 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2005-02-14 16:56
I was particularly aware of Frederick Fennell's recent passing last night because the concert of our wind ensemble last night was dedicated to him and several other musicians/composers/conductors who had departed within the past year. (Several of our numbers were ones that had been arranged/editted by Dr. Fennell.) After getting home I watched a small portion of the Grammy's -- basically only the section where they paid tribute to Ray Charles and all others in the music industry who had died in the past year. I noticed that Artie Shaw was listed, but not Frederick Fennell. What was with that or did I miss something? They listed Johnny Carson and Rodney Dangerfield (I'm guessing because so many musicians played on the Tonight Show and maybe because Rodney Dangerfield had recorded comedy albums.), but not the most renowned band conductor since John Phillip Sousa?!
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Author: msloss
Date: 2005-02-14 17:29
Fennell was clearly a giant to those in the business (despite his physical stature), and certainly to audiophiles who came to know him through his Living Presence and Telarc recordings. Regrettably, for most of the claimed 650 million viewers worldwide, the response to mentioning his passing would have been a collective "who?". I don't think there is too much intersection of audiences between Maroon 5 and vintage Eastman Wind Ensemble recordings.
The important thing is that those of us who should remember did at the appropriate moment.
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2005-02-15 01:02
good thoughts. a great point. Those who thought remembering his life was important last night did indeed remember it. It's unfortunately that he was not more well known, as he was a mastermind.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-02-15 11:29
To whom are the Grammy's important?
Bob Draznik
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2005-02-15 11:34
The recipient's resume???
__________________
Don't hate me because I play Leblanc! ![[down]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley23.gif) Buffet
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Author: Pappy
Date: 2005-02-15 12:01
Don Poulsen said:
"I was particularly aware of Frederick Fennell's recent passing last night because the concert of our wind ensemble last night was dedicated to him and several other musicians/composers/conductors who had departed within the past year. (Several of our numbers were ones that had been arranged/editted by Dr. Fennell.) After getting home I watched a small portion of the Grammy's -- basically only the section where they paid tribute to Ray Charles and all others in the music industry who had died in the past year. I noticed that Artie Shaw was listed, but not Frederick Fennell. What was with that or did I miss something? They listed Johnny Carson and Rodney Dangerfield (I'm guessing because so many musicians played on the Tonight Show and maybe because Rodney Dangerfield had recorded comedy albums.), but not the most renowned band conductor since John Phillip Sousa?!"
Hey Don! Perhaps next year a grammy will go to an IWS recording that includes work by Dr. Fennell!  ![[up]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley24.gif)
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-02-15 13:33
It's unfortunate that hoods in oversized pants get all the credit, but that's the current state of music.
Maybe if Fennell had shot somebody he would have gotten a nod...........
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2005-02-15 13:41
Pappy--
We (you and I and the IWS) should have a recording by then, but it won't have any works by Fennell and unfortunately the chances of it even getting considered for nomination are quite small. (But we can dream, can't we. Hmm...the record producer Babyface is from Indiana and if we can talk him into bringing it to the attention of a few people...)
By the way, have your fingers recovered from that workout? (i.e., Finale to Tchaikovski's Fourth Symphony, arranged for band, plus everything else).
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-02-15 13:46
One thing to keep firmly in mind is that the music world, like the motion picture world, is first and foremost a business (or, as we say here in Uston, "bidness"). All of the glitz and "glamour" that the award shows for each industry put forth is nothing more than window dressing for the magnitude of the acheivements accomplished in the hard world of accounting and distribution.
Sure, there are "artistic" nods now and then, particularly in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but popularity in the industry takes a back seat to profits each and every time.
And, those who spend the most money on "records" are the youth of today, and not too many of them are focusing on Frederick Fennell. He really belongs to a long ago culture that has sort of bumped along just under the radar, while the rest of the world pulled away from the Sousa-inspired wind ensemble and moved towards groups backed up by the trappings of "old music". Sad, non-musical, and hard to accept, but it's nonetheless the de facto state of music today.
(I have my favorite photograph of Fennell preserved in my sock drawer at home, of all places. It's a little poorly reproduced shot that was printed on a give-away cardstock band folder from back in the '80's, and it shows him on the podium, with hair down to there and wearing what can only be charitably described as some sort of caftan. Even concert wind ensemble dudes once tried to be cool...)
Expecting the marketing driven bunch of clowns that are behind the Grammies to even acknowledge someone like Fennell is reaching way too far. Like someone said up topic, an industry dominated by the "art" of rap music isn't capable of even fathoming someone like Fennell...even if he was still wearing the caftan!
If it makes you feel any better, remember that few of us agonize over those like Suge Knight, who have "suffered for their art" in their own moronic way. What's good for the goose is good for the gander...
Now, if someone would only explain the popularity of Nora Jones to me...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-02-15 13:55
Ok, out of respect for Mark I'll change my posting.
I think Norah got to where she is by a combination of talent and connections. Doors were opened that may have been closed due to her father being Ravi Shankar.
Post Edited (2005-02-15 19:09)
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2005-02-15 14:21
Whom are the Grammy's important to?! I'll tell you what...you go out there and win a grammy and tell me that you don't want it because it's not important! That is the achievement of a lifetime in my book (that is for a singer).
BTW, yes, I know the wrap the Grammy's get...being worthless...I'm totally against that view.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-02-15 18:28
DavidBlumberg wrote:
> Nora is the illegitimate child of Ravi Shankar.
And what is this non-sequitur doing here?
Cut it.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-02-15 18:33
It opened lots of doors for her which would have been otherwise closed.
You know the industry, lets not kid ourselves.
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Author: Rivers
Date: 2005-02-15 18:51
"Now, if someone would only explain the popularity of Nora Jones to me..."
Nora Jones is a wonderful talent....her soulful jazz/ blues is a breath of fresh air in today's popular music
Post Edited (2005-02-15 18:55)
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-02-15 19:08
I wouldn't say that she is wonderful, but she is very good. But I don't think that she begins to merit the attention that she has gotten as there are many who are leaps and bounds better than she is.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-02-15 19:15
Nora may be an adequate singer, and her familial connection may not hurt here that much, but what I've heard of her voice and the tunes chosen to showcase same was all pretty dreary. Edith Piaf did the soulful bit far better, although she's dead and Nora's not.
But, then again, I'm a feel good kinda guy...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: rc_clarinetlady
Date: 2005-02-15 21:48
I'm with Clarinetist04. I think if any one of us earned a Grammy we certainly wouldn't hand it back to them and say, "No thanks". Maybe we don't like how the show is done or how the selection is made for the recipients but I think those that win them work very hard at their profession.
I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Fennell in our All State band in 1977. I sat first chair clarinet in that band and he was our guest clinician and director. I thought he was fantastic. At the end of the final day and concert he took me and my band director aside and offered me a full ride scholarship to Florida State U. ( I think, it was somewhere in Fl.) I can't believe I actually turned it down but I was only 17 and from KC, Missouri and didn't want to go that far away. Instead I ended up paying for school with a few scholaships. Ahhhh......hind sight is 20/20. I wish I'd have taken that opportunity. I thought my band director was going to turn inside out that night !! I was so sad to hear of Mr. Fennell's death. Our world is less one great musician. He was one of a kind.
Rebecca
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-02-16 07:09
DavidBlumberg wrote:
> It opened lots of doors for her which would have been otherwise
> closed.
Of course. She had nothing to do with that, naturally.
Or the 'legitimacy' or 'illegitimacy' of her birth ...
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Author: Pappy
Date: 2005-02-16 12:22
Don said:
"By the way, have your fingers recovered from that workout? (i.e., Finale to Tchaikovski's Fourth Symphony, arranged for band, plus everything else)."
Yes. Great fun! Candide is always a rollicking good time. Lots of notes this month. Hoping to be included in the chamber stuff next month. Don't know much about the April play list.
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Author: Joel Clifton
Date: 2005-02-16 14:27
My classmates in the Miami University Wind Ensemble got to play with him a month or so before he died.
What an awesome person. It's also amazing that he was able to effectively conduct at 93 years old!
That's how I want to live. Sharp mind, working body until the day I die.
-------------
"You have to play just right to make dissonant music sound wrong in the right way"
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Author: Pappy
Date: 2005-02-16 19:26
Great tribute issue of The Instrumentalist this month. Besides the tribute article, there is a reprint of a piece he wrote in the 70's about how to interpret and rehearse Holst's First Suite.
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