Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-12-30 18:45
Creativity is key indeed!
For composers, much of the focus often seems to be shifted elsewhere. People will write music not because they have a cool idea, but because they want to be remembered or they want to be important or they want to seem smart or even just because they absolutely love writing music. But it becomes mechanical, an exercise in moving notes around rather than out of a genuine burst of ideas.
For performers, it's even worse. Individuals and ensembles become "checklist performers." Very rarely do you see someone take up the clarinet and say "ok, there's tons of awesome stuff I can do with this instrument! Let's figure out what I want to play and how to do it!" Instead, they look at a long list of pieces, solo and orchestral, and say "have I played it yet?"
Not "Do I want to play this" or "Is there some angle I want to take on this piece" or "Out of all the music I can make, what do I want to do?" The question is never "Do I want to play Brahms?" Rather, you get one of two: for people that like Brahms, it's "Am I ready to tackle Brahms?" and for those that don't, it's "I should play the Brahms when I'm ready for it." Almost never does anyone ask, "Why would I want to play Brahms?" and even more rarely does anyone answer "I don't want to play it, and I'm not going to" without feeling like a complete ass.
There's not some council in the afterlife that looks at a list of what pieces you've played (at least not that I'm aware of... maybe there is), but that's the way most of us treat things. HOW MANY important pieces have I played?
WHO FRICKIN CARES???
If your entire purpose as an instrumentalist is to play as many different pieces as possible, you're pretty likely to have an incredibly dull run. Creativity is absent.
Orchestras do the same thing. Every time I see some mom&pop regional symphony put out a ho-hum recording of Beethoven 3, I scream in disgust. WHY???
I'm not saying to go for a bunch of kitschy bells and whistles, but look at what you're doing and ask yourself if you have a reason to do it, or if you're just going through the motions.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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The Clarinet BBoard
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