Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2007-07-20 15:37
Never try to teach a pig to sing. If frustrates you … and annoys the pig!
Stefan,
It's now been about a day-and-a-half since Bubaloy targeted criticism directly at you and your opinions and not one single person has come forward to post in your support. As far as I know, that is unprecedented on this bulletin board. Not one person who has read your postings in the past has come forward to say the criticism is unfair or too harsh.
Perhaps you think no one here is intelligent enough to appreciate the wisdom of your insight. But I suspect that the reason you're not getting any respect is because you've managed to convince most of us that your signal to noise ratio is so low that it wouldn't budge a meter. Most of what you bring us is unsupported, unsubstantiated and remarkably immature opinion (e.g., about the failings of other musicians) or "facts" that you have made up (e.g., reeds that don't require four days to break in -- that play well immediately out of the box -- are made from inferior cane). I suspect the problem may be a tendency to draw broad conclusions from too limited observation.
You can try to defend your remarks until the cows come home. As long as you can't do better than the lashing out that has characterized your "replies" thus far, you merely confirm low opinions of you. The fact that no one else seems to be willing to come to your support should be telling you something.
Are you entitled to have opinions about the way others play the clarinet? Certainly. Do you have to justify those opinions with solid argument? Not as long as you keep them to yourself. But when you start trying to influence me by casting yourself in the role of critic, a whole new standard applies because, until you convince me that you know what you're talking about, I am not going to regard you as any kind of expert. Indeed, by now, you have convinced me far to the contrary. (And, as for your "facts," we can certainly do without them.)
As near as I can tell, you're a college-aged student with about 12 or 13 years clarinet study behind you -- old enough and far enough along in your studies to know much more than you apparently do. Regardless of any technical skill you may possess, it's clear to me that you haven't learned nearly as much as most of your contemporaries who post here. And you certainly have some growing up to do. You should understand that the impression you make as a person can undermine whatever impression you might make as a musician. It's a fact of life. (And I'm not making it up.)
I have recordings with some remarkable performances by Icelandic clarinetists so, regardless of your opinion of them (which I really don't care about), I know that the state of clarinetistry in your country is not nearly as low as the impression your personal example suggests.
You would do yourself (and the board) a lot more good if you would only contribute commentary when you know what you're talking about and where the thread calls for information or opinion (e.g., your recent posting on rondo form, which was helpful). Your comments on the student in the Guy DePlus masterclass were uncalled for. Fontalvo didn't ask, "What do you think of her playing?" He simply said, "Hey, here's a masterclass with some interesting points." Those comments were also unprofessional. Drawing a conclusion about someone's abilities based on so brief an excerpt in such poor sound demonstrates your total lack of qualification to serve as a critic.
My $.02+
jnk
Post Edited (2007-07-20 18:02)
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