Author: Brenda
Date: 2005-11-25 21:20
Actually my post was more about our point of view of our own playing. As everyone here knows we can get ourselves so tangled up in a ball of nerves that we're our own worst enemy. Previous posts have mentioned such things as viewing the audience members sitting in their pyjamas, etc., indicating playing a game with your brain to settle it down. So if we as teachers can help our students handle mistakes with less trepidation and just get on with the business of learning and playing instead of feeling this huge burden of guilt that, "Oh no, I've made a mistake AGAIN!!", then our students would have gone a long way towards being able to manage their mental point of view. It's too bad there are still teachers out there who'll fling their stinging criticism with such force that they may as well still have a ruler in their hand.
By the way, there's a blurb in Keith Stein's book (The Art of Clarinet Playing) about auditions. He describes "one of the greatest conductors of our time" (late '50's) who would ask the auditioning musician to repeat the passage six or seven times. The purpose was to see if 1.) the beautiful playing wasn't a fluke, 2.) if the player really has control of the passage, and 3.) if the player can learn and correct any mistakes that might have been made earlier. As he puts it, "to determine if the player has the necessary control to remain calm, think, add improvement, and demonstrate reliability." (pg. 41) In my mind this makes far more sense than accepting someone who didn't goof too badly on the first try, and then having the superior player sitting in second spot or not being there at all just because of performance nerves during the audition.
And in this edit, now that I have the book open, he credits the ability of the musician to have such control and calmness to his having spent the time to practice the piece with evenness, and in speeds ranging from very slow to the controlled maximum, to "make technical haste slowly". I've heard of those who can play a passage with bewildering speed, only to badly stumble when required to play it slowly. This is part of really knowing the music, to have played it "inside and out" and even playing it silently without the clarinet in hand. That helps one to be able to perform with more confidence. It probably takes a certain level of maturity to have that patience.
Post Edited (2005-11-26 03:28)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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