 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kel
Date: 2005-08-19 20:46
rockymountainbo wrote:
> They didn't care about being rich.
I doubt they would have objected to it.
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Author: rockymountainbo
Date: 2005-08-22 13:13
of course!
but they had the passion for the music...unlike the typical youth of today who want to be rich and famous.
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2005-08-22 13:37
They were coming from circumstances where just being able to make a living was an accomplishment -- rich was a bonus.
Steve Epstein
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Author: Markael
Date: 2005-08-22 16:00
Great blog!
Making money might have been especially important for Goodman.
The Ken Burns Jazz series tells the story of how Goodman’s father came home from the Chicago slaughterhouses dog tired and stinking. One thing that kept him going was the hope that his children could have a better life. He saw music as a way to lift them out of poverty.
Benny put all of his eggs in one basket, the clarinet. And he had a gift for it. So, yes, he had a love for the music as all true musicians do, but I think he was driven to make money in ways that most of us could never fully understand.
Burns also told the poignant story of how Benny’s father never got a chance to hear him play after he finally was successful. As I recall, he didn’t have appropriate clothes to wear.
That might explain Benny’s reputation for being tight. And yet, I have heard that he could be quite generous in a secret, magnanimous way. That subject came up on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, and I don’t remember who her guest was that day.
Bo, I might add a word of protest about this statement, “…unlike the typical youth of today who…” Let us not forget about all the crap we heard in our youth about how our whole generation was going to hell in a handbasket.
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Author: rockymountainbo
Date: 2005-08-22 18:03
Bo, I might add a word of protest about this statement, “…unlike the typical youth of today who…” Let us not forget about all the crap we heard in our youth about how our whole generation was going to hell in a handbasket.
--You have a point there. I was generalizing and maybe I shouldn't have been. My wife was a high school teacher. She told me so many stories of how all the kids wanted to be like so-and-so and wanted to be famous and rich. To them, it wasn't about the music. They just wanted the girls, the fame and fortune.
Maybe I am glorifying my own love for the music upon past musicians. Maybe I want to believe that the musicians of the roaring twenties and in the thirties played because it was all about the music. The music industry was strong, but the pure "entertainer" hadn't evolved yet. I think Armstrong may have had some influence in that, but not intentionally...at least not to today's standards.
Either way, I love jazz. I feel like I have musically been reborn. It's a good feeling.
Post Edited (2005-08-22 18:04)
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Author: hans
Date: 2005-08-22 21:02
rockymountainbo,
In his autobiography "The Trouble with Cinderella", Artie Shaw wrote: "There were four little things I had determined I wanted out of life. These four little things I had fixed my sights on were, in almost any order at all, a) Money, b) Success, c) Fame, and d) that old blue-bird Happiness."
Apparently in Artie's case the music was primarily the means of reaching his goals. It wouldn't surprise me if other musicians were similarly motivated, but whether they were intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, fortunately the result is probably about the same.
Regards,
Hans
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Author: rockymountainbo
Date: 2005-08-23 18:07
I guess not much changes....even in almost 100 years.
Me, I quit the biz because I loved music too much. It was ruining something I loved and held dear to my heart. I think I'll keep it that way.
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Author: archer1960
Date: 2005-08-23 18:19
rockymountainbo wrote:
> I guess not much changes....even in almost 100 years.
> Me, I quit the biz because I loved music too much. It was
> ruining something I loved and held dear to my heart. I think
> I'll keep it that way.
At my 25th HS reunion last year, a friend of mine said basically the same thing. He was/is an extraordinary sax player, who made a living for 20 years after graduating by playing it. But he told us that he gave up on it as a living a few years ago because he was having to hustle so much and work so hard that it took all the enjoyment out of the music. He got a regular job and still plays for fun, though. At a get-together at a local bar the night before the official reunion dinner, he brought out his sax and sat in with the band for an hour or so. Everybody had a great time with it, including him, but he said he was glad he didn't have to do that for a living any more.
The lady who was the lead singer for the band had a great contralto voice!
I still remember a skit he was in at a high school pep rally where, after the little skit group got done playing, he held the last note circular breathing, and kept it going as the others put away their chairs and instruments, and then carried him out in his chair, still holding that last note. It was hilarious! His circular breathing was so smooth that if you didn't know to look for his cheeks puffing in and out, you would never know how he held that note so long.
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Author: Markael
Date: 2005-08-24 01:28
Hans quoted Artie Shaw’s words about money, success, and fame.
And then, Rockymountainbo said, “Me, I quit the biz because I loved music too much.”
Artie Shaw quit the music business for basically the same reason, despite his earlier youthful dreams.
Human motivation is complex, and our extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are intertwined.
I’m not sure I agree with Hans’ assessment that the results are the same whether the motivation is extrinsic or intrinsic. If there is not, on some level, a dedication to the art itself, the performance becomes a caricature.
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