The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: Chairs, and why they bug me.

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-01-25 03:50

So, your tale really suggests two problems: one is your placement and what it means (or what the conductor means by it); two is the reaction of your friend.

To take your friend's nastiness first, to someone who doesn't know either of you it's an indicator that the friendship may be not equally strong in both directions. Its not hard to understand her anger (out of frustration and maybe embarrassment) at not making the group. It's very hard to understand why she's taking it out on you, when you had nothing to do with the decision. You'll probably be best off just leaving her alone for awhile until she calms down. If your friendship is important to her, she'll eventually make some effort to end hostilities. Don't let the reactions of any of your peers negatively affect your enthusiasm or effort in developing your own playing.

As to the reasons why you were moved down in the section, there's really only one person who can explain why that happened, and that's obviously the conductor who made the change. A conductor who finds that a player is too aggressive, too loud, especially at times when the music should be soft, has a very easy way to correct the problem - ask the player to play softer. Conductors do this all the time. If he asks to quiet down regularly and you don't do it, then he has reason to change your seat. If he never asks you during rehearsals to change your dynamic or volume, then he either doesn't have a problem it or he's failing at his job.

If the comment your teacher related to you (was it from another student? That's not cool, either for a couple of reasons.) is the first you've ever heard that the conductor thinks you play too loud, then it may not be the real issue. Maybe the conductor really did want your playing to add security to the other 2nd clarinets by putting you in the middle of them, as he told you. The only way you'll know for sure, if he's willing to answer you honestly, is to ask him. Obviously, do it in a positive and not an accusing or complaining way. You want to know what you can do to improve your chair placement, and he's the one making the placement decisions.

By the way, chair placement within a section isn't something you should waste energy worrying about. Your section, whether 1st, 2nd or 3rd, is more important and it's worth practicing to improve enough to move up to the 1st part. Try to get feedback from both your clarinet teacher and your conductor and then act on what you hear.

Karl

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics

Author

Date

Chairs, and why they bug me. new

J-MB

2018-01-25 01:12