frequently.
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2004-12-13 04:53
Whatever the field of study, colleges expect that students will grow up and become adults in the 8 weeks of so between high school graduation, and arriving on campus. Of course, some grow up long before college, and others never grow up.
While colleges and their faculties should strive to inspire their students, and many do, none that I know of have any interest in motivating or hand-holding adults engaged in the learning process.
And self-reliance may be the most important lesson that any college can teach.
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Author: SimpsonSaxGal
Date: 2004-12-13 05:02
I'm a freshman music education major at Simpson College. Alto sax is my main instrument, but I found myself playing tenor sax in sax quartet, and clarinet, flute and bari sax in addition to alto in jazz band. I find it tough to have enough motivation to practice 2 hours every day. Each of our practice rooms are well-lit, with a mirror, 1-2 pianos, and 1 piece of art. I find myself staring at the art, noticing each little detail. The walls are bleak. Simple gray concrete blocks. I personally think that drywall would look better, but I have no idea if that would help the acoustics at all. Our rooms are far from sound-proof. If I'm practicing at one end of the hall, I can clearly hear the person in the room next to me, and can faintly hear someone at the end of the hall.
As it is late, and I have finals tomorrow, this will be cut short and I will fully read this thread some other time.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-12-13 05:10
Indeed. Concert bands are probably the most open ensembles (aside from specific "new music ensembles," which can be quite cool) toward contemporary music. Unfortunately, the large majority of these groups are confined to educational institutions (there seem to be more non-ed groups in Britain). Many composers realize that a band piece is more likely to be played than one for another ensemble.
Another thing to keep in mind: Composers are often eager and willing to work with performers and write for them, and performers are often eager and willing to work with composers and play their stuff. Both parties, however, often forget to ask. If you are one and know the other, do mention it some time.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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