 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: steve
Date: 2000-06-06 15:05
here's a topic that I don't think has been covered....many of us (myself included) have gaps in our musical life....we played in school, then stopped, then started again....
why??
I stopped for a while when I was in grad school, post-doc-ing, and getting my career started as a chemist. My clarinet was laid up for about 10 years. I simply didn't have the time to practice to obtain what I considered professional results in a classical music sense. One of my bosses (in school) made it clear that rehearsals were not an acceptable excuse for not being in lab working on the project. Three hours total commute to the job after my education killed alot of practice time....
the interim was taken up by learning a different music with less demanding technical characteristics (this assertion may offend folks, but I stand by it!!)...folk music played on banjo, fiddle and guitar.
later, the clarinet came out again, but went away as my hands went south...
Dr revelli said never stop playing. he was right...
what's your odyssey??
s.
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 2000-06-06 18:26
I stopped (mostly) for about 5 years right after college, because I had joined the Navy and was underwater in a submarine much of the time (although I did try to practice when I was ashore and at home, but that wasn't often). Amusingly, I tried to find some instrument which was quiet enough to play in my tiny closet of a stateroom inside the sub. First I tried the flute, but it was way too loud (it would have been heard by the friendly local Soviet subs miles away!). Then I bought a tenor recorder during one shore leave in Amsterdam, but it was still too loud. Finally I bought a chromatic harmonica, but every time I pulled the slide trigger to get the upper row of holes, the slider would catch on my mustache and give it a painful yank, so that ended that phase of my musical career.
I'm not making any of this up.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-06-06 18:45
I had a similar "slacking-off" re: Mich State's band [L Falcone cond.] in my jr and sr years of chem eng and chem labs, but wasn't ROTC, so on grad. [1941] went to work for Phillips 66 on butadiene research. I didnt take my cl and A S to OKLA since I just didn't know when I would be drafted into the [now] "Greatest Generation". It turned out I wasn't, so about 1944 we had enough musicians at our BN-GRS plants in Borger TX [near Amarillo] to play some jazz, so I got my horns and started playing [had to re-learn a lot], and haven't stopped since. Ah, Memories!! Don
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Author: Jill
Date: 2000-06-06 18:58
Well, I blame it on the kids. Music has always been part of my life--my father was a band director, and there was no question that I would play clarinet and piano, and I loved it. I have a clarinet performance degee (U.Georgia, 1977) but became an English teacher. After the babies came, it was easier not to practice; I thought I would just pick it up and play whenever I had more time--but guess what? My lip won't hold out now. I still love to play, but mostly the piano, which I play for my church. I keep promising to start practicing clarinet regulary, but old (bad) habits die hard. OK, OK, I'll start today!
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Author: ron b.
Date: 2000-06-06 20:16
Interesting question, Steve. I'm sure you'll get a lot of individual replies.
I started clarinet in grammar school (fourth grade), continued through high school, played (2nd cl.) in the local philharmonic orchestra for a while, took up sax(es)while working in an instrument repair shop during H.S. and for a year or so afterward, continued as a bandsman during a four year hitch with the Air Force.Traveled around Europe and UK as a member of a 50 piece outfit during that time (very late '60s).
Along the way took up tenor banjo, cornet and a little working knowledge of other instruments (love trombone).
I've always been interested in harmonica, too, but after reading the above post about how they don't mix well with facial fur.... anyway...
After discharge from service worked in the repair shop again during the week and played dances, night clubs, parties, summer community band concerts - all kinds of stuff, on weekends.
Got married, went to school to become a graphic artist (steadier, reliable income) to support a family. Set the horn aside for twenty years.
Retired, took up the horn again. I didn't have to 're-learn' everything, I mean, I hadn't forgotten how to practice, but the chops were, and still are to some degree, woefully out of shape. Have to keep after that on an almost daily basis. Endurance is improving too. My wife plays 'cello and we join in with a little church group once a month. It's a little haphazard, since we don't rehearse (yet), nobody really practices much, and it's heavy on (you guessed it) trumpets. I can be heard, I'm told, the 'cello and violin look nice. If there's enough interest we may eventually try some real arrangements.
We started the little group because it's fun and, because it's fun, a couple of people have blown the dust off their axes and gotten involved :]
ron b.
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Author: drew
Date: 2000-06-06 20:27
I was part of a great public school music program that culminated in a world class high school marching and concert band winning a major competition in Europe the summer of my sophmore year. It was a great item for college applications! Continued through high school, but found that my university (Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University) didn't have a band program available unless you were in the Coprs of Cadets (ROTC, not unlike VMI or the Citedel). In my junior year the music department somehow formed Tech's first civilian marching band, and I was a charter member. Great times in that band (The Marching Virginians)!
After college, well, I drifted a bit (it was 1976 and the country was in a major recession). Finally hooked up with the US Navy OCS program (officer candidate school), and actually got to play and direct (!) for a short time. Once on active duty, there wasn't much call for a clarinetist.
Fast forward to 1999. Middle aged high tech manager stumbles upon his high school horn. Horn overhauled. Finds community band & joins. Networks with others and joins clarinet choir, local clarinet socity, ICS, starts taking lessons from a pro, purchases pro horn, purchases new eefer, plays incessantly, etc. Hobby? Passion? Trying to relive my "15 minutes?" Hard to explain. Funny thing is, I'm happy doing it. Nothing like making music.
I won't stop until they pry my Buffet from my dead hands...
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Author: Kim N.
Date: 2000-06-06 20:57
I stopped right after high school. Went to college, got married, had kids. I had always wanted to pick it up again, but things were busy. I decided it would never be a 'good' time to start up again, so I went for it, even though my 2nd child was a baby at the time. My husband was very supportive and always has been. I decided to join our church orchestra. That was 10 years ago, and I've been loving it ever since. I'm so glad I have a talent I can use for the Lord. I play every Sunday and in our Christmas and Easter musicals. I've never been able to take lessons, but I want to take them some day. For now I'm enjoying what I do and the people are great!
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Author: Bob Gardner
Date: 2000-06-06 23:12
In my case i never really got started. I had a horn in h.s. and college, but had no idea what i was doing. i was really bad. Always wished i had musical talent but the good Lord passed me by. Now that I'm retired and living the great life i have the time to do things that are good for my soul. So i picked up the clarinet about six months ago and I'm really happy with my progress. I don't have a teacher (none around my neck of the wilderness do I'm teaching myself. If I can stay away from ebay I would be in great shape. I now own three really top clarinets with one more on the way. life is tough but someone has to do it.
peace
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-06-07 00:41
I was a third row seat warmer as a soprano clarinet in HS band. Second bass clarinet, too. You know, they need numbers instead of talent for marching. Did the bad 100% wool and plastic uniform clad marching gigs behind horses and other livestock in parades on steamy hot summer days, and as a member of the band I participated in every football game just to watch our school lose for almost 4 years in a row. I never had lessons, and the drill books I had were way out of my league. The horn was a third rate plastic piece of ... (fill in the blank on your own). I had some fun in between all of the other "stuff", but precious little of it. I knew that music performance for a living doesn't make a living for 99% of the folks who try it, so I aimed for an engineering degree and gradually became an engineering project manager.
Fast forward 20 years, when I can afford to have the luxury of a hobby, just for the fun of it. I fetched a good intermediate horn and tried lessons from a very senior highly experienced pro clarinetist (formerly with a major city orchestra for a 25 year career, schooled at a major music university, student of Daniel Bonade - who could ask for anything more??). I bought a premium pro grade horn and sold the intermediate horn, but continued lessons for a couple of years.
If only my wife and my job would let me keep the daily hour long appointment with my horn. It's a constant struggle to get practice time in, but it's worth it. My wife approves of me having a passion besides her, as long as it's something relatively harmless like music. After all, she has a fantastic gift - a genuine first soprano singing voice that's bullseye in tune and pretty powerful. If only I could nudge her back into her music lessons. But alas, she too has the same pressures, especially job pressures nowadays.
I am comfortable with being an adult novice in music. Now that I have a grasp of the fundamentals, I have good material to study, and I have a fantastic horn, I can explore music on the clarinet at my own pace and revel in each step of the journey. That's right, no more following livestock on 100 degree F summer days, no more silly wool and plastic uniform, no needless distractions. Just pure music in the comfort of my own home at my own pace. Now if I could only have enough to retire and enjoy my passion full time. Some day, some day...
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Author: SusieQ
Date: 2000-06-07 01:50
I played bass clarinet in high school and loved it, but I didn't have my own bc. While playing the schools bass clarinet my mom sold my soprano to buy my sister a alto sax. When I graduated I didn't have a horn to play and lost interest in playing until I lost my job 10 years later and needed something to do with my time. My husband suprised me with a soprano clarinet and I joined the community band without having played for 10 years. That was 16 years ago and I am sill in the band, playing my own bass clarinet and loving every minute of it. By the way, my sister hasn't touched her sax in years. I may just have to get it from her and learn that too.
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Author: Todd H.
Date: 2000-06-07 02:22
These are some great stories, I never knew that the harmonica was a dangerous instrument! Well, I got started as a 6 year old violin student, fortunatly the string program in my school folded when I was in fifth grade and they switched a bunch of us to clarinets or percussion. Switched to bass oon in jr.high and stuck with it through college doubled on bari sax for outdoor playing/marching etc. After college, day job kept the family up and night job playing Rock&roll bass helped the finances and was just the thing for me, I found out that I <really> liked performance, great fun. Got injured and lost left wrist flex, no more bass playing so I just kept the music by singing w/ community choral groups, church choirs and lots of listening. Then while cleaning up the basement one day I found the old clarinet, fixed it up and started blowing it again just a few years ago. Had been a long time since playing reed, fingers are slower, endurance less, that's OK 'cause I'm playing again and am starting to find the occasional opportunity to perform again, what a gas!!
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Author: Ron D
Date: 2000-06-07 05:42
I stoped playing after graduating from h/s and joined the army to beat the draft. The army was not pleased about me having a horn along during training since my military job was a postal clerk ( talk about redundant training ) I learned how to sort mail and shoot at the same time. Much later in life I learned that this was a desirable skill if you had a desire to join the postal service. After leaving the service I then started to work and went to college nights. After finding myself short of money and receiving a good offer on my clarinet I sold it and soon after got hitched. Of course we needed a house and had to have money to raise the children.
So the short story is that I had nether the time or the money to persue my musical hobby until all my children graduated from college.
I retired at age 57 and while listening to the FM radio I heard a great clarinet solo and decided to start playing again, Soooo since it was almost Christmass ( 1999 )I treated myself to a new horn and all the trimings.
Its not as easy a I thought it would be but I was able to pick up all the fingerings fairly easy. Tone and breath control is still a big problem but I'm working on it and have seen steady progress.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-06-07 06:15
I played in school and in the Houston Youth Symphony but then I went and joined the Coast Guard. Well when you're in the north Atlantic on ice berg patrol (started when Titanic sank) in 40-50 foot seas, you just can't play an instrument that takes both hands. I even tried lashing a chair to a stanchion to free both hands to play but you also go airborn too in heavy seas. During my 20+ years service I shelved the clarinet several times as I couldn't find a place or the time to play. After I retired my daughter started band and chose clarinet. I got her a Vito and had fun showing her stuff. I dug mine out, overhauled it, and started playing along with her. Well my wife dug out an old flute she played in school and at Texas Tech (never knew she played one). We all now play in two different community bands and love it. Now my 12 year old (YO!) son is starting beginners band on TROMBONE (please forgive, I tried).
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Author: Pam
Date: 2000-06-07 12:39
I played all through school starting in the 5th grade. I started on soprano clarinet because my mom had one she had played. By 7th grade I added the trombone because we had a really small school band (around 100 members) and our director encouraged anyone who wanted to, to learn a brass instrument as well for marching and eventually jazz band. (I have some funny stories about the 'bone too!) Then somewhere in high school I played the bass clarinet for a few years. Went back to soprano my junior year and played first chair!
After that, I signed up for the cooperative office education class for my senior year and had to take my Senior Principles of Democracy class during the period band was. What a bummer. I don't know if I ever would have really had the discipline to go as far as I would have liked to with music.
After high school, I entered the work world. Music and singing never were completely gone from my life. I just never saw many opportunities to play again until the last few years. My church has an orchestra -- pretty decent size actually! So, after last years Christmas concerts I got in touch with someone who could give me lessons from the church and just recently got a new primo horn (Buffet R-13) that is almost broken in! Now I'm 21 years out of high school and just turned 40 and loving playing again. I may learn more instruments and eventually be giving lessons to others! I'm loving it, it's a lot more fun than getting freaked out over turning the big 4-0.
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Author: steve
Date: 2000-06-07 14:01
the stories above are wonderful.....it appears that everyone has stories about full, interesting, rich lives in which the clarinet dances in and out of view.....I wonder if our early exposure to music and the clarinet propelled us in these diverse directions...
I get furious when I hear about how music/arts education is under fire in secondary schools. Our stories prove beyond a doubt how important and empowering the clarinet was in our lives.
s.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-06-07 16:05
My California public school district had a terrific band and orchestra program when I was a kid. I started clarinet in the grade school band in the mid-1950s, switched to alto clarinet in junior high band, then back to Bb soprano clarinet in the orchestra as a high school freshman, and played all the way through the end of high school. By then, stage fright that had been out of control on piano for years finally got to me on clarinet, too. Music didn't seem like fun any more, and I wasn't nearly good enough to play for any reason other than fun (no hope of turning pro), so I quit the year I started college.
My husband, whom I met when I was 19, had also quit his instrument, the violin. We talked each other into going back to playing. He jumped back in a dozen years before I worked up the nerve. I still have the stage fright, but for me the turning point came when we bought our own house. The neighbors can't hear me unless I open the windows. Being able to practice in private (except for Shadow Cat glaring at me!) has made all the difference. Along the way, I kept finding other neat instruments at flea markets....
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Author: brian
Date: 2000-06-07 20:16
I guess my story is pretty similar to others in many respects. Started in 6th grade, played through Jr. and Sr. High. I wasn't a music major in college (Univ. of Texas,Austin)but played in wind ensemble and orchestra. I went off to seminary in Minnesota where I played off and on in chapel and even found a community band my second year there. We'll, I graduated, took my first call in rural Texas, my wife and I started a family...you obviously know how the story goes from here.
Through it all, my dear, perserverent wife gently kept after me for nearly ten years to pick my horn up again, but alas it just sat in the closet.
Finally, about a year and a half ago I was taking part in a continuing education class and we were supposed to share with a person nearby some hidden or unused talent that we had. I shared with the woman next to me that I once been a fairly decent clarinet player. She asked me why I didn't play anymore and well, I gave her the aforementioned story along with something about how lousy I would sound if I tried to play again after so long. The last night of class, she gave me a note that then and there confinced me to have my horn overhauled, buy a box of soft reeds and reaquaint myself with a long forgotten friend called the clarinet. I carry that woman's note in my case as a reminder, a note that bears the following message:
"Dear Friend, When one plays from the heart one never has to worry about being perfect. He gave you a gift, give it back to Him full of your Love for Him, then you will hear perfection."
As long as I'm able, I'll never put my horn down again.
Brian
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-06-07 21:24
Brian, Vunderbahr!! Also to the many responders who have shared their experiences. Don
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Author: Heidi
Date: 2000-06-08 02:50
Like many others I began playing B-flat in 5th grade. I played alto for one year and then moved on to bass clarinet and played it for the next eight years until I graduated from college. With the school-owned horn gone I thought I'd be able to quit and find something else to occupy my time, however I soon found myself picking out the bass clarinet part in every piece of music I listened to. I drove my fiance nuts with statments like "Did you hear that line?" or "There's the bass clarinet part" until he finally had enough and helped me buy a used instrument for about $400. It wasn't the best horn but it was sufficient. I tried out for the local symphonic band and made it and have been playing again for almost 15 years. I recently purchased a new Buffet and it is wonderful !! I love playing the bass clarinet and I wouldn't give it up for the world.
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Author: Rob
Date: 2000-06-08 08:06
I left home the day I turned 18 (in 1977)to escape an abusive situation. I then dropped out of college, where I was on a music scholarship and had to start working. After that, my pair of Series 10s were very quickly converted into food and rent ( It practically killed me to do it but NY is an expensive place to live and I was unemployed and hadn't eaten in awhile). Later, I became a horrible workaholic and faceless corporate bureaucrat. Finally, when I turned 38 and with my career established, I decided I still missed it and bought a new horn and started playing again. Strangely, I'm much better now than I was back in school, and I enjoy it more. In retrospect I wish I had stayed in college and followed a more musical path, but if I had that kind of power over time and space, I wouldn't be a faceles corporate bureaucrat either.
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Author: C. Hogue
Date: 2000-06-08 20:07
My story:
I was one of the few people in my high school band of 30-40 who actually *practiced* -- I loved it, played alto and Bb in band, alto sax in stage band, fiddled with oboe, flute, and even French horn (definitely not my thing)on the side. I had full intentions of playing in college.
But to get course credit for band (all of one or two credit hours per semester), students at my university had to pass a music theory test or take a semester of music theory. I went into the test with confidence.
"If you don't finish and don't want to be graded, erase your name from the test and turn it into this pile," we were told, which I thought to be very weird. After reading through the multi-page document, I for the first time felt utterly stupid and helpless when it came to music. Looking back, I know I knew a whole lot of the stuff -- I'd just never learned the proper terms for it. I certainly was never exposed to it in H.S. band.
I erased my name, shamefully slunk out behind a couple of other people, and never darkened the door of the music department again. To this day, I feel a pang of regret when the alumni band plays at homecoming. Did I really need to know all that theory to get an hour of two of credit for marching on the football field at halftime?
But a few years out of school, I had a chance to help form a community band. I dropped out for five years after I got married and went to grad school while working full time. I love my community band and I intend to keep playing for as long as I can.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-06-09 01:43
When I started college (in engineering), I didn't even think of band. It was something that was "put away" with the other elements of my high school life since I did not plan to be a musician.
Then when my older daughter joined band in school, I just felt like playing and so resumed after 20+ years of not playing. Fortunately I still had my clarinets (an old junker, an intermediate one, and a pro level one). I fixed one up for her and one for me. Eventually I joined a community band.
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Author: Michael Kincaid
Date: 2000-06-09 06:02
I played clarinet in Junior High ('72-'74). When it came time for high school, I had the chance to enter the third class of Houston's Health Professions HS. It was a wonderful school and a great opportunity (it was co-founded by Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston School District.) Being a small school there was no band. (In fact, the only etra-curricular activities we had were Volley Ball and a Bowling Team--the Cool Cadavers.) My clarinet skills deteriorated and in time I found it frustrating to try to play. Medicine stuck and I've been a practicing Physician Assistant for 17 years.
When I turned 40 last year I decided that it was time for music again, so here I am. I'm playing in a community band and I regret that I let the years slip by without playing. Michael
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Author: brian
Date: 2000-06-10 20:27
To be honest folks, who really cares why we stopped? The important thing is that we are all playing again. This has really been a neat thread.
brian
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