 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2002-06-04 02:36
Let's get a small discussion started, shall we?
All of us on this board - well, most of us if not all - share not only an unmeasurable love and appreciation of music, but the talent to occupy it.
What are your thoughts on people you know that have just as strong a love for music, but the skill on their instrument just doesn't come naturally?
Here's what I've discovered by watching the habits of one of my best friends in band. He plays French Horn (which is rather scarce in this area; French Horn players here are hard to come by.) He's not the best (not the worst, either) when it comes to playing, but I've seen only few others that appreciate music the way he does. He enjoys listening to peices he can't play that well, and then (this is what gets me) he loves playing peices that are a challenge for him. I mean, that's something most of us do, but he can't stand playing anything with something he CAN'T DO yet, and if he hears someone play it better, he strives to match it.
His patience impresses me, especially since he has to practice really hard to get to where he is; I've seen him do it.
I've found that people like him, no matter how rare, the people who have that endurance and desire to excel no matter how tough it is, are more respectable than those who are great players but slack off and let talent take care of everything.
What's YOUR thought on this?
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Author: Mike Harrelson
Date: 2002-06-04 03:53
When you practice several hours a day for years and end up playing well, people say that you are talented.
If you don't practice at all and play poorly, people say you don't have any talent for the instrument.
When you play any instrument well, you make it look and sound easy. If it looks and sounds easy it must be talent.
Learning to play any musical instrument well does not come naturally, its just plain old-fashioned hard work. Fun? Yes. Easy? No.
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Author: HAT
Date: 2002-06-04 04:01
I can only speak from experience, but my observation of those I went to school with was that the top players didn't necessarily make it all the way. The ones who made it were the ones that spend the most time in the practice room.
David Hattner, NYC
www.northbranchrecords.com
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Author: Brandon
Date: 2002-06-04 08:04
What is talent anyway? There is an interesting article on another section of this site with an article titled talent v. skill.
http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/Misc/Talent.html
Regardless whether you agree with this article or not, it is interesting.
Brandon
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Author: David Dow
Date: 2002-06-04 11:30
If I don't practice one day I note it, two days without practice my significant other notices and three or four days my conductor notices and a week the neighbors notice!!!
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Author: William
Date: 2002-06-04 15:58
The greatest compliment that I receive regrading my playing, is that I "make it sound easy." They assume that I am "awsomely talented", but they do not know how many hours I spend every day in the practice room to overcome my technical ineptness and groom tone quality and musical expression. "Talent" is innate, natural ability of something, but is only evident if it is developed properly. The biggest frustration of my teaching years, was encountering students with considerable innate ablility for musical success, but were uninterested in developing it--some, because they just didn't care and had other interests. True happines is finding out what one is good at, liking what they are good at, and then making a successful life-career out of it (and getting paid to do it). Good Clarineting!!!!! (Why?? because we like it)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-06-04 16:41
David Dow wrote:
>
> If I don't practice one day I note it, two days without
> practice my significant other notices and three or four days my
> conductor notices and a week the neighbors notice!!!
Which is a paraphrase of Heifetz:
"If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it."
(credit where credit is due ...)
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-06-04 21:07
I think... your friend's passion for music and his endurance to work at it 'til he masters it - one passage at a time - will eventually lead him to surpass and surprise many of his peers. One day it will all come together for him and he'll be playing his heart out while they sit in awe, thinking... 'isn't that the guy who used to... ?'
Oh, yeah. He'll make it, David. I've seen it too. The 'plodders', the boys and girls who keep their goal in sight and work to achieve it, most often do. And, when they 'arrive', they're the ones we look up to.
Then we all marvel that they, like William, make it "sound so easy" :]
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Author: Marina
Date: 2002-06-04 23:49
the second chair clarinetist in our band almost never practices clarinet. that's an understatement, he practices only for challenges and placement tests. he's a pianist, that's what he spends his time working on. he doesn't take lessons, and yet he's very good. part of it is his confidence and good attitude, but mostly he's just what I would consider gifted. I was very well-regarded as a musician in middle school, and when I came to high school this past school year I was placed as one of three first clarinets. The other two were much better than me (one was 2nd in the city, the other was 2nd in the state), and I enrolled in private lessons just to keep up. I had many holes in my technique, and it took all of marching season plus about half of January to get caught up to other serious players my age. However, through hard practice I was able to get to where I am today. I've surpassed most other clarinetists in our band, and at the beginning of the year I was one of the worst. I hope to continue to improve quickly, and I hope some other clarinetists I know that work hard will also be fortunate enough to see results and find them as rewarding as I have. I think the lesson that can be drawn from this is quite cliche, but don't give up. There were times when I felt like I was digressing, but I came out very successfully. Best of luck!
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Author: dAVID dOW
Date: 2002-06-06 16:31
I agree wholehaerted about the plodder being the winners at the end! When I first started it seemed I had alot of problems and with private study and slow work I became a pro by the time I was 16. However, my love of the instrument was at that time some blind ambition and then I did the unthinkable-I stopped playing. this because I had to really think what I was doing. competitions marks studies and endless examinations took and killed my enyoment of the art of music. So when I did return to the clarinet after some spirtual probling I lost my single lip and played far better under the new ways i had of thinking. In fact I then went on to gradually become a Principal Clarinet with a Symphony and win an audition against all odds. I knew I played well before but never felt it, and now I just play and love playing for the sake of playing. Results only occur when you make them occur.
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